p17 10/01 diary
Internationally acclaimed Central African born author, Wilbur Smith, shares his experience during the second day of the International Festival of Literature in Dubai on February 27, 2009. The first-ever Dubai literary festival opened on February 26 after sparking an international row over censorship when a British novel that features a gay sheikh was rejected. Sixty-five writers from 20 countries, including Britain and the United States, are participating in the four-day Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature, said festival director Isobel Abulhoul. AFP PHOTO/HAIDER SHAH
10 January 2013
South African adventure scribe Wilbur Smith celebrated his 80th birthday last night at the Club at The Ivy with his 38-year-old Kazakhstani wife Niso, Kay Burley, Basia Briggs and a selection of fans from Facebook, on which he has 170,000 followers.
A £1,200 cake decorated with miniatures of each of his 34 thrillers fashioned from icing was greedily consumed. He told of his early days in what was then Northern Rhodesia, where he blew up crocodiles with gelignite and rounded up big game with his father’s Spitfire.
But he didn’t lament the passing of “diesel hunters” and now advocates conservation. A first edition of his debut 1964 novel, When the Lion Feeds, now sells for £18,000.
