Ian McEwan is a prominent British novelist and screenwriter, born on June 21, 1948, in Aldershot, England. His early life included time spent in East Asia, Germany, and North Africa due to his father's military postings. McEwan studied English literature at the University of Sussex and completed a master's degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. His career began with collections of short stories that earned critical acclaim and awards, such as the Somerset Maugham Award for "First Love, Last Rites" (1975). He gained early notoriety for his dark and sometimes disturbing narratives, earning the nickname "Ian Macabre." His novels, including "The Cement Garden," "The Comfort of Strangers," "Enduring Love," and the Booker Prize-winning "Amsterdam" (1998), have been widely celebrated. His 2001 novel, "Atonement," is particularly acclaimed and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film. McEwan's latest novel, "What We Can Know," published in 2025, is described as a literary thriller and love story spanning past, present, and future. It explores profound questions of identity, existence, and the future in a world facing environmental catastrophe. The story moves between 2014 and 2119, focusing on a scholar's quest to uncover a lost poem amid a future landscape of climate change impact. In summary, Ian McEwan is known for his masterful storytelling that blends psychological insight, moral complexity, and contemporary themes, and "What We Can Know" continues this tradition with a fusion of literary depth and speculative future vision.