Martin Amis (Author) Martin Amis was twenty-three when he wrote his first novel, The Rachel Papers (1973). Over the next half century – in fourteen more novels, two collections of short stories, eight works of literary criticism and reportage, and his acclaimed memoir, Experience – he established himself as the most distinctive and influential prose stylist of his generation. To many of his readers, Amis was also the funniest. His intoxicating comedic gifts express a profound understanding of the human experience, particularly its most shocking cruelties, and Amis wrote with pathos and verve on an astonishing range of subjects, from masculinity and movie violence to nuclear weapons and Nazi doctors. His books, which have been translated into thirty-eight languages, provide an indelible portrait and critique of late-capitalist society at the turn of the twenty-first century. He died in 2023.James Wood (Introducer) Born in Durham in 1965, James Wood has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2007. He was the chief literary critic at the Guardian from 1992 to 1995, and a senior editor at The New Republic from 1995 to 2007. His books include How Fiction Works, which has been translated into fifteen languages.

"A book of brilliant energies, a comedy of enraged passions. Amis's writing shares the grandeur of the big American writers" -- Malcolm Bradbury The Times "Any other writer would kill to reach this high style. Amis can stroll the heights at his leisure - the writing is on fire" -- Allison Pearson "Martin Amis is an iconic figure. He cracks out memorable sentences like a ringmaster in the circus of the grotesque. He is the good-looking bad guy of late-twentieth-century Eng Lit - faster on the phrase than any of the other inky cowboys on the streets" -- Melvyn Bragg "Amis has made previous incursions into the grubby end of Ladbroke Grove and the infection of urban self-pity. But he's never been quite so funny about it" Independent "Young men adore Martin Amis and older ones envy him. Many imitate him. Many want to be him. He can be cool and raw, smart and cool. He's sexy, but that's not all. Now we want the Information" -- Nicci Gerrard Observer