PVLD Adult Services Blog

English writer Julian Barnes was announced yesterday as winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for The Sense of an Ending.  The annual award is given for the best full-length novel written by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.  Barnes had made the shortlist three previous times, but this is his first award.

The other shortlisted authors for this year’s prize were Carol Birch for Jamrach’s Menagerie, Patrick deWitt for The Sisters Brothers, Esi Edugyan for Half Blood Blues, Stephen Kelman for Pigeon English, and Andrew Miller for Snowdrops.

The chair of this year’s panel of judges said that The Sense of an Ending had “the markings of a classic of English Literature.  It is exquisitely written, subtly plotted and reveals new depths with each reading.”