Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy (1933–2023) was an acclaimed American author known for novels spanning Western, post-apocalyptic, and Southern Gothic genres, characterised by sparse punctuation, graphic violence, and profound moral themes. Born on July 20, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island, he was raised in Tennessee and briefly attended the University of Tennessee before enlisting in the US Air Force. He published his debut novel The Orchard Keeper in 1965 after years of poverty and obscurity. McCarthy gained widespread acclaim with the Border Trilogy—All the Pretty Horses (1992), The Crossing (1994), and Cities of the Plain (1998)—and Blood Meridian (1985) later became his magnum opus. No Country for Old Men (2005) and The Road (2006) brought him his Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and adaptations that won Academy Awards. He released two final novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris, in 2022, and died on June 13, 2023, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, leaving a legacy as one of America's greatest novelists.