Iain Banks
Iain Banks | |
|---|---|
Banks at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2009 | |
| Born | Iain Menzies Banks 16 February 1954 Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland |
| Died | 9 June 2013 (aged 59) Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland |
| Pen name | Iain M. Banks |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | University of Stirling (BA) |
| Period | 1984–2013 |
| Genre | |
| Spouse |
Annie Blackburn
(m. 1992; div. 2007)Adele Hartley (m. 2013) |
| Website | |
| iainbanks | |
Iain Menzies Banks (/ˈmɪŋɪz/ ⓘ; 16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. His books have been adapted for theatre, radio, and television. In 2008, The Times named Banks in their list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
Banks began writing full time after the success of his debut novel The Wasp Factory (1984), which has since sold over a million copies and been translated into 80 languages. The novel was named one of the 100 best books of the 20th century in a 1997 poll by Waterstones and Channel 4; in 2016, it was ranked the second-best Scottish novel of all time in an equivalent poll by the BBC. His first science fiction book, Consider Phlebas (1987), marked the start of the Culture series, consisting of eight further novels.
In April 2013, Banks revealed he had inoperable cancer and was unlikely to live beyond a year. He died on 9 June 2013, at the age of 59.