Deaths in 2012

FEBRUARY

2nd - Canadian author of children's fiction Joyce Barkhouse died aged 98; the cause of death was a heart attack.  She was best known for the book Pit Pony (1990).

American author of spy fiction Dorothy Gilman died aged 88; her death was caused by complications of Alzheimer's.  She was best known for writing the Mrs. Pollifax series of spy novels.

1st - Polish poet Wisława Szymborska died aged 88; the cause of death was lung cancer. She was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature.

JANUARY

21st - Italian writer Vincenzo Consolo died aged 79. He was awarded the 1992 Strega Prize for his novel Nottetempo, casa per casa.


15th - Italian writer Carlo Fruttero died aged 85, he was best known for his joint work with Franco Lucentini, especially as authors of crime novels.

12th - English crime writer Reginald Hill died aged 75, he was best known for writing over 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire detectives Dalziel and Pascoe.

7th - Egyptian novelist Ibrahim Aslan died aged 77; the cause of death was heart failure. He is best known for his first novel Malek al-Hazin / The Heron(1983), which was selected as one of the top 100 Arabic novels by the Arab Writers Union.

4th - Costa Rican novelist, poet and essayist Carmen Naranjo died aged 84, the cause of death was cancer.

3rd - Czech writer and publisher Josef Škvorecký died aged 87; the cause of death was cancer. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.