Julian Barnes

Born in Leicester, the British novelist and critic Julian Barnes started his literary career by writing for the Times Literary Supplement and publishing detective stories under the pseudonym Dan Kavanaugh, borrowing the last name of his wife, literary agent Pat Kavanaugh. He published Metroland, his first novel under his own name, in 1980; Philip Larkin wrote to say he liked it, despite the preponderance of adolescent characters, adding, “But is that what life’s like nowadays?”