Adam Mars-Jones (born 26 October 1954) is a British novelist and literary and film critic.

Early life and education

Mars-Jones was born in London, to Sir William Mars-Jones (1915–1999), a Welsh High Court judge and a President of the London Welsh Trust, and Sheila Mary Felicity (1923–1999), an attorney, daughter of Charles Cobon, a marine engineer. Mars-Jones studied at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, and read Classics at Trinity Hall,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Career

Mars-Jones is a regular contributor to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'', and the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

''. He also participated in

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Television's '' Newsnight Review''. His first collection of stories, ''Lantern Lecture'' (1981), won a

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

. Other works include ''Monopolies of Loss'' (1992) and ''The Darker Proof: Stories from a Crisis'' (1987), which was co-written with

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (born 1940) is an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer and an essayist on literary and social topics. Since 1999 he has been a professor at Princeton University. France made him (and later ) de l'Ordr ...

. His first novel, ''The Waters of Thirst'', was published in 1993. His essay "Venus Envy", a polemic against

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...

, was originally published in the CounterBlasts series in 1990. '' Pilcrow'' (2008) was his second novel, followed by ''Cedilla'' in 2011. These two works form the first two parts of a projected trilogy. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

in 2007. ''Noriko Smiling'', a book concerning the Yasujirō Ozu-directed film ''

Late Spring is a 1949 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu and written by Ozu and Kogo Noda, based on the short novel ''Father and Daughter'' (''Chichi to musume'') by the 20th-century novelist and critic Kazuo Hirotsu. The film was written and ...

'', was published in 2011. In 2012, he was awarded the inaugural Hatchet Job of the Year Award for his review of

Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lectur ...

's ''

By Nightfall ''By Nightfall'' is the sixth novel by Pulitzer Prize winning American author Michael Cunningham. Plot Peter and his wife, Rebecca—who edits a mid-level art magazine—have settled into a comfortable life in Manhattan Manhattan (), known ...

''. On 2 January 2015, Mars-Jones was captain of the winning team on '' Christmas University Challenge'', representing Trinity Hall, Cambridge, who defeated Balliol College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

. His teammates were international rower

Tom James Thomas James MBE (born 11 March 1984) is a British rower, twice Olympic champion and victorious Cambridge Blue. In a British coxless four in 2012 he set a world's best time which still stood as of 2021. Background and early life James was bor ...

, world champion cyclist Emma Pooley and actor Dan Starkey.

Personal life

His 1997 "Blind Bitter Happiness" re-tells the difficult life of his mother and his relationship to her. Mars-Jones' 2015 memoir of his father "Kid Gloves" deals with his father's struggle to come to terms with his son's homosexuality and his father's later slide into dementia in old age.''Kid Gloves: a Voyage Round my Father'', London, 2015, .

Bibliography

References

External links

Featured in the opening literary event of the Pride London Festival Fortnight on 22 June 2009 at Foyles bookshop.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mars-Jones, Adam 1954 births Living people British male journalists 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists The Guardian journalists People educated at Westminster School, London Writers from London The Times people Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature British male novelists British gay writers British LGBT broadcasters English LGBT writers 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers 21st-century LGBT people