Ian McEwan, the Man Booker Prize winner and author of Atonement, Amsterdam, and On Chesil Beach, was in Hong Kong on Tuesday 12 February for a lunchtime event presented by the British Council at M at the Fringe. Mr McEwan was in conversation with acclaimed Hong Kong author Xu Xi, followed by a Q&A session and book signing.

The recent film adaptation of Ian’s novel Atonement was one of the hot topics of the day. Mr McEwan was delighted with the final movie - “I had low hopes initially, especially when I heard the budget was UK$40million. Usually the bigger the budget the worse everyone tends to behave, But my fears were allayed.”

An accomplished novelist, Mr. McEwan has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998.  His critically-acclaimed novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), The Los Angeles Times/Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). He was awarded the prestigious Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) award in 2000. In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday.  Film adaptations of his novels include First Love, Last Rites, The Cement Garden, The Comfort of Strangers, Enduring Love, and, most recently, Atonement.

His latest novel is On Chesil Beach, which was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. For more information on Ian McEwan visit: http://www.ianmcewan.com/

The event is hosted by The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival, which is on from March 2 to 20, 2008. For information about other events in the festival visit their website: http://www.festival.org.hk