Caribbean Nobel Laureate Dead At 87

Reports from the Saint Lucia Star this morning indicates that Caribbean Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott has passed away at the grand old age of 87.

By NAN Contributor

News Americas, CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Fri. Mar. 17, 2017: Reports from the Saint Lucia Star this morning indicates that Caribbean Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott has passed away at the grand old age of 87.

The paper cited relatives and sources close to the Castries, Saint Lucian-born poet and playwright, as saying he died Friday morning after suffering from health issues.

Walcott, a poet and playwright, received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem Omeros (1990), which many critics view as his “major achievement.”

Walcott was Professor of Poetry at the University of Essex from 2010 to 2013. In addition to having won the Nobel, he won many other literary awards over the course of his career, including an Obie Award in 1971 for his play Dream on Monkey Mountain, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award, a Royal Society of Literature Award, the Queen’s Medal for Poetry, the inaugural OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the 2011 T. S. Eliot Prize for his book of poetry White Egrets and the Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry Lifetime Recognition Award in 2015.

Walcott is survived by three children: Peter Walcott, Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw and Anna Walcott-Hardy.