Clive James is the author of more than thirty books. As well as his four volumes of autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards EnglandMay Week was in June and North face of Soho, he has published collections of literary and television criticism, essays, travel writing, verse and novels.

As a television performer he has appeared regularly for both the BBC and ITV, most notably as writer and presenter of the Postcard series of travel documentaries. He helped to found the independent television production company Watchmaker and the Internet enterprise Welcome Stranger, one of whose offshoots is a multimedia personal website.

In 1992 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins memorial medal for literature. His latest book is Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time published in April 2007.