Sad Day for Poetry: Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott Passes Away at 87

Derek Walcott received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1992. (Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Berfrois)

Nobel-prize winning poet Derek Walcott died on the island of St Lucia at the age of 87 on Friday. Walcott’s poetry is known for capturing the essence of his native Caribbean, making him the region's most internationally famous writer.

Jeff Seroy, a spokesman for publisher Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, said Walcott died shortly after 5 am (local time) on Friday. The cause of death was not immediately known, but Seroy said Walcott had been ill for some time and had recently returned home from a hospital stay.

His longtime companion, Sigrid Nama, was with him at the time of his death, Seroy said.

Walcott received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1992 after being shortlisted for the honour for many years.

“My deepest sympathies go out to Derek’s family (and) his children,” St Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet said, calling the poet, painter and playwright “a Caribbean patriot.” He said the country’s flag would be flown at half mast in Walcott’s honour until Tuesday.

Walcott, who was born on the volcanic island in 1930, came to the attention of the public in 1962, with a collection of poems called, In a Green Night, which celebrated the Caribbean.

In Omeros (1990), an epic poem considered his most ambitious and accomplished work, he invoked Caribbean voices through Greek myth, drawing on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

Two years later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize, and in its citation, the Swedish Academy said:

He has both African and European blood in his veins. In him, West Indian culture has found its great poet.

Britain's former poet laureate Andrew Motion described Walcott as a member of the great Nobel-winning poetic generation.

He did as much or more than anyone to win the global respect for Caribbean writing that it deserves and now enjoys.

Andrew Motion’s emailed statement

Walcott's children, Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw and Anna Walcott-Hardy, said his funeral would be held on the island.

(With inputs from media agencies.)