Ian McEwan was born in Aldershot, England on June 21, 1948. He has been nominated for the Man Booker Prize six times, winning the 1998 award for his novel Amsterdam. His novel Atonement received considerable acclaim. Time Magazine named it the best novel of 2002, it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and it was made into the 2007 major motion picture, starring Keira Knightly and James McAvoy. In 2008, McEwan was listed as one of “The Fifty Greatest British Writers since 1945”.