Anthony Burgess, born John Anthony Burgess Wilson, was a British writer and composer known for his prolific literary and musical work. He published primarily under the name Anthony Burgess and is best known for his dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange, which gained notoriety following its adaptation into a controversial film by Stanley Kubrick in 1971. Burgess's versatile career spanned across various genres including the Enderby quartet and Earthly Powers. He contributed as a literary critic for publications like The Observer and The Guardian, and authored studies on classic writers, notably James Joyce.

Burgess's talents extended into linguistics and translation, having lectured in phonetics and translated notable works such as Cyrano de Bergerac, Oedipus Rex, and the opera Carmen. With a passion for music, Burgess composed over 250 musical works, considering himself as equally a composer and an author. His fiction includes the Malayan trilogy, reflecting on the end of an empire in Southeast Asia, and the Enderby series, following a poet and his muse. Nothing like the Sun explores the love life of William Shakespeare.