Ian McEwan is regarded as one of the finest writers of his generation, and amongst the most controversial. His early pieces were notorious for their dark themes and perverse, even gothic, material.

He won the Somerset Maugham Award for his collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites (1975) and was nominated three times for Britain’s most prestigious literary award, the Booker Prize for Fiction, finally securing the honour with his win for the novel Amsterdam in 1998.

Our resident literary columnist Umapagan Ampikaipakan discusses McEwan's life and works, in particular Saturday, Atonement, Enduring Love, On Chesil Beach and Amsterdam.

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