Martin Amis is regarded by many critics as one of the most influential and innovative voices in contemporary British fiction. He was educated in schools in Britain, Spain and the USA, and graduated from Exeter College, Oxford, with First Class Honours in English.

He wrote and published his first novel, The Rachel Papers (1973), while working as an editorial assistant at the Times Literary Supplement. The novel won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1974 and was followed by Dead Babies in 1975. He was Literary Editor of the New Statesman between 1977 and 1979, publishing his third novel, Success, in 1978.

Other books include Night Train (1997), a pastiche of American detective fiction, an acclaimed volume of autobiography, Experience (2000) – winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize – and Koba the Dread, a non-fiction work about communism in the 20th century (2002).

His latest books are House of Meetings (2006), taking the form of a novella and two short stories, and The Second Plane (2008), a book of essays and short stories.

He is a regular contributor to numerous newspapers, magazines and journals, including the Sunday Times, The Observer, the Times Literary Supplement and the New York Times. He was awarded an honorary LittD by the University of East Anglia in 2000.

Martin Amis lives in London. He became Professor of Creative Writing at Manchester University in 2007.