Ian McDonald
Ian McDonald is an Award-winning Science Fiction novelist, who lives in Belfast. His themes include nanotechnology, post cyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies.
Born in 1960's Manchester, son to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, Ian moved to Belfast at the age of five and has resided there ever since. Ian became a fan of Science Fiction from childhood TV, books and magazines and began writing at an early age, later selling his first story to a local Belfast magazine when he was 22, and having his first novel Desolation Road published in 1988.
Ian is now heavily involved in the television sector and works as script writer and consultant as well as continuing his science fiction writing. His book Brasyl has been nominated for the Warwick Prize.
Watch Ian talk about his writing, how he got his work published, his plans for the future and learn some of his top tips.
Scroll through the clip-strip below and click on a thumbnail to choose which of the four videos you want to watch in the media player.
In order to see this content you need to have both enabled and installed. Visit for full instructions