Gothic novelist Anne Rice dies at age 80
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Anne Rice, the gothic novelist best known for writing Interview With The Vampire, died on Saturday (Dec 11) aged 80, her family said.
“In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her courage,” her son Christopher Rice said in a post on her Facebook page.
He said she died of complications from a stroke.
She wrote dozens of books, many of them in the “Vampire” series, selling more than 150 million worldwide.
Another of her works, The Queen Of The Damned, was adapted into a film in 2002.
“The immensity of our family’s grief cannot be overstated. As my mother, her support for me was unconditional – she taught me to embrace my dreams, reject conformity and challenge the dark voices of fear and self-doubt,” her son wrote.
“As a writer, she taught me to defy genre boundaries and surrender to my obsessive passions.”
She will be interred at a private ceremony in New Orleans, the statement said.
A public celebration will be held next year in the city, with “friends, readers and fans” invited, her son added.