Author Christopher Hitchens halts book tour due to esophageal cancer

Author, journalist and prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens has had to put the breaks on the tour for his latest book Hitch-22, in order to undergo chemotherapy for cancer of the esophagus.

Hitchens, 61, gave up smoking in 2008 out of “fear,” and because he had “smoked enough in (his) life,” but the Washington Post caught the author lighting up again during marathon sessions of writing Hitch-22. In a statement released by Hitchens’s publisher, the author talks about his current health scare:

…the British-born provocateur, 61, said that he has “been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus. This advice seems persuasive to me.”

Hitchens hasn’t spoken further about his diagnosis, expected treatment or his prognosis.

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