Sebastian Barry, the 71-year-old Dublin-born novelist and playwright, is set to discuss his latest novel, The Newer World, at the Queen's Park book festival in London tomorrow. Barry, who published his first novel in 1982, has a distinguished literary career.
His previous works, A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture, were shortlisted for the Booker prize in 2005 and 2008 respectively. Three other books by Barry have also been longlisted for the award. He has twice won the Costa book of the year and served as laureate for Irish fiction.