British author and scriptwriter (born 1971)
Jonathan Michael Clements (born 9 July 1971) is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shi Huang, as well as monthly opinion columns for "Neo" magazine. He is also the co-author of encyclopedias of anime and Japanese television dramas.
Background.
Clements speaks both Chinese and Japanese, and many of his works relate to East Asia. He wrote his Master's degree at the University of Stirling on manga and anime exports, predicting the rise of several trends in the international industry including back-to-front printing, direct American investment in anime, and the proliferation of attempts to substitute non-Japanese products. Subsequently, he translated over 70 anime and manga works for British distributors, and worked as a voice director and actor. He wrote his PhD at the University of Wales on the industrial history of Japanese animation, later published by the British Film Institute as "Anime: A History".
He served two years at Titan Books in London as the editor of "Manga Max" magazine, an experience he would later fictionalise as the Judge Dredd adventure "Trapped on Titan". In 2000, he received the Japan Festival Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Understanding of Japanese Culture, specifically for his work on "Manga Max".
Broadcast work.
Shortly after leaving the editorship of "Manga Max" magazine, he became a presenter on the Sci-Fi Channel's Japan-themed magazine show "Saiko Exciting". He has been a consultant and talking head on numerous TV shows, including "New Secrets of the Terracotta Warriors" (Channel 4), "Koxinga: Sailing into History" (National Geographic), "China's Jade Empire" (Channel 4), and "Chinese Chariot Revealed" (PBS). In 2016, he became the presenter of three seasons of "Route Awakening" (National Geographic Asia), a series investigating the origins of several key Chinese cultural icons.
In 2019, he appeared on "Christmas University Challenge" as a member of the winning Leeds University team, alongside Henry Gee and Timothy Allen, captained by Richard Coles.
Script work.
Although Clements has written a couple of novels, much of his fiction work is CD audio drama or radio under the auspices of Big Finish Productions, including the "Strontium Dog" series, starring Simon Pegg, and the Doctor Who spin-off "Sympathy for the Devil", starring David Warner and David Tennant.
Other work includes the script for the comic "Tastes Like Chicken" in the "Judge Dredd Megazine", as well as assorted short stories both there and in Doctor Who anthologies. His most famous work, "Schoolgirl Milky Crisis", was the name for a fictional TV series that Clements often used in his "Newtype USA" columns in order to avoid breaking various non-disclosure agreements regarding real titles that he had worked on as a writer, director or translator. The name was later used as the title to a collection of Clements's articles and speeches.
Books.
Clements's many non-fiction publications, on subjects ranging from the history of the Vikings to the life of Chairman Mao Tse-tung, serve as research for his fiction. His books have been translated into a dozen languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Korean. His major works include:
In 2011, he became a contributing editor to "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" 3rd edition, with special responsibility for Chinese and Japanese entries.
References.
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