With 49 novels behind him since the first “When the Lions Feed” in 1964, about a young boy who grows up on a cattle farm, he has become a household name in literature all over the world.
His books have been printed in 140 million copies and translated into 30 languages, and some of them have also been filmed.
Smith read thoroughly on a historical background and even sought out the surroundings that provided material for his novels. He was an avid big game hunter, diver and mountaineer and worked for a time in a gold mine to gain experience for one of his books.
One of his most famous works is the Courtney series, which spans several generations over three centuries, from the first British to establish colonies in southern Africa to the American Civil War and apartheid in South Africa.
But it was Taita, the main character in his Egyptian series, who was closest to his heart, and the book “River God” is still one of the most famous and popular.
“In his 49 novels, he has taken us to the gold mines of South Africa, piracy in the Indian Ocean, buried treasures on tropical islands, conflicts in Arabia and Khartoum, ancient Egypt, Germany and Paris during World War II, India, the American continent and Antarctica. “and we have met unscrupulous diamond smugglers, slave traders and big game hunters in the jungles and bush of Africa,” reads an announcement on Wilbur Smith Books’ website.
The British newspaper Daily Mail writes that it is a miracle that Smith’s books, described as the ultimate action author, still have appeal today when one considers «the politically incorrect vortex of sex, violence, arbitrary contempt for women, big game hunters, mining , large-breasted women and slaughtered animals »in his books.
Wilbur Smith was born in 1933 in what was then Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, on his British parents’ vast ranch, where he became well acquainted with Africa’s forests, hills and savannas.
He studied at Rhodes University in South Africa and worked for a period as an accountant before the success of his first book led to his becoming a full-time author.
(©NTB)
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