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Facts about revered author and Nobel Prize winner V.S. Naipaul

TNN | Last updated on - Aug 11, 2019, 16:18 IST

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Facts about V. S. Naipaul, the conjurer of magical prose

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "Vidia" Naipaul was a famous author who wrote over 30 books. He has written both fiction and non-fiction and won several awards including the Nobel Prize for Literature. Here are some facts about his life. Read on!

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Naipaul was born in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago

The legendary writer Naipaul was born on 17th August 1932 in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago. The Borough of Chaguanas happens to be the largest borough in the twin island sovereign state of Trinidad and Tobago.
Photo: Wikipedia

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His father was a journalist

Writing in English, his father would write for the Trinidad Guardian. In "A prologue to an autobiography" (1983), Naipaul wrote on how his father's feelings towards writing inspired his dreams of being a writer.
Photo: Wikipedia

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He studied in Oxford

After school, he won a Trinidad Government scholarship which awarded him the opportunity to study at any institution of higher learning in the British Commonwealth. He decided on Oxford.
Photo: Wikipedia

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His wife was Patricia Ann Hale

He met his wife, Patricia Ann Hale, while at college during a play. She was also studying at Oxford, they both graduated in 1953. She encouraged his writing and they married in January 1955. She often supported him when he required financial help.
Photo: twitter.com/literaturepics

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He worked for the BBC

He would appear on Caribbean Voices by the BBC once a week. His stint with the broadcast giant began in December 1954. While working there, he wrote ‘Miguel Street’, a short story collection set in the Port of Spain, in a span of 5 weeks. The atmosphere of the BBC's freelancers' room in the old Langham Hotel helped him write.
Photo: Wikipedia

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He wrote a novel in the same year

Though the editor of the publishing company he approached liked his short story collection, the publisher doubted it would sell well and encouraged him to write a novel. He then wrote ‘The Mystic Masseur’. It was published in 1955.
Photo: Wikipedia

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His other relationship

He started an affair with Margaret Gooding, a married mother of three, in 1972. He told his wife about the affair and was with both women for the next 24 years.
Photo: Getty Images

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He worked at the Cement and Concrete Association

He was an editorial assistant at the Cement and Concrete Association (C&CA), and this setting inspired his novel, Mr Stone and the Knight's Companion.
Photo: Amazon

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He also worked for the New Statesman and Illustrated Weekly of India

He had a part-time job reviewing books for the New Statesman from 1957 to 1961 and he wrote a monthly 'Letter from London' for The Illustrated Weekly of India.
Photo: Wikipedia

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He married Nadira Alvi

His first wife died of cancer and he married Nadira Alvi, a Pakistani journalist after ending his affair. He adopted her daughter in 2003
Photo: Facebook

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His work won several awards

From bagging the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1958, the Miguel Street the Somerset Maugham Award in 1961 to the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001, all his works have always been praised and won him several awards.
Photo: nobelprize.org

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