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 Sheila Cobon (1923–1998), an attorney, daughter of Charles Cobon, a marine engineer.''Who was Who'', St Martin's Press, 1996, p. 386. Mars-Jones attended

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

, and studied English at Trinity Hall,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Career

Mars-Jones is a regular contributor to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', and the ''

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

''. He also participated in

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Television's ''

Newsnight Review ''The Review Show'' is a British discussion programme dedicated to the arts which ran, under several titles, from 1994 to 2014. The programme featured a panel of guests who reviewed developments in the world of the arts and culture. History ''T ...

''. 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 The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to ...

. In 1983, he edited the collection ''Mae West Is Dead: Recent Lesbian and Gay Fiction''. His own short fiction was collected in ''The Darker Proof: Stories from a Crisis'' (1987), co-written with

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (January 13, 1940 – June 3, 2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. A pioneering figure in LGBTQ and especially gay literature after the Stonewall riots, he wrote with ra ...

, and in ''Monopolies of Loss'' (1992); both works address the

AIDS crisis The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS ...

. His essay "Venus Envy", a polemic against

Martin Amis Sir Martin Louis Amis (25 August 1949 – 19 May 2023) was an English novelist, essayist, memoirist, screenwriter and critic. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and '' London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Mem ...

, was originally published in the CounterBlasts series in 1990. Mars-Jones' first novel, ''The Waters of Thirst'', was published in 1993. His second novel, ''

Pilcrow In typography, the pilcrow (¶) is a glyph used to identify a paragraph. In editorial production the ''pilcrow'' typographic character is also known as the paragraph mark, the paragraph sign, the paragraph symbol, the paraph, and the blind ...

'' (2008), was followed by two sequels, ''Cedilla'' (2011) and ''Caret'' (2023), which together form the first three volumes of a projected series. 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 King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

in 2007. ''Noriko Smiling'', a book concerning the

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese filmmaker. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s. The most pr ...

-directed film '' Late Spring'', 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 Professor in th ...

'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 ( ) is ...

''. On 2 January 2015, Mars-Jones was captain of the winning team on ''

Christmas University Challenge ''Christmas University Challenge'' is a British quiz programme which has aired on BBC Two since 19 December 2011. It is a spin-off from ''University Challenge'' that airs daily over the Christmas period, and features teams of noteworthy alumn ...

'', representing Trinity Hall, Cambridge, who defeated

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

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 Hu ...

. His teammates were international rower

Tom James Thomas James (c. 1573–1629) was an English librarian and Anglican clergyman. Thomas, Tommy or Tom James may also refer to Sports *Tom James (rower) (born 1984), British rower *Tom James (rugby union, born 1987), Welsh rugby union footballer *To ...

, world champion cyclist

Emma Pooley Emma Jane Pooley (born 3 October 1982) is a British-Swiss athlete in multiple sports. A former professional cyclist who specialised in time trials and hilly races, she later transferred to endurance running, duathlon and triathlon, and was four- ...

and actor Dan Starkey.

Personal life

Mars-Jones' 1997 "Blind Bitter Happiness" re-tells the difficult life of his mother and his relationship to her. His memoir ''Kid Gloves: A Voyage Round My Father'' (2015) 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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mars-Jones, Adam Living people 1954 births 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge British gay writers British LGBTQ broadcasters British male journalists British male novelists English LGBTQ writers English people of Welsh descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature The Guardian journalists LGBTQ people from London People educated at Westminster School, London Writers from London The Times people 21st-century English LGBTQ people