Derek Walcott dead: St Lucia's Nobel prize winning poet and playwright dies aged 87

He was best known for his collections In A Green Night: Poems 1948 - 1960 and the epic Omeros

Derek Walcott (Getty Images)

Poet and playwright Derek Walcott has died aged 87, according to local reports.

The Nobel laureate - best known for his collections In A Green Night: Poems 1948 - 1960 and the epic Omeros, inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey - was at his home on the Caribbean island of St Lucia.

Walcott was often regarded as one of the greatest Caribbean poets having won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1992.

Other literary awards Walcott won include the Obie Award in 1971 for his play Dream of Monkey Mountain, the Queen’s Medal for Poetry, and the 2011 T. S. Eliot Prize for poetry book White Egrets.

In his later life, he acted as Professor of Poetry at the University of Essex from 2010 to 2013,

His poetry was known for capturing the essence of living on Caribbean islands, earning him worldwide attention. Omeros - which was first published in 1990 - won Walcott the Nobel prize, being praised as a "major work" by professors and journalists alike.