King's Birthday Honours: Martin Amis knighted before death

The author received a knighthood for services to literature before he died from cancer at the age of 73 in May.

Amis published his first novel at the age of 24 and went on to write 13 more as well as a memoir, two collections of stories and eight collections of non-fiction works.

The honour is dated May 18, the day before his death, as honours cannot be given after someone has died.

Martin Amis was recognised for services to literature (Image: PA)

Amis was longlisted twice for the Booker Prize and his best-known works included the novels Money and London Fields.

The author was born in Oxford in 1949 and he was the son of the late Booker Prize-winning writer Sir Kingsley Amis who also died aged 73 in 1995 and Hilary Ann Bardwell.

He studied at schools in the UK, Spain and the US before later graduating from Exeter College at Oxford University where he read English.

His first novel, The Rachel Papers, was published while he worked as an editorial assistant at the Times Literary Supplement.

He joined the New Statesman as their literary editor at age 27 and was appointed as a professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester in 2007 before stepping down in 2011.

In his work, he explored current events and the contemporary world as well as key periods in history, notably the Holocaust, which he wrote about in novels such as Time’s Arrow and The Zone Of Interest.

We are devastated at the death of our author and friend, Martin Amis. Our thoughts are with all his family and loved ones, especially his children and wife Isabel. He leaves a towering legacy and an indelible mark on the British cultural landscape, and will be missed enormously. pic.twitter.com/aFSg2u7MbJ

— Vintage Books (@vintagebooks) May 20, 2023

Time’s Arrow was shortlisted for the Booker Prize while his 2003 novel Yellow Dog was also longlisted.

He was also awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir Experience.

Tributes were paid to Amis from fellow authors as well as other high profile figures including Rev Richard Coles, professor Brian Cox and former prime minister Boris Johnson.

His publisher Vintage Books described him as “stylist supreme” and said it had been a “profound privilege and pleasure” to have worked with him.

Amis is survived by his wife, writer Isabel Fonseca, and his children Louis, Jacob, Fernanda, Clio and Delilah.