Pat Barker Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

Booker Prize-winning novelist Pat Barker talks about her latest novel The Silence of the Girls, a new take on The Iliad and a story about the cost of wars waged by men, and about her life and work. After the event, she will receive the Bodley Medal from Bodley’s Librarian Richard Ovenden – awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the worlds in which the Bodleian is active including literature, culture, science and communication.

The Silence of the Girls revolves around Queen Briseis, stolen from her homeland and given to the warrior Achilles. The war is a tale of male power, ego and violence. Barker’s novel focuses on the fate of the thousands of female slaves in the soldiers’ camp.

Barker has published 15 novels including the Regeneration Trilogy. The Ghost Road won the Booker Prize and Eye in the Door won the Guardian Fiction Prize. She is known for the directness of her writing and for themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery.

Previous recipients of the Bodley Medal include Peter Carey (2012), Hilary Mantel (2013), Nicholas Hytner (2014), Ian McEwan (2015), Professor Mary Beard (2016), William Boyd (2017), Claire Tomalin (2018) and Kazuo Ishiguro (2019).

Presented by the Bodleian Libraries.