Sad news: Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series, dies aged 66

[Paul Mather]

I just read this sad news on the Grauniad.  I knew he'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, but the news of his death came as unexpected to me. :-(

Cheers,

Paul.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/12/terry-pratchett-author-of-the-discworld-series-dies-aged-66

Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series, dies aged 66

Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld comic fantasy series of novels, has died aged 66.

Publishers Transworld announced the news “with immeasurable sadness”. Managing director Larry Finlay, said: “The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds.”

The author of more than 70 books died at his home “with his cat sleeping on his bed, surrounded by his family” earlier on Thursday.
Pratchett, who had early onset Alzheimer’s disease, leaves his wife, Lyn, and their daughter, Rhianna.

He had, said Finlay “enriched the planet like few before him”.
“All who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirise this world: he did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention”.

“Terry faced his Alzheimer’s disease (an ‘embuggerance’, as he called it), publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come.”

Pratchett’s official Twitter account carried the news with a reference to the Discworld novels:

— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob) March 12, 2015
AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.

He was diagnosed with PCA (posterior cortical atrophy), a progressive, degenerative condition involving the loss and dysfunction of brain cells, in 2007. He spoke openly about his condition and campaigned for greater awareness, battling it “with his trademark determination and creativity”, said Finlay.

He continued to write and completed his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014 before succumbing to the final stages of the disease.

He was the UK’s bestselling author of the 1990s and sold more than 85m books worldwide.


Terry Pratchett with his OBE. Photograph: Michael Stephens/PA
He was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 new year’s honours. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.

He made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust and filmed a television programme chronicling his experiences with the disease for the BBC.