Author Bryce Courtenay dies 2 weeks after publishing final novel

Best-selling Australian author Bryce Courtenay, who wrote about the struggles of life in Australia and South Africa, died at his home in Canberra, his publisher said on Friday, just two weeks after his latest novel was published.

His death late on Thursday came less than three months after he told fans he had stomach cancer. He was 79.

“We’d like to thank all of Bryce’s family and friends and all of his fans around the world for their love and support for me and his family as he wrote the final chapter of his extraordinary life,” his wife Christine Courtenay said in a joint statement with publisher Penguin Books.

Known for his dedication to work and prolific output, often writing for 12 hours a day, Courtenay sold more than 20 million books. He turned to writing in the late 1980s after a 30-year career in advertising.

His first novel, The Power of One, the story of a child growing up under apartheid in South Africa, was an instant hit, selling more than 8 million copies and later made into a movie.