‘Ragtime’ Author E.L. Doctorow Dies At Age 84

@reuters
‘Ragtime’ Author E.L. Doctorow Dies At Age 84

(Reuters) – E.L. Doctorow, the author of popular novels grounded in American history including Ragtime and Billy Bathgate, has died at age 84, his publisher said on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the Random House Publishing Group gave no further details but the New York Times, citing the writer’s son Richard, said Doctorow died in New York on Tuesday of complications from lung cancer.

“E.L. Doctorow was one of America’s greatest novelists. His books taught me much, and he will be missed,” President Barack Obama said in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon.

“Through books of great beauty and power, and characters I’ll never forget, he showed us America’s great flaws and its astonishing promise, and our own,” Kate Medina, Doctorow’s editor at Random House, said in a written statement.

“Edgar was fun, even as he was holding all of us to the high standards he set for himself. To be with him was to be at one’s best; to read him was to discover, again and again, the joy of reading a master,” Medina said.

According to the publishing house, Doctorow was born in New York in 1931 and named after American writer Edgar Allen Poe.

During his long career he was awarded the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Awards, and two PEN Faulkner Awards, among other honors.

(Reporting by Peter Cooney in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric Beech and Edmund Klamann)

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

Joe Biden
President Joe Biden

Last week,The Economist's presidential polling average set in motion a reevaluation of the general election when President Joe Biden pulled ahead of Donald Trump for the first time since September 2023.

Keep reading...Show less
Alex Jones

Alex Jones

At a press conference on Tuesday, March 26, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told reporters that there was no sign of terrorism or foul play in the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge — which had been struck by a freighter. According to Moore and the Biden White House, there was no indication that it was anything other than a tragic accident.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}