Julian Barnes for Departure(s)

'A master of fiction with whole worlds living in his prose' OBSERVER

Join us to celebrate Julian Barnes' 80th birthday when he will speak to Andrew Kelly about his special new book, Departure(s).

It is the story of Stephen and Jean who fall in love when they are young and again when they are old. It is the story of an elderly Jack Russell called Jimmy, enviably oblivious to his own mortality.

It is the story of how the body fails us, whether through age, illness, accident or intent. And it is the story of how experiences fade into anecdotes, and then into memory. Does it matter if what we remember really happened? Or does it just matter that it mattered enough to be remembered?

It begins at the end of life, and it's about how we find happiness in this life and when it is time to say goodbye.

Julian Barnes is the author of fourteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Booker Prize, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and five works of non-fiction. He was awarded the David Cohen Prize for lifetime contribution to literature in 2011.

Andrew Kelly served as the Director of Bristol Ideas 1993-2022. He was involved with the cultural renewal of Bristol Harbourside and the founding of We the Curious science centre, Bristol Legible City, Brunel200, Bristol2008 and the annual Bristol Great Reading Adventure.