Pulitzer-winning author Cormac McCarthy dies aged 89

Renowned American author Cormac McCarthy has passed away at the age of 89, according to an announcement from his publisher, Penguin Random House. The celebrated writer, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Road, died from natural causes at his residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

McCarthy’s literary works, which include No Country for Old Men and The Road, often depicted violent scenes set in the American frontier and post-apocalyptic worlds. Both novels were later adapted into critically acclaimed films. Despite his success, McCarthy was known to be a private individual.

Fellow author Stephen King expressed his condolences on social media, referring to McCarthy as “maybe the greatest American novelist of my time.” He added, “He was full of years and created a fine body of work, but I still mourn his passing.” Pan Macmillan, McCarthy’s UK publisher, described him as “one of the world’s most influential and renowned writers.”

The Road, published in 2006, narrates the harrowing journey of a father and son as they attempt to survive in a post-apocalyptic United States. The novel earned McCarthy the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2007. His 2005 book, No Country for Old Men, tells the bleak tale of a drug deal gone awry in the Texas desert. The Coen brothers adapted the novel into a highly successful thriller, starring Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones, which won four Oscars, including best picture.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1933, McCarthy was raised in an Irish Catholic family with five siblings. The majority of his childhood was spent in Knoxville, Tennessee, where his father worked as a lawyer. McCarthy’s literary career began with the publication of his first novel, The Orchard Keeper, in 1965. His most recent works, The Passenger and Stella Maris, were published at the end of last year. In addition to his novels, McCarthy also wrote screenplays and short stories.

Throughout his lengthy career, McCarthy seldom gave media interviews or made public appearances. In a rare 2007 interview with Oprah Winfrey, he explained his reasoning: “I don’t think [interviews] are good for your head. If you spend a lot of time thinking about how to write a book, you probably shouldn’t be thinking about it, you probably should be doing it.”