Ian Adams (July 22, 1937 — November 7, 2021) was a Canadian author of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

and non-fiction novels, television, and movies. Originally a journalist, he is now best known for his writing: his most successful novels are ''

S – Portrait of a Spy ''S: Portrait of a Spy'' is a controversial 1978 spy novel by Canadian writer Ian Adams. Adams was sued by a former counter-intelligence official on the grounds the novel's main character bore too close a resemblance to his own life. Forme ...

'' and ''Agent of Influence''.

Childhood

Ian Adams was born in what is now Tanzania to a Lillian and Richard Adams, Irish lay

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

administering a medical clinic in the former Belgian Congo. According to family lore, a pregnant Lillian singlehandedly canoed across a narrow stretch of

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

so that Adams would be born in what was then the British colony of

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

rather than in the Belgian colony his parents were working in. He grew up in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. During World War II, both of Adams's parents joined the British Army, his mother as an ambulance driver and his father as an engineer, while three-year old Ian was sent to

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

. Adams resented his parents for abandoning him at a young age and while the entire family moved to North America, Adams did so separately as a teenager and lived on his own in Winnipeg where he attended the University of Manitoba, studying fine arts.

Career

Journalism

Though an accomplished painter, Adams pursued a career initially as a

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

and reporter. As an award-winning investigative journalist, he worked for five years at '' Maclean's'', Canada's national news magazine, covering many national stories including "The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack" (Volume 80, February 1967), reprinted under the title "Why did Charlie Wenjack Die?" in ''The Poverty Wall'' in 1970. Charlie Wenjack was an

Indigenous Canadian In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the First Nations in Canada, First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in Canada, Métis. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and ''Eskimo'' have fal ...

child who ran away from a residential school in northern Ontario in an attempt to reach his father, 650 kilometres away. The child was found beside a CNR track, poorly dressed and dead of hunger and cold. In the ''Maclean's'' article, he wrote: "Under the heading The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack, he wrote, “It’s not so unusual that Indian children run away from the residential schools they are sent to. They do it all the time, and they lose their fingers and toes to frostbite. Sometimes they lose a leg or an arm trying to climb aboard freight trains. Occasionally, one of them dies. And perhaps because they are Indians, no one seems to care very much. So this, then, is the story of how a little boy met a terrible and lonely death, of the handful of people who became involved, and of a town that hardly noticed.” The story resulted in a series of complaints to the magazine by readers, including the CEO of the magazine's publisher, Maclean-Hunter, who wrote Adams telling him he didn't think that sort of writing belonged in the magazine. Adams quit the publication and pursued a freelance career. In September 2012 Adams was interviewed about the Charlie Wenjack story as part of the CBC documentary "Dying For An Education". Gord Downie, lead singer of the Canadian band The Tragically Hip, cited Adams' Maclean's article as the source for his work, "

Secret Path ''Secret Path'' is a Canadian multimedia storytelling project including a ten-song music album and tour, a graphic novel, an animated television film, and instructional materials. Released on October 18, 2016,Vietnam War and the coup d'état that overthrew Allende in Chile, for publications such as the '' Globe and Mail''.

Literature

During the 1970s and 1980s Adams lived, worked and traveled extensively in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and Central America, mostly covering the so-called "dirty wars". From this period came the novel '' Becoming Tania'' (published by McClelland and Stewart), the love story of Che Guevara and his compañera Tania who was killed with Che in the

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

n jungle. Adams' screenplay adaptation, ''Tango Duro'', was nominated in 2005 for the

Writers Guild of Canada The Writers Guild of Canada is an organization representing more than 2,500 professional writers working in film, television, radio, and digital media production in Canada. Members of the Guild write dramatic TV series, feature films, Movies of th ...

's Best Unproduced Screenplay: the Jim Burt Prize. His 1977 novel, ''

'', led to a libel suit in which a former RCMP Security Service officer

Leslie James Bennett Leslie James Bennett (1920 — October 18, 2003) was a British/Canadian citizen who spent most of his working life as a counter-intelligence official, first for Britain's GCHQ, and later for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Security Se ...

claimed the central character, a Soviet mole who penetrated the RCMP, was modelled after him. The publisher stopped distribution of the book despite the fact that 12,000 copies had already been sold and a deal to turn the book into a movie was cancelled as a result. The case was settled out of court with Adams paying Bennett $30,000 and agreeing to add a disclaimer to the book. The novel was adapted into a play, in 1984 by Adams and

Rick Salutin Rick Salutin (born August 30, 1942) is a Canadian novelist, playwright, journalist, and critic and has been writing for more than forty years. Until October 1, 2010, he wrote a regular column in ''The Globe and Mail''; on February 11, 2011, he be ...

Film adaptations

Ian Adams and his writing partner and son, Riley Adams, have turned several of his seven published novels into movies. ''S – Portrait of a Spy'', was scheduled for production as a feature film (by Alberta Filmworks) in the spring of 2006. The Adams team with Riley as the lead writer has also written the original screenplays for two of the seven MOWs in this fall's

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

lineup. ', (GalaFilms) starring William Hurt, John Corbett, and Wendy Crewson; the second original screen play, ''The Clark Todd Story'', (ImagiNation Films and Box Films, UK) was scheduled for filming to begin early in 2006. His 1999 novel, ''Agent of Influence'', based on the true story of Canadian diplomat John Watkins who died while under Royal Canadian Mounted Police interrogation, was adapted by the Adams team, and aired on the national CTV network in 2003–2004. Produced by Alberta FilmWorks and Gala Films, ''Agent of Influence'' starred Christopher Plummer. The film has been sold by Alliance-Atlantis to TV networks in 132 countries, and in 2003 was recognized by the European Screenplay Writers' association as the best foreign television screenplay. The Adams partnership created the screenplay for the full-length feature, ''Bad Faith'', adapted from Ian Adams' novel of the same title and filmed in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and Montreal during March 2000 by Alberta FilmWorks — is now distributed worldwide by Oasis under the title, ''Cold Blooded''. Ian Adams has also written many hours of produced television for Canadian and U.S. shows.

Bibliography

Novels

*''The Trudeau Papers'' (1971) *'' S: Portrait of a Spy'' (1977) *''Endgame in Paris'' (1979) *''Bad Faith'' (1983) *''Becoming Tania'' (1990) *''Agent of Influence'' (1999)

Nonfiction

*''The Poverty Wall'' (1970) (includes "Why Did Charlie Wenjack Die?") *''The Real Poverty Report'' (1971) *''Power of the Wheel - The Falun Gong Revolution'' (1999)

Plays

*''S: Portrait of a Spy'' (with

) (1984)

Awards

Adams' work ''Agent of Influence'' has received the following awards: *Best Foreign Television Screenplay Award — given by the Les 16e Rencontres Internationales de Télévision: The Euro International Film and Television Festival held March 16–23, 2003 in

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

, France. *Nominated for best screenplay in the Writers' Guild of Canada's 2004 MOW category. *Nominated for best screenplay 2003 Geminis. ''Agent of Influence'' garnered five other Gemini nominations and one Gemini — Ted Whitall best supporting actor. *Awarded a HUGOS "Certificate of Merit" in the Feature-Length Telefilm Drama category at the Chicago International Television Awards, March 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Ian 1937 births 2021 deaths Canadian male novelists Canadian people of Anglo-Irish descent Writers from Toronto Maclean's writers and editors 20th-century Canadian novelists Canadian investigative journalists 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian male screenwriters Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Tanganyika (territory) people British emigrants to Canada Canadian photojournalists