V. S. Naipaul

Also known as Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, V.S. Naipaul, Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul

Trinidadian-British writer (1932–2018)

OverviewAI-generated

V. S. Naipaul, born Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul on 17 August 1932 in Chaguanas, was a writer, novelist, journalist, and essayist. He held citizenship in Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom. His notable works include *A House for Mr Biswas*, *In a Free State*, *A Bend in the River*, and *The Mystic Masseur*. He began his work period in 1957 and continued until his death on 11 August 2018 in London.

Naipaul received the Nobel Prize in Literature, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Booker Prize, and the Jerusalem Prize. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society of Literature. He was educated at University College, Oxford, and was employed by Wesleyan University. He worked in Oxford and London and spoke English. He was the sibling of Shiva Naipaul.

Synthesized by Vinony from 32 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, TMDb, Nobel Prize, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1932-08-17
Died: 2018-08-11
Works: 331

via Open Library + Wikidata

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize in Literature2001
“for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories”

NobelPrize.org →

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Gender: male
Citizenship: United Kingdom
Place of birth: Chaguanas
Place of death: London
Sibling: Shiva Naipaul
Occupation: short story writer
Employer: Wesleyan University
Languages spoken: English language
Award: Hawthornden Prize
Notable work: The Mystic Masseur
Noble title: Sir
Field of work: literature
Genre: essay
Image: VS Naipaul 2016 Dhaka.jpg
Work location: London

Show 10 more facts

date of birth: 1932-08-00
member of: Royal Society of Literature
Commons category: V. S. Naipaul
date of death: 2018-08-11
start of work period: 1957-00-00
name in native language: Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
end of work period: 2018-08-11
pseudonym: V. S. Naipaul
birth name: Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
nominated for: Booker Prize

Sources (7)

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Encyclopedic overview

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul FRAS TC (/ˈvɪdjɑːdər ˌsuːrədʒprəˈsɑːd ˈnaɪpɔːl, naɪˈpɔːl/; 17 August 1932 – 11 August 2018) was a Trinidad and Tobago-born British writer renowned for his works of fiction and nonfiction in English. He is known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad, his bleaker novels of alienation in the wider world, and his vigilant chronicles of life and travels. He wrote in prose that was widely admired, but his views sometimes aroused controversy. He published more than thirty books over fifty years.

Naipaul's breakthrough novel A House for Mr Biswas was published in 1961. Naipaul won the Booker Prize in 1971 for his novel In a Free State. He won the Jerusalem Prize in 1983, and was awarded the Trinity Cross, Trinidad and Tobago's highest national honour, in 1990. He received a knighthood in 1990, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “V. S. Naipaul” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.