John Banville is the author of seventeen novels including, most recently, Mrs. Osmond. His novel The Sea won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. Born in Wexford, Ireland, and currently living in Dublin, Banville first gained international prominence through a series of four books, Dr. Copernicus, Kepler, The Newton Letter, and Mefisto, all linked by an interest in math or astronomy. His series of mystery novels appear under the pseudonym Benjamin Black. Banville has been awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Guardian Fiction Prize, Franz Kafka Prize, Irish PEN Award, Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, and the Ordine della Stella d’Italia.

Richard Ford’s first novel, A Piece of My Heart, appeared in 1976. Born in Jackson, Mississippi and currently dividing his time between Maine and New York, he is the author of six other novels, among them The Sportswriter, Let Me Be Frank with You, Canada, and Independence Day, which received the 1996 Pulitzer Prize and is the second volume in his acclaimed Frank Bascombe series. Ford is also the author of five short story collections and a memoir about his parents, Between Them. Recipient of the Rea Award for the Short Story, Pen/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, Pen/Faulkner Award, Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, and Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, Ford is Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University.

Banville and Ford have been close friends for thirty-five years.