‘Mine Boy’ writer Peter Abrahams found dead in Jamaica

Peter Abrahams. His novel Mine Boy is one of his popular books. FILE PHOTO

By CARLOS MUREITHI

More by this Author

21.January 2017.

IN SUMMARY

• The newspaper said Abrahams had experienced at least five break-ins at his home in four months in 2016, which resulted in an alarm system being installed.
• Mine Boy, which was a literature set book in Kenya in the 1990s, is considered the first African novel written in English to attract international attention.

Peter Abrahams, a South African-born Jamaican novelist, journalist and political commentator most popularly known in Kenya for his novel, Mine Boy, was found dead at his home in the Caribbean island nation on Wednesday, the Jamaican daily The Gleaner reported.

According to the newspaper, police reports said the 97-year-old was found dead in his remote Red Hills, St Andrew home in a pool of blood and investigators were uncertain about the cause of his death.

“They (police investigators) don’t have any reasons to suspect foul play, but they are not ruling out anything at the moment,” Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, the head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Corporate Communications Unit, told The Gleaner.

“Blood was found at the scene, but based on what the investigators are saying, there is a possibility he could have fallen from the wheelchair, but there is a lot of blood at the scene.”

The newspaper said Abrahams had experienced at least five break-ins at his home in four months in 2016, which resulted in an alarm system being installed.

Mine Boy, which was a literature set book in Kenya in the 1990s, is considered the first African novel written in English to attract international attention.

The book follows the life of miner Xuma and his humanitarian act of defiance against white brutality.

It highlights labour discrimination and appalling housing conditions in South Africa, exposing the conditions of blacks under white regime in the country. It was published in 1946.

SOURCE