Novelist and travel writer V. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad. He studied at Oxford University, then moved to London to work for the BBC

His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Enigma of Arrival, A Bend in the River (shortlisted for the Booker Prize 1979), Half a Life (longlisted for the Booker Prize 2001) and In a Free State, which won the Booker Prize 1971.

He was also shortlisted, for his entire body of work, for The Man Booker International Prize 2009.

His works of non-fiction include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief and The Masque of Africa. In 1990, Naipaul received a knighthood and in 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

V.S. Naipaul

Other nominated books

A Bend in the River
Half a Life