In 1984, he was elected to Aosdána, but resigned in 2001, so that some other artist might be allowed to receive the cnuas.īanville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black.

Banville has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1990. The Irish Times, too, suffered severe financial problems, and Banville was offered the choice of taking a redundancy package or working as a features department sub-editor. He was appointed literary editor in 1998. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970.Īfter the Irish Press collapsed in 1995, he became a sub-editor at the Irish Times. On his return to Ireland he became a sub-editor at the Irish Press, rising eventually to the position of chief sub-editor. He took advantage of this to travel in Greece and Italy. I wanted to be free.' After school he worked as a clerk at Aer Lingus which allowed him to travel at deeply-discounted rates. I regret not taking that four years of getting drunk and falling in love. Banville has described this as 'A great mistake. Despite having intended to be a painter and an architect he did not attend university. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up in Wexford.Įducated at a Christian Brothers' school and at St Peter's College in Wexford.

He is the youngest of three siblings his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties his mother was a housewife.

Long lankin book