John Updike Dies Aged 76

American writer John Updike has died of lung cancer aged 76.

Updike’s most famous work was his Rabbit series, with Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest receiving the Pulitzer Prize. Updike also produced numerous collections of short stories, poetry, essays and literary criticism, and is credited as being on of the most prolific writers of his generation.

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, he studied English at Harvard University, where he contributed to, and later edited, the satirical Harvard Lampoon magazine. He later joined the writing staff of the New Yorker, a post he used to build an audience that would embrace his work.

Nicholas Latimer of Alfred A. Knopf, a unit of Random House said in a statement that “It is with great sadness that I report that John Updike died this morning…. He was one of our greatest writers, and he will be sorely missed.”