‘Legacy of author Terry Pratchett will endure’
PRATCHETT CAMPAIGNED TO RAISE AWARENESS OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
LONDON: British fiction writer Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66, his publisher said yesterday.
“The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds. Rest in peace, Sir Terry Pratchett,” said Larry Finlay, managing director of Transworld Books.
Pratchett’s daughter, Rhianna, said: “Terry took death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.”
The prolific author of about 70 fantasy novels was diagnosed with a rare form of early- onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2007.
He is best known for his Discworld series and became Britain’s best-selling writer in the 1990s.
Finlay said: “Terry faced his Alzheimer’s disease – an ‘embuggerance’, as he called it – publicly and bravely. Over the past few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come.”
Pratchett has sold tens of millions of books worldwide in dozens of languages. He published his first novel, The
Carpet People, in 1971, although he did not take up writing books full time until 1987.
Pratchett’s career as a novelist took off with the publication of the first Discworld book, The Colour of Magic, in 1983. The Discworld novels are set in a parallel universe supported on the back of four elephants that stand on the shell of a giant turtle – a universe that bears more than a passing resemblance to our own.
After his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease, Pratchett campaigned to raise awareness of the condition and improve research funding to combat it, while making considerable donations.
His death was announced on his Twitter account yesterday.
The first tweet was composed in capital letters – which was how the author portrayed the character of Death in his novels.
“AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
“Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
“The End.” – Sapa-dpa