‘Sophie’s Choice’ Author Dead at 81

Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Styron died at home on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, yesterday. He was 81 years old.

Best known for two controversial novels, The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) and Sophie’s Choice (1979), Styron was said to have been working on a military novel at the time of his death. According the The Guardian:

Styron’s daughter, Alexandra, said the author died of pneumonia at Martha's Vineyard Hospital in Massachusetts, on Wednesday. Styron, who had homes in Martha's Vineyard and Connecticut, has been in failing health for a long time.

The Guardian piece is here. Meanwhile, The Paris Review offers up a memorium here.