Guyanese author, Sir Wilson Harris, dies at 96

Mar 09, 2018 News

Sir Wilson Harris

Wilson Harris, Guyana-born author, poet and essayist died yesterday at the age of 96 in England.

Harris, the celebrated author who emigrated to England in 1959 and has lived there since, wrote over 26 novels, numerous works of poetry, essays and speeches, from 1960, over a 50-year period.

In 1987, his novel Da Silva da Silva was adapted for a film produced by Tariq Ali of Bandung Productions for Channel Four in the UK.

Peacock (1960), The Far Journey of Oudin (1961), The Whole Armour ( 1962) and the Secret Ladder (1963), were all published by Faber and Faber, which has published all 26 of his novels. In recent years, Faber and Faber have re-issued the Guyana Quartet in a single volume.

Harris has been the recipient of several awards including the Guyana Prize for Literature in 1987 and 2002, The Premio Mondello dei Cinque Continenti Award in 1992, The Ainsfeld-Wolf Book Award in 2014 and honorary degrees from the University of the West Indies in 1984 and University of Liege in Belgium in 2001.

In 2010, he was also awarded the Honour of Knighthood for services to Literature by Queen Elizabeth.

Harris had been nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature on more than one occasion.

He is survived by four children: E. Nigel, Alexis, Denise and Michael Harris, 6 grandchildren and 13 great grand children.

President David Granger, along with others, expressed condolences to the family of Sir Wilson.

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