James Graham Ballard (15 November 1930 – 19 April 2009) was a British novelist and short story writer and former Japanese internee. He was born in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China. He was a prominent member of the New Wave in science fiction. His best known books are the controversial Crash, and the autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, both of which have been adapted to film.
The adjective "Ballardian", defined as "resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in J. G. Ballard's novels and stories, especially dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments", has been included in the Collins English Dictionary.
A January 2008 interview in The Sunday Times, promoting Ballard's autobiography Miracles of Life (2008), revealed that Ballard was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in June 2006. On 17 October 2008, the UK web site BookBrunch reported that Ballard's agent, Margaret Hanbury, had just arrived at the Frankfurt Book fair with a new manuscript from Ballard with the working title, Conversations with My Physician: The Meaning, if Any, of Life. The physician in question is oncologist Professor Jonathan Waxman of Imperial College, London, who was treating Ballard for prostate cancer. While it is in part a book about cancer, and Ballard's struggle with it, it reportedly moves on to broader themes. Hanbury is in conversation with publishers.
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