Ballard, J(ames) G(raham) (1930– )

English novelist. He became prominent in the 1960s for his science fiction works on the theme of catastrophe and collapse of the urban landscape. His fundamentally moral vision is expressed with an unrestrained imagination and a pessimistic irony.

Born in Shanghai, China, he was educated at Cambridge University, England, before becoming a writer. His first novel was The Drowned World (1962). Later works include the novels Crash! (1973, filmed 1996), High-Rise (1975), and Cocaine Nights (1996), as well as the autobiographical novels Empire of the Sun (1984, filmed 1987), dealing with his internment in China during World War II, and its sequel The Kindness of Women (1991). He published an autobiography, Miracles of Life, in 2008.