UK writer Martin Amis, the author of novels including The Zone Of Interest and London Fields, has died aged 73.
His wife, the writer Isabel Fonseca, confirmed to the New York Times that he died on Friday (May 19) at his home in Lake Worth, Florida, with the cause given as oesophageal cancer.
It was the same day that also saw Jonathan Glazer’s adaptation of Nazi drama The Zone Of Interest premiere to “remarkable” reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, where it plays in Competition for the Palme d’Or.
Born in Oxford in 1949, Amis gained recognition as a defining author of the 1980s and 90s, and had 15 novels published throughout his life. His father was writer Kingsley Amis, who died in 1995.
In 1980, Amis wrote the screenplay for Saturn 3, a UK science fiction feature starring Kirk Douglas, an experience that inspired his popular 1984 novel Money – itself adapted as a two-part drama starring Nick Frost and shown by the BBC in 2010.
Several of his novels were adapted as films including 1989’s The Rachel Papers, 2000’s Dead Babies, Night Train, which was adapted into 2018’s Out Of Blue by Carol Morley, and 2018’s London Fields.
He also co-wrote the screenplay for London Fields, which starred Amber Heard and screened for press and industry at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival but whose public showings were cancelled following a legal dispute between director Matthew Cullen and the producers. Legal battles between Heard and the producers followed, with the producers reaching a settlement with the actor.
Amis’s final book was 2020’s Insight Story, a fictionalized account of Amis’ relationship with writers Philip Larkin, Saul Bellow and Christopher Hitchens.
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