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Julian Barnes 2011

The Man Booker Prize 2011

Winner
Shortlist
Longlist

Another year of judging controversy produced a very uncontroversial winner in Julian Barnes, an author who might have regretted once describing the prize, slightingly, as ‘posh bingo’.

When two of the judges expressed a desire for books that ‘zip along’ and exude ‘readability’ numerous literary folk took offence. Stella Rimington, chair of judges, thriller writer and former head of MI5, took offence at their offence. In her prize speech she spent more time attacking critics than hailing the merits of the shortlist.

She memorably compared the publishing world to the KGB in its use of ‘black propaganda, destabilisation operations, plots and double agents’. In Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending, however, the judges picked a deserving and popular winner.
 

The Sense of an Ending
The Sense of an Ending

The Sense of an Ending

Winner of The Booker Prize 2011

Published by
Jonathan Cape
In Julian Barnes’ compelling novel, a middle-aged man is forced to reconsider his life when he is confronted with his imperfectly remembered past

The shortlist

The Sense of an Ending
Prize winner
In Julian Barnes’ compelling novel, a middle-aged man is forced to reconsider his life when he is confronted with his imperfectly remembered past
Jamrach's Menagerie
After a close shave with a hungry tiger, young Jaffy escapes the slums of London. But his destination is uncertain, in Carol Birch’s magical novel
Half-Blood Blues
Esi Edugyan explores loyalty, betrayal and the horror that, if you don’t tell your story, someone else might. And they just might tell it wrong
Pigeon English
Stephen Kelman’s spellbinding portrayal of a boy balancing on the edge of manhood, and the forces around him that try to shape the way he falls
Snowdrops
A.D. Miller’s chilling story of love and moral freefall: of the corruption, by a corrupt society, of a corruptible man

The longlist

The 2011 judges