Wilbur Smith is a British-South African writer who passed recently. Here is everything you must know about his life journey.
Wilbur Addison Smith or simply Wilbur Smith as most people called him was the best writer to have ever emerged from South Africa.
He was born on 9 January 1933 and lived until 13 November 2021. He was 88 years old. There are so many things about this man that I believe you also want to know.
Let’s take a look at his career path and all the other things there is to know about him.
Career
According to history, Smith’s mother introduced him to reading at a very tender age. While he describes his father as “never read a book before“, his mother on the other hand had so much love for books.
His mother reading to him all night and even giving him books to read, developed his interest in reading and writing.
Wilbur Smith is said to have attended Cordwalles Preparatory School in modern-day “Kwa-Zulu Natal“. There, his love for reading happened to earn him the respect of an English master who coached him on reading and writing.
Based on advice from his father that he has to get a “real job“, he studied to become a Chartered Accountant and worked at Inland Revenue as a professional.
During the period when he was still working for the company, he wrote his first book titled “On Finder’s Face” and sold it to Argosy Magazine under the name Steven Lawrence. He was paid £70 which was twice his monthly salary somewhere in 1963.
Since that successful book, Smith Has written over 49 books. He has also sold millions of them approximately 150 million copies over the years.
Wilbur Smith Books
Some of his popular novels include the following and their respective publication dates;
- When the Lion Feeds – 1964
- The Dark of the Sun – 1965
- The Sound of Thunder – 1966
- Shout at the Devil – 1968
- The Sun Bird – 1972
- Cry Wolf – 1976
- Hungry as the Sea – 1978
- Men of Men – 1981
- The Angels Weep – 1982
- The Burning Shore – 1985
- Rage – 1987
- Elephant Song – 1991
- The Seventh Scroll – 1995
- Blue Horizon – 2003
- The Triumph of the Sun – 2005
He has written many books over the years. He has even published a book in 2021 the same year he passed.
Some of his novels were also turned into movies and tv shows. Some of them include The Burning Shore and The Seventh Scroll.
Wilbur Smith Networth
He is estimated to have made about $100 million during his lifetime. Most of the wealth was made from his publications.
Smith also has assets to account for his wealth. He owns a house in London, Cape Town, Malta, Switzerland, and Ireland.
Wives And Children
Wilbur Smith has married on four different occasions and also had four children out of the marriages. He has three sons (Dieter Schmidt, Lawrence Smith, and Shaun Smith) and a daughter (Christian Smith).
He earlier got married to Anne Rennie, and secondly to Jewel Slabbart. Between 1971 and 1999, he was with Danielle Antoinette Thomas.
In 2000, he tied the knot again with Mokhiniso Smith who was his last wife till his demise in 2021.
Wilbur Smith Cause of Death
The author passed on Saturday Afternoon 13 November 2021 at his Cape Town residence where he stays with his wife.
Earlier, he has had his usual reading and writing sessions in the morning with his wife before passing on in the afternoon.
The cause of death has not been released yet. But most people believe he died of a natural cause. Considering his age, it is just right for people to believe he passed naturally.
Conclusion
In short, Wilbur Smith has given us back-to-back novels way before some of us were born. He has also lived chasing his dream and has lived to see all of them manifest.
Reading has always been what life is all about. If we have lost someone who has given people everything worth reading, I think it is a big blow to our jaw.
I know there are still better writers to expect in the future. But it is also very important to give credit to who is due.
Have you read any of his books yet? If you haven’t there is a list of books up there. If you have read some of his books, let me know in the comments section.
