No word yet on Naipaul funeral

VS Naipaul would have turned 86 yesterday.

Although today is a week since he died in London, there has been no announcement of a funeral for Sir Vidia or when it will take place.

The Nobel Prize recepient for literature, who published 30 novels, had been ailing for the past three months.

He was visited in April by one of his surviving sisters, Savi Naipaul Akal, 80.

Akal could not be reached yesterday to ascertain whether there is going to be a funeral, which, Newsday was told on Wednesday, will be by invitation only, if there is one.

The Daily Telegraph in London carried a story yesterday about Naipaul, but made no mention of a funeral.

Naipaul’s wife Lady Nadira Naipaul is mourning his passing, as well as two of her children who lived with them in Wiltshire.

On Naipaul’s Facebook page yesterday, where Lady Nadira usually responds to posts, fans wished the world-acclaimed writer happy birthday.

A photo of a younger Naipaul in Oxford, where he went to university, was posted, along with an array of his novels such as A Bend in the River and A House for Mr Biswas. Condolences were sent to his sisters in Trinidad, the United States and England.

Newsday sent a message to Lady Nadira via the inbox on Wednesday, but there was no indication that she had seen it.