John (Hoyer) Updike (1932-) American novelist, short story writer and poet, internationally known for his novels RABBIT, RUN (1960), RABBIT REDUX (1971), RABBIT IS RICH (1981), and RABBIT AT REST (1990). His latest novel is VILLAGES (Penguin, 2005) Justin Cartwright was born in South Africa, educated there, in Michigan and Oxford University. He lives in London and has won a number of prizes for his 8 novels, including the Whitbread, Hawthornden and the Sunday Times (SA) Award. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize.