J. G. Ballard

James Graham J. G. Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He came to be associated with the New Wave of science fiction early in his career with apocalyptic novels such as The Wind from Nowhere and The Drowned World . In the late 1960s, Ballard produced a variety of experimental short stories , such as those collected in The Atrocity Exhibition , which drew comparisons with the work of postmodernist writers such as William S. Burroughs. In the mid 1970s, he published several novels, among them the highly controversial Crash , a story about symphorophilia and car crash fetishism, and HighRise , a depiction of a luxury apartment buildings descent into tribal warfare.

Ballards father was a chemist at a Manchesterbased textile firm, the Calico Printers Association, and became chairman and managing director of its subsidiary in Shanghai, the China Printing and Finishing Company. His mother was Edna, ne Johnstone. Ballard was born and raised in the Shanghai International Settlement, an area under foreign control where people lived an American style of life. He was sent to the Cathedral School in Shanghai. After the outbreak of the Second SinoJapanese War, Ballards family were forced to evacuate their suburban home temporarily and rent a house in central Shanghai to avoid the shells fired by Chinese and Japanese forces.

Source: Wikipedia