A story of obsessive young love and the power of grief, Ancient Light is the best novel yet from the Booker Prize winner of The Sea.
This is the official website of Irish writer John Banville.
William John Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945, the youngest of three siblings. He was educated at Christian Brothers schools and St Peter’s College, Wexford.
After college John worked as a clerk for Ireland’s national airline, Aer Lingus, before joining The Irish Press as a sub-editor in 1969. Continuing with journalism for over thirty years, John was Literary Editor at The Irish Times from 1988 to 1999. Read more >>
John has become the first Irish author to receive Spain’s most coveted literary prize, the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. The award, established in 1981, is conferred on those ‘whose literary work represents an outstanding contribution to universal literature’. The cash prize of €50,000 and a Joan Miró sculpture will be presented in October […]
Read moreJohn reviews Samuel Beckett’s Echo’s Bones in the Spring double issue of the NewStatesman. The full review can be read here
Read moreThe first episode of Quirke, the new three-part series based on the novels of Benjamin Black, aired on RTÉ last Sunday. The first episode, ‘Christine Falls’, starring Gabriel Byrne and Michael Gambon, is viewable on the RTÉ Player website for another three weeks at http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10253585/.
Read moreLetters 1960-1975 in the latest edition of The New York Review of Books.
Read moreJohn was presented with the ‘Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award’ on 26 November at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards. Past recipients include Maeve Binchy, John McGahern, Edna O’Brien, William Trevor and Seamus Heaney. To mark the award’s announcement, John was interviewed by Sophie Gorman in the Irish Independent.
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