Cape Farewell

PDF Print E-mail

Ian McEwan

Author

Ian McEwan joined Cape Farewell on the 2005 Art/Science Expedition. Since then his writing from the expedition has been shown in Cape Farewell exhibitions The Ice Garden and Art & Climate Change.

His new, acclaimed and highly anticipated climate novel, Solar was released in March 2010, inspired by his voyage to the Arctic with Cape Farewell.

Ian was born in 1948 in Aldershot, England. He studied at the University of Sussex, where he received a BA degree in English Literature in 1970. While completing his MA degree in English Literature at the University of East Anglia, he took a creative writing course taught by the novelists Malcolm Bradbury and Angus Wilson.

Ian's works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. Among them are the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites; Whitbread Novel Award (1987) and Prix Fémina Etranger (1993) for The Child in Time; and Germany's Shakespeare Prize in 1999.

He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction three times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday. His latest novel, On Chesil Beach, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize (2007).

In March 2007 Ian joined Professor John Schellnhuber, Germany's Chief Government Advisor on Climate, in conversation at the Bucerius Law School, Hamburg. The event, staged as part of the British Council's Conversations series, was moderated by David Buckland, and was presented alongside the Cape Farewell exhibition Art & Climate Change.

Latest News

RPS Awards Shortlist

Tim Sutton’s Unplugged, Winning the Clay has been shortlisted for an RPS Award

Carbon 12 Exhibition

Save the Date: Cape Farewell's Carbon 12 exhibition opens on 3 May in Paris. It's an exciting mix of art commissions, with the artists working in close relationship with scientists. The exhibition runs 4 May - 16 September 2012 at the Espace Foundation EDF. Find out more ›

Poetry by Nick Drake

Acclaimed author and Cape Farwell voyagers Nick Drake, launches his new collection of poetry, The Farewell Glacier. The poems grew out of his journey to the Arctic.

Nature Journal

David Buckland's feature article 'Climate is Culture' has been published in the March issue of Nature Climate Change. Read about how Cape Farewell's approach has relevance to the discussion about our future.

Goodbye Arctic by Marina Moskvina

Russian novelist Marina Moskvina has just published her book on the 2010 Arctic Expedition with Cape Farewell. Illustrated by Leonid Tishkov, the book captures the voyage and questions the future of the Arctic.

Without Boats, Dreams Dry Up

An exhibition of 20 emerging artists and designers who have participated in Cape Farewell's SHORTCOURSE / UK; a 3-day urban expedition in London. Exhibition runs 24 Feb to 29 March.

U-n-f-o-l-d in Liverpool

Our exquisite exhibition U-n-f-o-l-d is back in the UK and opens on 8 March at John Moores University in Liverpool. If you miss the opening, come to the closing event on 24 April, which starts off the next SHORTCOURSE/UK expedition. Find out more ›

Reality of Change

On 15 March, together with TckTckTck and the UK Youth Climate Coalition, Cape Farewell invites you to a ‘Reality of Change’ evening at the Dana Centre, with architect Sunand Prasad, campaigner Martin Kirk and others who will present and discuss ideas around (climate) change.

Ian McEwan 2005

"We are shaped by our history and biology to frame our plans within the short term, within the scale of a single lifetime. Now we are asked to address the well-being of unborn individuals we will never meet and who, contrary to the usual terms of human interaction, will not be returning the favour..."

The Noorderlicht locked in ice at Tempelfjorden, just North of the 79th parallel, during the 2005 Art/Science Expedition
Ian McEwan and David Buckland in conversation during the 2005 Art/Science Expedition
The Noorderlicht locked in ice at Tempelfjorden, just North of the 79th parallel, during the 2005 Art/Science Expedition
Ian McEwan and David Buckland in conversation

Ian McEwan and David Buckland in conversation during the 2005 Art/Science Expedition.