Date of Birth
21 May 1948,
Aldershot, Hampshire, England, UK
Ian
Russell McEwan
Spouse
| Annalena McAfee |
(1997 - present) |
| Penny Allen |
(1982 - 1995) (divorced) 2 children |
Trivia
Was named a Commander of the Order of British Empire (CBE) by Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on New Year's Eve, 1999
Studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia with intructors Malcolm Bradbury and 'Angus Wilson', earning an M.A. in 1971.
Son of soldier David McEwan, he spent much of his childhood abroad, stationed in such as outposts as Singapore and Libya.
His first collection of stories, 'First Love Last Rites' (1975), won the Somerset Maugham Award.
Recently discovered he had a long-lost older brother, Dave Sharp.
Ranked #19 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".
I always used to deny this, but I guess what I'm really saying is that I was writing to shock. . . . And I dug deep and dredged up all kinds of vile things which fascinated me at the time. [about his early fiction, which is filled with blood and perversion]
I've yet to meet somebody who said, "Your stories are so revolting I couldn't read them."
Atheists have as much conscience, possibly more, than people with deep religious conviction, and they still have the same problem of how they reconcile themselves to a bad deed in the past. It's a little easier if you've got a god to forgive you.
Where Are They Now
(February 2008) The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival
