American fantasy writer Raymond E. Feist will be speaking about his writing in Wellington on Thursday 20th June in the Mezzanine Room of  Central Library at 6.00pm. This event is free and there are chances to win signed copies of his long awaited, most recently published novel titled, Magician’s End. This is the fourth and final volume in the Riftwar Cycle that began with his first published novel in 1982, titled Magician. Since then Raymond Feist has produced 31 other novels, numerous essays and short fiction. All 30 of his novels make up the volumes to nine different fantasy series, with the only stand alone novel being Faerie Tale, published in 1988.

Raymond Feist was born in 1945 in California, and started writing while at university, and two years after graduating with a B.A. in Communication Arts with Honours completed and published his first novel. It was the beginning of the Rift War series and also the beginning of a prolific writing career that has and continues to give much pleasure to Fantasy fiction fans all over the world.

The winner of the £10,000 Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje prize for 2013 has been awarded to Philip Hensher for his novel titled Scenes from Early Life published in 2012. The Ondaatje prize was established ten years ago by Christopher Ondaatje, brother of the novelist Michael, for literature that suggests a very real sense of place. Philip Hensher’s novel is set in East Pakistan during the war of Independence and tells of the defiant lives of a Bengali family – it is the combination of memoir, history and fiction, beautifully written and realised.

Chinua Achebe has died aged 82 in Boston. Born in 1930 in Nigeria he studied literature and medicine. After graduating he worked for the Nigeria Broadcasting Company, eventually becoming the Director. His first novel titled, Things Fall Apart was published in 1958 and has since sold 8 million copies and has been translated in 50 different languages. He went to America in 1966 and taught at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Connecticut, ending his teaching career as Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. From his first novel he went on to have 4 other novels published, 8 collections of short stories, 6 collections of poetry, 8 works of non-fiction that include essays and political commentary, and 4 books for children. In 2007 he was awarded The Man Booker International Prize.

The well-know and much admired horror writer James Herbert has died aged 69 years.
Born in London in 1943 he began writing at the age of 28. His first book, a disaster novel titled The Rats was published in 1974 and his writing was continual, producing a novel nearly every year, with a total of 23 novels along with a number of short stories. Over 54 million copies of his novels were sold world wide and were translated into 34 languages. James Herbert also designed his own book covers. Five of his novels were adapted into film, with The Rats also being made into a computer game. His last novel, Ash was published in 2012.

The very popular Irish author Maeve Binchy has died aged 72. Her first novel, Light a Penny Candle was published in 1982 and she produced fourteen other novels, ten collections of short stories, several non-fiction works, novellas and a play. Her novel, Circle of Friends was adapted into film in 1995. Her novels have been translated into 37 languages and sold over 40 million copies worldwide. Although she announced her retirement in 2000, she continued writing and in 2010 her last novel titled Minding Frankie was published.