19 Facts About Julian Barnes

Julian Patrick Barnes was born on 19 January 1946 and is an English writer.

Julian Barnes's honours include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.

Julian Barnes was born in Leicester, in the East Midlands of England, on 19 January 1946, although his family moved to the outer suburbs of London six weeks afterwards.

Julian Barnes has said that his support for Leicester City Football Club was, aged four or five, "a sentimental way of hanging on" to his home city.

At the age of 10, Julian Barnes was told by his mother that he had "too much imagination".

Julian Barnes was educated at the City of London School from 1957 to 1964.

Julian Barnes then went on to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied modern languages.

Julian Barnes then worked as a reviewer and literary editor for the New Statesman and the New Review.

In 1986, Julian Barnes published Staring at the Sun, a novel about a woman growing to maturity in postwar England and dealing with issues of love, truth, and mortality.

Julian Barnes has said the use of a pseudonym is "liberating in that you could indulge any fantasies of violence you might have".

Julian Barnes is a keen Francophile, and his 1996 book, Cross Channel, is a collection of 10 stories charting Britain's relationship with France.

Julian Barnes returned to the topic of France in Something to Declare, a collection of essays on French subjects.

In 2003, Julian Barnes undertook a rare acting role as the voice of Georges Simenon in a BBC Radio 4 series of adaptations of Inspector Maigret stories.

In 2025, Julian Barnes published the essays entitled Changing My Mind, in which he questions whether it is possible for the Self to change the mind, stating instead that it is the mind that changes our identity, the Self being inside the mind and not something separate from it.

Julian Barnes's brother, Jonathan Julian Barnes, is a philosopher specialising in ancient philosophy.

Julian Barnes is a patron of the human rights organisation Freedom from Torture, for which he has sponsored several fundraising events, and Dignity in Dying, a campaign group for assisted dying.

Julian Barnes has lived in Tufnell Park, north London, since 1983.

Julian Barnes died on 20 October 2008 of a brain tumour.

Julian Barnes wrote about his grief over his wife's death in an essay in his 2013 book, Levels of Life.