A report from The Press Association.

The British author VS Naipaul has died at his home in London aged 85, his family said in a statement.

Lady Naipaul confirmed that her husband had died peacefully. “He was a giant in all that he achieved and he died surrounded by those he loved having lived a life which was full of wonderful creativity and endeavour,” she said.

Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, a Nobel laureate born in Trinidad, published more than 30 books over five decades, ranging from comic novels set in Trinidad and Tobago to memoir and travel writing.

His best-known works include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mystic Masseur, A Bend in the River and the Booker prize-winning In a Free State.

In awarding him the Nobel prize for literature in 2001, the Swedish Academy said he was being honoured “for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories”.