JG Ballard 1930-2009

Writer JG Ballard has died at the age of 78. Best known for his books Empire Of The Sun and Crash, both of which were turned into high-profile feature films, Ballard described the majority of his work as "picturing the psychology of the future".

BBC News has a series of tributes from readers, and there are obituaries in The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Times.

The Guardian also has tributes by fellow writers, including Michael Moorcock.

JG Ballard was one of my closest friends for 50 years. Together with Barry Bayley, who died last year, we "plotted" the revolution in science fiction which led to the so-called New Wave and he was a regular contributor to New Worlds, which spearheaded that movement