Born in Leicester, England, in 1946, Julian Barnes
is the author of two books of stories, two collections of essays,
a translation of Alphonse Daudets In the Land of Pain,
and nine previous novels. His most recent work is Nothing
to be Frightened of, an exploration of death, religion, and
family.
In France, he is the only writer to have won both
the Prix Médicis and the Prix Fémina, and in 2004 he
became a Commandeur de lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres. In England
his honors include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber
Memorial Prize. He has also received the E. M. Forster Award from
the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He lives in
London.
Nothing to be Frightened
of, his latest book, is published by
Jonathan Cape, Random House Canada, and Knopf.
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Alethea Hayter (1911-2006)
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"Back
-- due to popular demand" Guardian Review,
3 May 2008 [Writers discuss which books they would consider
ordering through the "on demand" service offered
by Faber and Faber called Faber
Finds].
Julian Barnes chooses two works by Alethea
Hayter (1911-2006): A Sultry Month (1965), which he
describes as, "a brilliant recreation of a few weeks
in London literary life in 1846, which is highly original
in its form and narrative cross-cutting" and Horatio's
Version (1972), "the report of a court of inquiry
into events at Elsinore: as interesting a reworking of the
play as Tom Stoppard's more famous version".
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New Book by Julian Barnes -- March 2008
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I
dont believe in God, but I miss him. Julian Barnes
new book is, among many things, a family memoir, an exchange
with his brother (a philosopher), a meditation on mortality
and the fear of death, a celebration of art, an argument with
and about God, and a homage to the French writer Jules Renard.
Though he warns us that this is not my autobiography,
the result is like a tour of the mind of one of our most brilliant
writers.
When Angela Carter reviewed Barness
first novel, Metroland, she praised the mature way he wrote
about death. Now, nearly thirty years later, he returns to
the subject in a wise , funny and constantly surprising book,
which defies category and classification except as
Barnesian.
Publication Dates
Jonathan
Cape: 6 March 2008
LRB Limited Edition:
available 14 March 2008 (signed on 4 March)
Random
House Canada: 15 April 2008
Knopf:
2 September 2008
Order a copy online via Random
House, Amazon.co.uk,
Random
House Canada, Amazon.ca,
Knopf,
Amazon.com,
or one of a number of local independent
booksellers.
Julian
Barnes Reading from His New Work
BBC Radio 4 -- Book of the Week
Julian Barnes will read from his new work
Nothing to be Frightened of on BBC Radio 4 Book of
the Week, Monday-Friday, 17-21 March. Broadcast times are
Weekdays 9.45am-10.00am, repeated 00.30-00.45am (Visit the
Book
of the Week Website)
Recent Press
Julian Barnes discusses his new work with
Mark Lawson for Front
Row (BBC Radio 4), 3 March 2008.
Barnes also talks with Philip Dodd on Night
Waves, 4 March 2008.
Newsnight Review (BBC 2) will feature Nothing
to be Frightened of on 7 March 2008. Barnes will be
reading sections of his new work. Visit
the website to watch the program.
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Limited Edition -- Nothing to be Frightened of
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The London Review Bookshop is delighted to announce its
latest title in the London Review Bookshop Limited Editions
series, Julian Barnes's Nothing to be Frightened of.
The edition, signed by the author before
publication (6 March), comprises 125 copies, of which
100 have been quarter-bound in Harmatan fine-grain leather
(Crimson 21) with patterned boards by Enid Marx (courtesy
of the Judd Street Gallery 1988), housed in a cloth slipcase
and numbered 1 to 100, and 25 fully bound in the same
leather, housed in a solander box and numbered i to xxv.
The bindings have been designed by Andrew Stilwell and
the books have been bound, slipcased and boxed by The
Fine Book Bindery, Wellingborough, Northants.
All orders should be sent in writing
to Andrew Stilwell at the bookshop or by email to astilwell@lrbshop.co.uk,
with cheque (one copy only) or full card details, including
security code. Books will be sent
by Special Delivery in the UK (please add £4.70
per book), and by International Signed For to Europe (add
£7.10 per book) and the Rest of the World (add £8.70
per book). Please note that the book is exempt from the
10% LRB reader discount days.
Quarter leather edition: £170
Full leather edition: £290
To order this and other limited editions
from the London Review Bookshop, please visit http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/ and click on "Limited Editions".
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Interview with Julian Barnes
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A new Julian Barnes interview is being featured on Mike
French's blog The View from Here. The interview will
be published in three installments, the first of which is
available at http://mike-french.blogspot.com.
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Flaubert's Last Letters
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Julian
Barnes reviews Gustave Flaubert, Correspondance
V: janvier 1876 mai 1880, edited
by Jean Bruneau and Yvan Leclerc for the Times
Literary Supplement, 12 March 2008, under
the title "Flaubert's
Last Letters".
Published by Gallimard, Correspondance
V is 1,556pp., and is available from the
Gallimard website at www.gallimard.fr
Barnes previously reviewed
Correspondance IV: 1869-1875 for the
Times Literary Supplement in the 18
December 1998 issue. Read the review online
at the TLS Website.
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Coffee with Aristotle
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Julian
Barnes writes the foreword to Coffee
with Aristotle, a new book by Jonathan
Barnes, the noted Aristotle scholar ...
and Julian's brother.
Book Description:
Not many people can claim
to have invented a new science, but Aristotle
invented two: zoology and logic. More
than two millennia after his death, Aristotles
thought still influences us. Here, over
coffee (a drink Aristotle never tasted),
he converses with refreshing and illuminating
simplicity about everything from causation
and deduction to the role of women and
the wonders of the natural world in a
pre-scientific age.
Order a copy from the Duncan
Baird website or via Amazon.co.uk
or Amazon.com.
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Marriage Lines -- A Short Story
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Granta
100 features a short story by Julian Barnes
titled 'Marriage Lines'. The issue also
includes contributions by James Fenton,
Ian McEwan, Craig Raine, Alan Hollinghurst,
Salman Rushdie, Helen Simpson, and many
more.
For more information,
please visit the Granta website: www.granta.com.
The issue is also available to be purchased
online via Amazon.co.uk,
Amazon.com,
Amazon.ca,
or one of a number of local independent
booksellers.
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Julian Barnes in South America
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Julian Barnes visited South America in January
and February as part of a trip sponsored by
the British Council. Articles about his visit
will be posted shortly. In the meantime, try
'Julian
Barnes, el inglés que hizo reír
a Buenos Aires [Julian Barnes: The Englishman
Who Made Buenos Aires Laugh].' Clarin.com,
8 Feb. 2008.
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Photos from his stop in
Buenos Aires are courtesy of Carlos
Mamud / British Council. |
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This plaque was placed across from a similar
plaque honoring Borges, just outside the
library where Borges worked as a young
man. |

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Julian Barnes Conference -- Call
for Papers
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JULIAN BARNES AND THE EUROPEAN
TRADITION
Liverpool
Hope University
Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June,
2008
Julian Barnes in conversation and
reading from his work.
(Visit the conference website at:
http://www.hope.ac.uk/research/barnesconference/)
Short papers are
invited on aspects of Barness
writing focusing on specific texts/periods,
or addressing his relation to Genre
and Hybridity; the Creative and
the Critical; Intertextuality; European
History, Trauma and Memory; (European)
Literary Traditions, Postmodernism
and the Contemporary; Morality and
Ethics; Class and Englishness. Delegates
are particularly encouraged to submit
proposals for papers on Barness
relationship to European culture
and history.
Send abstracts
for papers of 250 words, together
with a brief biographical note,
to Sebastian Groes at the (email)
address below, before 15 April 2008.
A limited number of postgraduate
student bursaries are available.
Requests for early notification
of acceptance for international
delegates are welcome. For further
information and registration details,
please contact:
Sebastian Groes
Julian Barnes Conference
The Deanery of Arts and Humanities
Liverpool
Hope University
Hope Park
Liverpool
L16 9JD
United Kingdom
Email: GROESS@hope.ac.uk
Tel.: 00-44(0)151-291
3560
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