British · 1922–1995
Kingsley Amis won the 1986 Booker Prize for "The Old Devils," a novel about aging friends in Wales. The British author's debut "Lucky Jim" defined a generation of comic fiction; his later work grew darker without losing its wit. Amis was one of the Angry Young Men, though his politics shifted rightward over time. His prose style—precise, comic, occasionally cruel—influenced British fiction for decades.