R.I.P.

Nobel Prize-Winning Poet Derek Walcott Dies

The world-renowned poet was 87 years old.

Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott has died, the St. Lucia Star reports. The writer had reportedly suffered from unspecified health issues, and he passed away early Friday morning, family members said. Walcott, who was born and raised in St. Lucia, won numerous poetry awards, including the T.S. Eliot Prize, in the course of his lengthy career as a playwright, poet, and journalist. He was also a professor at Britain’s University of Essex from 2010 to 2013. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992, and was the second Caribbean writer given the honor. When he was given the award, the committee cited the "great luminosity" of his writings including the 64-chapter Omeros, a Caribbean epic.