British author Martin Amis dies aged 73

Celebrated British novelist Martin Amis died at his Florida home at the age of 73 on Friday. His passing was confirmed by his publisher Penguin Books in a post on Twitter on Saturday.

"We are devastated at the death of our author and friend, Martin Amis. Our thoughts are with all his family and loved ones, especially his children and wife Isabel. He leaves a towering legacy and an indelible mark on the British cultural landscape, and will be missed enormously," Penguin Books UK said.

Amis' battle with esophageal cancer

The New York Times earlier reported on the novelist's passing at his home in Lake Worth, Florida, quoting his wife, Isabel Fonseca, as saying that he succumbed to cancer of the esophagus.

Amis was the author of 14 novels, with some of his best-known works being "Money," "The Information" and "London Fields," along with his 2000 memoir, "Experience."

His first book, "The Rachel Papers" was published when he was 23.

Amis rose to prominence during the mid-1980s and 1990s and is considered to have redefined British fiction. His literary contemporaries at the time included his closest friend — the late Christopher Hitchens, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie.

In a 2020 interview with The New York Times, Amis said, "We read literature to have a good time. Not an easy time, necessarily, but not a hard time and not a bad time."

Amis is survived by his wife Isabel Fonseca and their two daughters, along with three children from a previous marriage.

kb/sms (Reuters, AP, AFP)