Ian Adams (July 22, 1937 — November 7, 2021) was a Canadian author of fiction and non-fiction novels, television, and movies. Originally a journalist, he later authored the novels S – Portrait of a Spy and Agent of Influence.
Early life and education
Adams was born in present-day Tanzania to Lillian and Richard Adams, Irish lay missionaries who were 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 so that Adams would be born in what was then the British colony of Tanganyika rather than in the Belgian colony his parents were working in. He grew up in Central and East Africa.
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. Adams resented his parents for abandoning him at a young age. The entire family later moved to North America, but Adams did so separately as a teenager, living on his own in Winnipeg, where he studied fine arts at the University of Manitoba. 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 2016 multimedia work, "Secret Path".
Globe and Mail
Adams' reported for the Globe and Mail and other media, and covered international events, including the Vietnam War and the coup d'état, which overthrew Allende in Chile.
Film adaptations
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 spring 2006.
The Adams team with Riley as the lead writer have written screenplays for CTV, including Hunt for Justice; the original screenplay, The Clark Todd Story, (ImagiNation Films and Box Films, UK), was filmed 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 CTV in 2003 and 2004. Produced by Alberta-based FilmWorks and Gala Films, Agent of Influence starred Christopher Plummer. The film was 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.
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 Rick Salutin) (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, 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.