Nobel winning author VS Naipaul dead at 85

London: Nobel prize winning author VS Naipaul died at his home here, his family said in a statement. He was 85.

Naipaul’s wife Nadira on Saturday said that he was a giant in all that he achieved and he died surrounded by those he loved having lived a life which was full of wonderful creativity and endeavour, a British daily The Guardian said.

Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, published more than 30 books over five decades.

His novel ‘A House for Mr Biswas’  was based on the life of his father Seepersad, who was a reporter. The author also penned ‘In a Free State’ and ‘A Bend in the River’.

Born in Chaguanas, Trinidad into an Indian family, Naipaul was six his family moved to the country’s capital, Port of Spain.

He bagged a government scholarship to read English at Oxford’s University College in 1948, where he suffered a nervous breakdown.

In 1955, he married Patricia Hale, whom he met at Oxford. She died in 1996 and shortly afterwards, he married Lady Nadira, who was some 20 years his junior. (UNI)