John Banville

John Banville was born and educated in Wexford and worked as literary editor of The Irish Times between 1988 and 1999. Regarded as the stylistically most elaborate Irish writer of his generation, Banville has received many prizes for his works. In 1973, he was awarded the Allied Irish Banks' Prize for Birchwood, in 1976 the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Dr Copernicus, in 1981 the Guardian Fiction Prize for Kepler, in 1989 the Guinness Peat Aviation Book Award for The Book of Evidence and, in 2005, Banville won the Man Booker Prize for The Sea. Banville has also adapted several plays by German writer Heinrich von Kleist and has written the screenplays for film adaptations of The Last September and Albert Nobbs.