Birthday: 21 June 1948, Aldershot, Hampshire, England, UK
Birth Name: Ian Russell McEwan
Ian McEwan was born on June 21, 1948 in Aldershot, Hampshire, England as Ian Russell McEwan. He is a writer and producer, known for Atonement (2007), The Good Son (1993) and Enduring Love (2004). He has been married to Annalena McAfee since 1997. He was previously married to Penny Allen.
[on writing the libretto for a new opera ('For You': 2008)] What I've discovered and really confirme...Show more »
[on writing the libretto for a new opera ('For You': 2008)] What I've discovered and really confirmed to myself is that opera really likes loud colours, and you need something bold, something savage, unpredictable, passionate. You can't really run a two-hour opera round some muted murmuring. Show less «
Atheists have as much conscience, possibly more, than people with deep religious conviction, and the...Show more »
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. Show less «
[on writing 'The Children Act' , about a marriage in crisis] I hung around the courts and spent time...Show more »
[on writing 'The Children Act' , about a marriage in crisis] I hung around the courts and spent time with judges. The family court seems neglected in fiction. The judgments I was reading - about the end of love, and the separation of goods and money, and the destinies of children and medical ethics - so many of them are things that fiction routinely deals with. Show less «
I always used to deny this, but I guess what I'm really saying is that I was writing to shock. . . ....Show more »
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] Show less «
The law is all about drawing clear lines. Life is not like that.
The law is all about drawing clear lines. Life is not like that.
I've yet to meet somebody who said, "Your stories are so revolting I couldn't read them."
I've yet to meet somebody who said, "Your stories are so revolting I couldn't read them."
Some people write to me and say, 'You only ever wrote one good book'. And others say, 'I just love w...Show more »
Some people write to me and say, 'You only ever wrote one good book'. And others say, 'I just love what you've been doing since "Atonement". I'm pleased that there isn't a consensus. But there are some pale young men who think "Comfort of Strangers" is the one. Show less «