Brian Aldiss, at his home in Oxford
PHOTO: THE GUARDIAN
Aldiss' agent and son have announced that the author, artist, poet and memoirist died at his home in Oxford on August 19, 2017. "Brian had celebrated his birthday with close friends and family and spoken to many close to him,” wrote Tim Aldiss, his son, on Twitter as he announced the death of "our beloved father and grandfather."
Senior journalist and Pakistan movement activist Sharif Farooq passes away
Aldiss was the notable author of classics such as Non-Stop, Hothouse, and Greybeard, as well as the Helliconia trilogy. His agent described the trilogy as bridging "the gap between classic science fiction and contemporary literature." His numerous short stories include Super-Toys last All Summer Log, which was adapted into a Steven Spielberg film.
He also received multiple awards; the Hugo and Nebula prizes for science fiction and fantasy, an honourary doctorate from the University of Reading, the title of grand master from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In addition, he also received an OBE for his services to literature. In a 2013 profile of Aldiss for the Guardian, Stuart Kelly described him as “the grand old man of British science fiction”, saying that “few writers have contributed more” to speculative fiction.
Adam Roberts said he was "very sad" about Aldiss’s death, "though 92 is not a bad innings". "Aldiss was one of the greats. I remember staying up all night as a teenager to read a tattered copy of Hothouse, before I even knew who he was. And the shock of Helliconia Spring, which was like nothing I’d read before,” said Jon Courtenay Grimwood.
Young poet who fell at NBF, dies
“He was stubborn, stroppy, and an inveterate raconteur, and it seemed sometimes that there was no great writer, from TS Eliot to Kingsley Amis to Dylan Thomas, that he hadn’t known or hadn’t been drinking with."
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ