The FBC is delighted to welcome two well known authors to the jury, one from England and one from Scotland but both with a passion for France and lots of experience in the short story genre. Joyce Quin will chair the jury and other members include Bonnie Greer, writer and broadcaster, and Will Skidesky, deputy editor of Prospect.

JULIAN BARNES
Barnes is a devoted Francophile and his writing reflects his long standing immersion in French literary culture. His first novel, Metroland, is a short, semi-autobiographical story of Christopher, a young man from the London suburbs who travels to Paris as a student for sexual awakening. Barnes's breakthrough novel Flaubert's Parrot broke with the traditional linear structure of his previous novels and featured a fragmentary biographical style story of an elderly doctor, Geoffrey Braithwaite, who tries to rationalise his wife's suicide by focusing obsessively on the life of Gustave Flaubert, and a stuffed parrot that reputedly sat on his writing desk. The novel was published to great acclaim, especially in France, and it established Barnes as one of the pre-eminent writers of his generation.

IAN RANKIN
Ian grew up in a small coal-mining town in central Scotland and was always interested in stories. After university he joined a punk band (on vocals), and continued to write a lot of song lyrics and poems. However, he found that his poems were actually 'telling stories', and so he started to write short stories. A few of these were published and won some awards. Then one story raged out of control and became his first novel. He stumbled on Detective Inspector John Rebus by accident while attempting to write an update of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde': Meantime, he finished university, moved to London for four years, then rural France for six years. Both his sons were born in France. By the time the oldest had reached school age, they'd decided to move back to Scotland. He now lives and works in Edinburgh, and the Rebus novels have gone from strength to strength in terms of sales and recognition.

RT HON BARONESS QUIN OF GATESHEAD
Joyce Quin is chair of the jury and chair of the FBC. As a former Lecturer in French and Politics, a former MEP and a former Minister of Europe, Joyce Quin is well placed to promote Franco-British understanding. She also chairs the All Party EU group in parliament and, in addition, brings to the Council a strong regional focus recognised by the award to her of the Freedom of the Borough of Gateshead.

BONNIE GREER
Bonnie Greer is an Anglo-American writer and broadcaster with years of experience on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK she has won the Verity Bargate Award for best new play and has had 10 plays produced on Radio 3 and Radio 4. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Franco-British Council. Bonnie has been Arts Council Playwright in Residence for the Soho Theatre and for the Black Theatre Co-operative, and Arts Council of England Playwright in Residence for the London based Pascal Theatre Company. She was a theatre critic for Time Out and is a frequent contributor to TV, radio and newspaper reviews.

WILL SKIDELSKY
Will is the deputy editor of Prospect magazine, a London-based current affairs monthly launched in 1995. William Skidelsky is deputy editor of Prospect magazine. Before that, he was literary editor of the New Statesman, and before that, he had brief careers as a chef and as a copywriter. He still likes cooking, and writing about food.

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