John Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970. His other books include Nightspawn, Birchwood, Doctor Copernicus (which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1976), Kepler (which was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1981), The Newton Letter, Mefisto, The Book of Evidence, Athena, The Untouchable, Eclipse , Shroud and The Sea. He has received a literary award from the Lannan Foundation. He lives in Dublin.