Novelist Sir VS Naipaul passes away

He was 85.

Born in rural Trinidad in 1932, Naipaul was a Caribbean writer of Indo-Nepalese descent and Nobel Laureate who was born in Trinidad with British citizenship.

He published more than thirty books, both of fiction and nonfiction, over some fifty years.

His popular works included books like  A Bend in the River and his masterpiece A House for Mr Biswas.

Celebrities, writers, politicians condole:

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of the writer and tweeted: "Sir VS Naipaul will be remembered for his extensive works, which covered diverse subjects ranging from history, culture, colonialism, politics and more. His passing away is a major loss to the world of literature. Condolences to his family and well wishers in this sad hour."

Writer Salman Rushdie tweeted: "We disagreed all our lives, about politics, about literature, and I feel as sad as if I just lost a beloved older brother. RIP Vidia. #VSNaipaul."

Writer Amitav Ghosh condoled as he posted: "RIP VS Naipaul. An old piece written when he won the Nobel."

British novelist and journalist Hari Kunzru remarked: "I interviewed VS Naipaul for BBC TV. When we sat down, the first thing he said was ‘tell me what you’ve read and don’t lie.’ Only then would he consent to be questioned."

Hari said: "I made Naipaul cry. I knew he rarely signed books and probably wouldn’t want to put his name on some paperback so I found a 1st of Mr Biswas. He saw it and broke down. Everyone v alarmed. ‘I haven’t seen one of these for so long,’ he said, when he recovered himself. He did sign the book. We were in the room (now part of a hotel) where he had written radio scripts for the BBC when he first came to the UK."

"The producer was terrified of him. There was a list of taboo subjects. Islam, Theroux etc. I had to promise not to bring them up. As I remember he did end up talking about Islam," said the writer.

Image: Wikimedia Commons