Barnes, Julian

The English author Julian Barnes was born in Leicester, but grew up in West London with his brother Jonathan. Their parents, Albert Leonard Barnes and Kathleen Mabel Scoltock, were both French teachers. Barnes was educated at the City of London School and went on to read modern languages at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1968. Before becoming a full time writer he was, among other things, a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary, a book reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and book editor for New Review. He was also a television critic for The New Statesman and The Observer. Apart from books published under his own name, he has published a number of crime novels under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh. Barnes was married to the literary agent Pat Kavanagh who died in 2008. Julian Barnes lives in London.