Legendary author of No Country for Old Men and The Road, Cormac McCarthy, dies

13 June 2023 , 19:45
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Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy has died at the age of 89, his publisher, Knopf, has confirmed.

The author, who is best known for his book No Country for Old Men, died on Tuesday at his home in Santa Fe. It's said he died of natural causes.

The statement read: "Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy died today of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was eighty-nine years old. His death was confirmed by his son, John McCarthy."

Other books the iconic author penned, included The Road, All the Pretty Horses, The Orchard Keeper, Cities of the Plain, and most recently The Passenger.

Following the news of his death, many famous faces and fans took to social media to send messages of condolence.

'Labour and business is odd combo - like vodka and tomato or Crouch and Clancy' qhidquiutiqxinv'Labour and business is odd combo - like vodka and tomato or Crouch and Clancy'
Legendary author of No Country for Old Men and The Road, Cormac McCarthy, diesWriter Cormac McCarthy and director John Hillcoat (Getty Images North America)


Among them was fellow literary icon Stephen King, who penned on Twitter: "'Cormac McCarthy, maybe the greatest American novelist of my time, has passed away at 89.

"He was full of years and created a fine body of work, but I still mourn his passing."

Among Cormac's honours were a National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award for his novel All the Pretty Horses.

In 2007, he was honoured with the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club after releasing The Road.

In 2009, Cormac became only the second author, following in the footsteps of Philip Roth, to receive the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for lifetime achievement in American fiction.

All of his writing took readers on a journey across the United States and he even tapped into the bleakness of a post apocalypse world.

Legendary author of No Country for Old Men and The Road, Cormac McCarthy, diesSamuel L Jackson and Cormac McCarthy (WireImage)

No Country for Old Men, featuring the ruthless hitman Anton Chigurh, was later turned into a hit movie. The main character was played by Javier Bardem in the movie.

Despite being released as a book, Cormac told The Wall Street Journal in 2009 that he had originally conceived it as a screenplay.

He revealed they said: "'That will never work.' Years later I got it out and turned it into a novel. Didn’t take long..

"I was at the Academy Awards with the Coens. They had a table full of awards before the evening was over, sitting there like beer cans. One of the first awards that they got was for best screenplay, and Ethan came back and he said to me, ‘Well, I didn’t do anything, but I’m keeping it.'"

Jamie Roberts

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