Latest update September 11th, 2026 10:26 AM
Mar 09, 2018 News
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.
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Sep 11, 2026
– Elite U17 competition to run simultaneously as new feature (Kaieteur News) – The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Under-17 Youth Ensemble Programme will kick off nationally this weekend,...Sep 11, 2026
(Kaieteur News) – This time, I went to Guru, I asked him what I thought was the most important question of all. “Guru,” I said, “what is happiness?” He smiled. “You have come a long way to ask a very difficult question.” “Isn’t happiness simply being happy?” “No,” he...Sep 06, 2026
By Sir Ronald Sanders (Kaieteur News) – The world has broken the 1.5°C promise it made to its most vulnerable countries. The breach has not yet been recorded on a sustained basis, but the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says it is widely assessed as unavoidable and likely within the...Sep 11, 2026
(Kaieteur News) – The best manner in which Guyana’s indigenous can be honored in this their Heritage Month is through a credible Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the MV Barima catastrophe. An avoidable tragedy now written in blood on the books of Guyana. The callous, reckless, and...Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: glennlall2000@gmail.com / kaieteurnews@yahoo.com