J. G. Ballard

Profile

J.G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman. After internment in a civilian prison camp, he and his family returned to England in 1946. He published his first novel, The Drowned World, in 1961. His 1984 bestseller Empire of the Sun won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. His memoir Miracles of Life was published in 2008. J.G. Ballard died in 2009.

J. G. Ballard in our features

4 x 4th Estate: Suburban Wars

J. G. Ballard in the news

J.G Ballard's Telegraph obituary For news from the world of JG Ballard, please see links below from from the fansite ballardian.com

Latest from J. G. Ballard

Cosmic Sentinels and Spiral Jetties: J.G. Ballard, Robert Smithson & Tacita Dean read more...
‘Zones of Transition’: Micronationalism in the work of J.G. Ballard read more...
Extreme Metaphors: Interviews with J.G. Ballard 1967-2008 read more...
‘The Dead Astronaut’: RIP Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012 read more...

EXTREME METAPHORS

A startling and at times unsettlingly prescient collection of J.G. Ballard’s greatest interviews.

Publication date: UK 27th Sep 2012

EMPIRE OF THE SUN [ePub edition]

The heartrending story of a British boy’s four year ordeal in a Japanese prison camp during the Second World War.

Publication date: UK 28th Jun 2012

HELLO AMERICA [ePub edition]

A terrifying vision of the future from one of our most renowned writers – J G Ballard, author of Empire of the Sun and Crash.

Publication date: UK 24th Jun 2010

THE DROWNED WORLD [ePub edition]

When London is lost beneath the rising tides, unconscious desires rush to the surface in this apocalyptic tale from the author of Crash and Cocaine Nights.

Publication date: UK 24th Jun 2010

THE DAY OF CREATION [ePub edition]

An unforgettable voyage of the imagination from the bestselling author of Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes.

Publication date: UK 24th Jun 2010

THE DAY OF CREATION

An unforgettable voyage of the imagination from the bestselling author of Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes.

Publication date: UK 2nd Apr 2010

THE DROUGHT [ePub edition]

By the bestselling author of Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes – the world is threatened by dramatic climate change in this highly acclaimed and influential novel.

Publication date: UK 29th Oct 2009

THE ATROCITY EXHIBITION [ePub Annotated edition]

First published in 1970 and widely regarded as a prophetic masterpiece, this is a groundbreaking experimental novel by the acclaimed author of ‘Crash’ and ‘Super-Cannes’, who has supplied explanatory notes for this new edition.

Publication date: UK 15th Oct 2009

CRASH [ePub edition]

The definitive cult, post-modern novel – a shocking blend of violence, transgression and eroticism.

Publication date: UK 17th Apr 2009

CONCRETE ISLAND [ePub edition]

A chilling novel about our modern world, from the author of Empire of the Sun and Crash.

Publication date: UK 20th Mar 2009

MIRACLES OF LIFE [ePub edition]

'Miracles of Life' opens and closes in Shanghai, the city where J.G.Ballard was born, and where he spent the most of the Second World War interned with his family in a Japanese concentration camp.

Publication date: UK 4th Sep 2008

KINGDOM COME [ePub edition]

A masterpiece of fiction from J. G. Ballard which asks, could consumerism turn into Facism?

Publication date: UK 4th Sep 2008

CONCRETE ISLAND

A chilling novel about our modern world, from the author of Empire of the Sun and Crash.

Publication date: UK 1st Sep 2008

RUSHING TO PARADISE

J.G. Ballard – author of Crash and Empire of the Sun – explores the extremes of ecology and feminism in this highly acclaimed modern fable.

Publication date: UK 1st Sep 2008

MIRACLES OF LIFE

J. G. Ballard has been, for over fifty years, one of this country's most significant writers. Beginning with the events that inspired his classic novel, ‘Empire of the Sun’, in this revelatory autobiography he charts the course of his astonishing life.

Publication date: UK 1st Sep 2008

HELLO AMERICA

A terrifying vision of the future from one of our most renowned writers – J G Ballard, author of Empire of the Sun and Crash.

Publication date: UK 1st Sep 2008

CRASH

The definitive cult, post-modern novel – a shocking blend of violence, transgression and eroticism.

Publication date: UK 1st Sep 2008

THE UNLIMITED DREAM COMPANY

From the author of The Sunday Times bestseller Cocaine Nights the story of suburban London transformed into an exotic dreamworld.

Publication date: UK 4th Feb 2008

MILLENNIUM PEOPLE

Violent rebellion comes to London’s middle classes in the extraordinary new novel from the author of Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes.

Publication date: UK 4th Feb 2008

THE CRYSTAL WORLD

From J.G. Ballard, author of Crash and Cocaine Nights comes his extraordinary vision of an African forest that turns all in its path to crystal.

Publication date: UK 4th Feb 2008

THE DROUGHT

By the bestselling author of Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes – the world is threatened by dramatic climate change in this highly acclaimed and influential novel.

Publication date: UK 4th Feb 2008

THE DROWNED WORLD

When London is lost beneath the rising tides, unconscious desires rush to the surface in this apocalyptic tale from the author of Crash and Cocaine Nights.

Publication date: UK 4th Feb 2008

KINGDOM COME

A masterpiece of fiction from J. G. Ballard, which asks could Consumerism turn into Facism?

Publication date: UK 2nd Jul 2007

COCAINE NIGHTS

The remarkable bestseller from the author of Crash – Cocaine Nights is an engrossing mystery and unnerving vision of a society enjoying a life of unlimited leisure.