V. S. Naipaul Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Biography
Quick Info→
Wife: Nadira Naipaul
Age: 85 Years
Death Date: 11/08/2018
Bio/Wiki | |
---|---|
Nickname | Vido |
Full Name | Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul |
Profession | Writer |
Physical Stats | |
Eye Colour | Black |
Hair Colour | White |
Career | |
Debut | Novel: The Mystic Masseur (1957)![]() |
Awards | 1961: Somerset Maugham Award for his novel Miguel Street 1971: Booker Price for his novel In a Free State 1983: Jerusalem Prize 1990: The Trinity Cross, the highest National Award of Trinidad and Tobago for his service to Trinidad and Tobago 1993: David Cohen British Literature Price by the Arts Council of England 2001: Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel Half a Life ![]() |
Personal Life | |
Date of Birth | 17 August 1932 (Wednesday) |
Birthplace | Trinidad and Tobago, British West Indies |
Date of Death | 11 August 2018 |
Place of Death | London, England |
Age (at the time of death) | 85 Years |
Zodiac sign | Leo |
Signature | ![]() |
Nationality | Trinidadian |
Hometown | Trinidad and Tobago, British West Indies |
School | Queen's Royal College, Trinidad and Tobago |
College/University | University College, Oxford, England |
Educational Qualification | A Bachelor's Degree in English |
Relationships & More | |
Marital Status (at the time of death) | Married |
Affairs/Girlfriends | Margaret Murray Gooding![]() |
Family | |
Wife/Spouse | Patricia Ann Hale (m. 1955; died 1996) ![]() Nadira Naipaul (Pakistani Journalist) (m. 1996) ![]() |
Children | Son- Nadira (adopted from Nadira Naipaul's first marriage) Daughter- Maleeha (adopted from Nadira Naipaul's first marriage) |
Parents | Father- Seepersad Naipaul![]() Mother- Droapatie |
Siblings | Brother- Shiva Naipaul![]() Sister- Kamla Naipaul (deceased), Mira Naipaul, Nalini Naipaul, Savi Naipaul (former teacher) |
Some Lesser Known Facts About V. S. Naipaul
- He was born in a sugar plantation town of Chaguanas on the island of Trinidad.
- He was 7 years old, Naipaul’s family moved to Trinidad’s capital Port of Spain, and then more permanently when he was nine.
- When he turned 17, he won a Trinidad government scholarship to study abroad. The scholarship gave him the opportunity to study any subject at any institution of higher learning in the British Commonwealth, but he chose to go to Oxford to do a degree in English.
- He has published more than thirty books over fifty years.
- In 1953, he failed in an examination due to which he could not attain his degree.
- In 1954, V. S Naipaul moved to London due to unemployment and lack of money at home. In London he too shelter in his cousin’s flat.
- In 1954, he was offered a job opportunity by the producer of BBC of the role of presenter at the weekly program. He conducted interviews, wrote various articles and reviews and presented weekly programs. He worked with BBC and Caribbean Voices till 1958.
- In 1955, V. S Naipaul wrote a story of about 3000 words based on his childhood memory of his Neighbour in Port of Spain’s street. The story touched his fellow writers John Stockbridge, Andrew Salkey, and Gordon Woolford, who later encouraged him to write more often and publish books.
- In 1955, he shifter with his first wife Patricia Ann Hale in a flat in Kilburn, London
- In 1957, he worked as an editorial assistant at the Cement and Concrete Association, which published the magazine concrete quarterly.
- In 1957, Francis Wyndham, an English writer gave him a part time job of reviewing books monthly at New Statesman. He left that job in in 1961.
- In 1961, he was invited by the premier of Trinidad and Tobago of West Indian Federation, to visit countries including British Guiana, Suriname, Martinique and Jamaica to write a book on the Carribean. He wrote his first travel writing The Middle Passage: Impressions of Five Societies – British, French and Dutch in the West Indies and South America (1962).
- Some of his novels include A House for Mr Biswas (1961), A Flag on the Island (1967), In a Free State (1971), The Enigma of Arrival (1987), and Magic Seeds (2004).