Ian McEwan first came to public notice in 1975; he was immediately recognized as an important and new voice on the fictional scene. Along with Martin Amis and Julian Barnes, his contemporaries, he is one of the most esteemed novelists of his generation. Having at first achieved fame, or even notoriety, because of the edgy nature of his subject matter, he has moved into longer, deeper, and more engaged work in the late 1980s and 1990s. Above all a serious novelist--serious about his craft, about life and politics, about the important things in life such as love and marriage--he stands among the most important of contemporary British fiction writers.

Born on 21 June 1948 in Aldershot, Kent, the son of David McEwan, a career soldier, and Rose Moore McEwan, Ian Russell McEwan spent part of his childhood in Singapore and North Africa, where his father was posted. His siblings were considerably...