‘Empire of the Sun’ author dies at 78

LONDON (AP) — J.G. Ballard, best known for the autobiographical novel “Empire Of The Sun,” which drew on his childhood detention in a Japanese prison camp in China, died Sunday. He was 78.

Ballard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006. He had been ill “for several years” and died in London at the home of his longtime partner, his agent Margaret Hanbury said. She did not give the cause of death.

Ballard was born in Shanghai, China, and was interned there in a prison camp by Japanese troops in 1941 — an experience he drew on in his 1984 novel “Empire of The Sun,” later adapted as a film by director Steven Spielberg.

The writer moved to Britain in 1946, where he lived until his death.

Ballard was sometimes controversial. His 1973 novel “Crash,” which explored contentious themes about people who derive pleasure from car accidents, was made into a film by David Cronenberg in 1996.