Adam Roberts was born in 1965; he went to school in England, to university at Aberdeen, is Professor of 19th Century English at Royal Holloway, London University and has a PhD in English and Classics from Cambridge. His first novel, Salt, was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He has also published a number of academic works on both 19th century poetry and SF. Amongst his many academic publications is a critical guide to SF, Science Fiction (Routledge New Critical Idiom, 2000). The critically-acclaimed Salt was his first novel; his second novel, On, was published in June 2001, a novella, Park Polar, in July 2001 and a third novel, Stone, in July 2002.

Currently resides in London (UK), south of the river. He currently works for Royal Holloway, University of London teaching English Literature.