Pulitzer Prize-Winning US author Cormac McCarthy dies aged 89

McCarthy was known for his Western and apocalyptic novels such as The Road and No Country for Old Men, both of which were turned into successful films.

Other books the writer penned, included Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, The Orchard Keeper, Cities of the Plain, and most recently The Passenger.

In a statement it said: "Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy died today of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"He was eighty-nine years old. His death was confirmed by his son, John McCarthy."

His first novel The Orchard Keeper was published in 1965, though it was not until 1992 that he found true acclaim with his work All The Pretty Horses, the first volume of The Border Trilogy.

The book became a New York Times bestseller and sold 190,000 copies in hardcover within the first six months of publication, giving McCarthy the wide readership that eluded him for years.

Following the news of his death, tributes flooded social media to send messages of condolence.

Fellow author Stephen King led tributes writing on Twitter: "Cormac McCarthy, maybe the greatest American novelist of my time, has passed away at 89.

"He was full of years and created a fine body of work, but I still mourn his passing."

In 2007, he was honoured with the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club after releasing The Road.

And in 2009, he became the second author, after Philip Roth, to receive the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for lifetime achievement in American fiction.

McCarthy dedicated The Road to his son, John Francis, and said having a child as an older man "forces the world on you, and I think it’s a good thing."

The Pulitzer committee called his book "the profoundly moving story of a journey."