About
Trinidad-born British novelist, essayist, and travel writer known for the classic novel A House for Mr. Biswas, the Booker Prize-winning novel In a Free State, and major later novels such as A Bend in the River and The Enigma of Arrival. He was also known for his nonfiction works An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization, Among the Believers, and Beyond Belief.
Before Fame
He left Trinidad for University College Oxford on a scholarship in 1950. He moved to London and in December 1954 the BBC hired him as a presenter for the World Service program Caribbean Voices. He published his first books The Mystic Masseur in 1957 and The Suffrage of Elvira in 1958. His first masterpiece A House for Mr. Biswas was published in 1961.
Trivia
He received the Trinity Cross and was knighted in 1990 for his contributions to literature. He won the Booker Prize for In a Free State in 1971. He received the Jerusalem Prize in 1983.
Family Life
His full real name was Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul. He grew up in a family of Indian descent in colonial Trinidad. His father Seepersad Naipaul was a journalist and aspiring writer who had a major influence on him. His younger brother Shiva Naipaul also became a writer. He married Patricia Hale in 1955, and they were married until her death in 1996. He married Nadira Alvi Naipaul in 1996, and they were married until his death in 2018.
Associated With
He and writer Paul Theroux were friends for over 30 years.
