GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Caribbean Community (Caricom) says it mourns the death of the Trinidad-born novelist and Nobel Laureate, Sir VS Naipaul, who died Saturday at his home in Britain, six days shy of his 86th birthday

In a statement, Caricom Secretary General Irwin LaRocque described Sir Vidia as “a prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction, whose works “elicited much critical acclaim and earned him many literary awards. He was acknowledged as a master in the use of language.

“His unsparing critique of post-colonial societies across the globe was the basis of much of his work and provoked a great deal of thought and discussion,” LaRocque said, paying tribute to “this great son of the soil”.

Sir Vidia, who became the second Caribbean national to have won the Nobel Prize in literature, was described as “a giant in all that he achieved” by his second wife, Lady Naipaul.

She said he died “surrounded by those he loved having lived a life which was full of wonderful creativity and endeavour”.

Sir Vidia, who was born in Chaguanas, Trinidad on August 17, 1932, was known for works including A Bend in the River and his masterpiece, A House for Mr Biswas. He wrote more than 30 books, won the Booker Prize in 1971 and the Nobel Prize in literature in 2001, following the late St Lucian Derek Walcott who won the award in 1992.

His first book, The Mystic Masseur, was published in 1951 and a decade later he published his most celebrated novel, A House for Mr Biswas, which took more than three years to write.