Julian Barnes Awarded the European Literature Prize

Julian Barnes's novel Alsof het voorbij is (Atlas), translated from English by Ronald Vlek, has been selected as the winner of the European Literature Prize. The prize goes to both the author and the translator of the best European novel to appear in Dutch translation in 2011. The prize will be presented on Saturday 1 September during Manuscripta in Amsterdam.

The jury on The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes and its Dutch translation by Ronald Vlek: The jury was composed of:

A novel that is as calm as it is disturbing, as melancholy as it is comical, a novel that can be read on several levels: as a personal outpouring, an account by a man wishing to clear his name, or an assault on the power of memories. A novel that makes the reader doubt everything he thinks he knows about himself. Translator Ronald Vlek not only manages to transform the narrators language into perfect, measured Dutch, he is remarkably successful in capturing Barnes undertone. He meticulously transforms the restrained, sometimes evasive sentences, the lucid images and carefully chosen words into Dutch without ever allowing them to lose any of their connotations

The jury was composed of:

* Frans Timmermans, chairman; member of the Lower House, former Secretary of State for European Affairs
* Joost de Vries; writer and literary critic for De Groene Amsterdammer
* Ton Naaijkens; professor of translation studies, Utrecht University
* Herm Pol; Athenaeum Booksellers, Amsterdam
* Monique van Oosterhout; Van Gennep Booksellers, Rotterdam

The longlist was chosen by eleven independent bookshops. The professional jury then selected the shortlist and the winner.
The European Literature Prize is an initiative of the Academic-Cultural Centre SPUI25, the Dutch Foundation for Literature, the weekly magazine De Groene Amsterdammer and Athenaeum Booksellers.

Julian Barnes Wins the 2011 Man Booker Prize

Julian Barnes has been named the winner of this year's Man Booker Prize for Fiction for The Sense of an Ending, published by Jonathan Cape, Random House Canada, and Alfred A. Knopf.

Barnes has been shortlisted three times previously for Arthur and George (2005), England, England (1998) and Flaubert's Parrot (1984).

The story of a man coming to terms with the mutable past, Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending is laced with his trademark precision, dexterity and insight. It is the work of one of the world's most distinguished writers.

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they navigated the girl drought of gawky adolescence together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they swore to stay friends forever. Until Adrian's life took a turn into tragedy, and all of them, especially Tony, moved on and did their best to forget.

Now Tony is in middle age. He's had a career and a marriage, a calm divorce. He gets along nicely, he thinks, with his one child, a daughter, and even with his ex-wife. He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer's letter is about to prove. The unexpected bequest conveyed by that letter leads Tony on a dogged search through a past suddenly turned murky. And how do you carry on, contentedly, when events conspire to upset all your vaunted truths?

Available from Jonathan Cape, Random House Canada, Alfred A. Knopf, Waterstones.co.uk, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, BN.com, or a variety of Independent Booksellers.

The Sense of an Ending: Signed, Limited Edition from London Review Bookshop

The London Review Bookshop is offering a signed, limited first edition of The Sense of an Ending, published in association with Jonathan Cape, comprising 100 copies, 75 of which have been quarter-bound in Tusting Chestnut fine grain leather with Rainforest cloth sides, numbered 1 to 75, and 25 copies fully bound in the same leather, numbered i to xxv. All books have head and tail bands, brushed green tops and green Bugra Pastell endpapers, and are housed in suedel-lined slipcases.

Edition of 75: £150 (£170 after 4 August)
Edition of 25: £260 (£280 after 4 August)

For ordering information, please consult the promotional flyer.

Win a Signed Copy of Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending

The Julian Barnes Website is working with Jonathan Cape to offer the chance to win a signed copy of the Cape edition of Julian Barnes's new novel The Sense of an Ending, published August 4th.

Please email the correct answer to the question below to contest@julianbarnes.com to be entered into a random drawing for one of the signed copies. We will forward a handful of randomly selected names supplying the correct answers to Jonathan Cape, and they will contact the winners for their postal address. Sound good? Please only enter once.

Here It Is: Julian Barnes's paperbacks are published by Vintage, and Vintage is about to turn 21. What Julian Barnes novel will be repackaged as part of the Vintage 21 promotion? (It will be published on August 4th in the UK, which is also the deadline for the giveaway).

The Sense of an Ending (Extract)

The Telegraph has published an extract from Julian Barnes's soon to be published novel The Sense of an Ending.

The Sense of an Ending, the disturbing new novel from Julian Barnes, is narrated by a man looking back on a lifetime of hope and remorse. In this exclusive extract, he grapples with his memories of a former friend -- a charismatic figure who enters his life as a prodigious schoolboy and departs it with an act of chilling calculation.

Read the extract at the Telegraph website.