Smith, Wilbur 1933–

(Wilbur Addison Smith)

PERSONAL: Born January 9, 1933, in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia); son of Herbert James and Elfreda (Lawrence) Smith; married Jewell Slabbert, August 28, 1964 (divorced); married Danielle Thomas, February 1971; children: two sons and one daughter. Education: Rhodes University, Bachelor of Commerce, 1954. Hobbies and other interests: Fishing and wildlife conservation.

ADDRESSES: Home—Sunbird Hill, 34 Klaassens Road, Constantia 7800, South Africa. Agent—Charles Pick Consultancy, Flat 3, 3 Bryanston Place, London W1H 7FN, England. E-mail—wilbur.smith\@stmartins.com.

CAREER: Affiliated with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 1954–58, and H.J. Smith & Son, Ltd., Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), 1958–63; full-time writer, 1964–.

MEMBER: Chartered Institute of Secretaries, South African Wildlife Society (trustee), Friends of Conservation (trustee), Rhodesian Wildlife Conservation Association, British Sub Aqua Club.

WRITINGS:

When the Lion Feeds, Viking (New York, NY), 1964.

The Train from Katanga, Viking (New York, NY), 1965, published as The Dark of the Sun, Heinemann (London, England), 1965.

Shout at the Devil, Coward (New York, NY), 1968.

Gold Mine, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1970.

The Diamond Hunters, Heinemann (London, England), 1971, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1972.

The Sunbird, Heinemann (London, England), 1972, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1973.

Eagle in the Sky, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.

Eye of the Tiger, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.

Cry Wolf, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1975.

A Sparrow Falls, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1976.

Hungry As the Sea, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1977.

Wild Justice, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1978.

A Falcon Flies, Doubleday, 1979 (New York, NY), published as Flight of the Falcon, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1982.

Men of Men, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.

The Delta Decision, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1981.

The Angels Weep, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1983.

The Leopard Hunts in Darkness, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1984.

The Burning Shore, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1985.

Power of the Sword, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1986.

Rage, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1987.

The Courtneys, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1988.

A Time to Die, Random House (New York, NY), 1989.

Golden Fox, Random House (New York, NY), 1990.

Elephant Song, Random House (New York, NY), 1991.

The Sound of Thunder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1991.

River God, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Seventh Scroll, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Birds of Prey, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Monsoon, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Warlock, Macmillan (New York, NY), 2001.

The Blue Horizon, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Writer for British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) programs.

ADAPTATIONS: The Dark of the Sun was filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released in 1968; Gold Mine was filmed by Hemdale and released in 1974; the film rights to The Leopard Hunts in Darkness have been purchased by Sylvester Stallone, as have the film rights of two of Smith's other novels. Most of Smith's novels have been adapted for audiocassette.

SIDELIGHTS: A writer of historical adventure sagas, Wilbur Smith is known for his "swashbuckling adventure novels set against the historical backdrop of Africa," as an essayist for Contemporary Popular Writers explained. His novels have sold some 100 million copies throughout the world. Smith once told CA: "I am essentially a writer of entertainment fiction. So far most of my work is against the background of southern Africa. My interests are the history of this land, its wildlife, and its people…. I speak Afrikaans and some African dialects, including Zulu."

Born in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, Smith was first discouraged from writing by his father, who thought the profession would not pay well. Speaking to Jonah Hull of the Out There Web site about his father, Smith explained: "He was a hard man, but a fair one, who wanted me to do something sensible with my life, like be an accountant. I actually was an accountant for a while in my twenties. That made him happy. When I got seriously into writing, though, he couldn't understand it. I think it puzzled him to his death. He wasn't a man who read many books. In fact, I seriously doubt if he actually read any of my books. Even the first one which I dedicated to him." Following a divorce, which brought on depression, Smith began to write fiction to take himself away from the realities of his daily life. While working a day job with the Rhodesian tax department, he spent his nights working on a novel, When the Lion Feeds. The story of an early European pioneer in Southern Africa who fights off the native Zulus and rival Europeans as he searches for gold, the novel proved an enormous success. Smith first gained international success in 1964 with the novel When the Lion Feeds, according to a writer for Geographical. "His name has since become synonymous with adventure blockbuster writing."

Smith's three related novels—A Falcon Flies, Men of Men, and The Angels Weep—are concerned with the European conquest of what is now Zimbabwe. In this trilogy, the Ballantynes, a fictional family, challenge the historical figure Cecil Rhodes, who amassed a fortune in South Africa and after whom both the nation of Rhodesia and the Rhodes scholarships were named. The essayist for Contemporary Popular Writers explained that "in this series, the novels' plots are intertwined with the tumultuous history of Rhodesia, including the slave trade, diamond mining, and tribal warfare." The Washington Post's Richard Harwood, reviewing Men of Men, compared Smith favorably to other historical thriller writers: "Wilbur Smith is more artful than John Jakes and less pedantic than James Michener." Roger Manvell, who reviewed A Falcon Flies for British Book News, praised Smith for the detail of this work; he observed: "The author, who seems to possess an unrivalled knowledge of his subject, writes with an impressive authenticity, as if he had himself taken part in these varied actions a century and more ago." Cliff Glaviano of Library Journal found A Falcon Flies to be "full of adventure, romance, sex, blood, and gore and set in central and southern Africa and on the surrounding high seas about 1860."

In Monsoon Hal Courtney leaves his African estate to hunt down pirates preying on British shipping off the East African coast in the late 1700s. Taking his three sons into the battle with him, Courtney soon finds that the pirate hunt is only part of his mission; keeping his scheming and ambitious sons alive is also a challenge. Writing in Booklist, Vanessa Bush found that "readers who love swashbucklers will enjoy"Monsoon, while Kathy Piehl in the Library Journal noted: "Smith offers plenty of battles and harrowing escapes for adventure fans." A critic for Publishers Weekly concluded: "Once again the veteran author creates a masterful tale of action and suspense set on the high seas, arid deserts and steaming jungles."

Smith explored new historical territory in his three books set in ancient Egypt, River God, The Seventh Scroll, and Warlock. In these books, set some 4,000 years ago, he weaves a complex tale of royal intrigue, betrayal, and assassination. A tale of fictional pharaohs and eunuchs, River God concerns the warrior Tanus and a young woman who loves him, Lostris, whose father conspires to have her married off to the pharaoh instead. Complete with battles involving thousands of soldiers, descriptions of resplendent palaces, and crowds of hundreds of thousands of people on the banks of the Nile greeting their pharaoh, the book was hailed as "compulsively readable" by a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Similarly, Brian Jacomb of the Washington Post Book World declared it a "majestic novel, one filled to overflowing with passion, rage, treachery, barbarism, prolonged excitement and endless passages of sheer, exquisite color."

Smith followed River God with a sequel, The Seventh Scroll. Set in the present, the novel is the story of an adventurous search for the tomb of the Pharaoh Ma-mose, husband of Lostris. At the story's opening, Egyptologist Royan Al Simma and her husband, Duraid, have discovered a scroll from the tomb of Lostris that purports to tell the location of Mamose's tomb. However, Duraid is murdered by a rival. Royan then teams up with Sir Nicholas Quenton-Harper, a wealthy collector mourning the deaths of his wife and child. The two battle villainous rivals, booby traps, and other dangerous events in a race to find the tomb. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called the novel "intoxicating."

In Warlock, Smith's third novel about ancient Egypt, Taita, lover of the deceased queen Lostris, goes into the desert to live as a hermit. Studying magic, he becomes a mighty warlock with remarkable powers. Because of his power, Taita becomes tutor to young Prince Nefer, heir to the Egyptian throne. He finds that his magical skills are tested when rivals plot to kill the young prince. According to Kathleen Hughes in Booklist, in her review of Warlock, "Smith is an excellent storyteller, and the fast-moving action and the exciting plot will hook even those who normally don't appreciate historical fiction." Speaking of the same novel, the critic for Publishers Weekly noted that "though timorous readers may wish to steer clear, those willing to brave the blood and gore will be carried away by the sweep and pace of Smith's tale." "This most recent novel by a master storyteller," Jane Baird wrote of Warlock in Library Journal, "is resplendent with all the power and pageantry of Egypt, the center of civilization of the ancient world."

Some critics have faulted Smith's novels for their politics. Rob Nixon, writing in the Village Voice Literary Supplement, for example, criticized Smith for championing colonialism: "At a time when antiapartheid literature crowds the shelves, A Time To Die serves as a reminder that a considerable audience remains for writing that glamorizes South African racism." But many other critics praise Smith for his masterful storytelling. Writing in the Washington Post Book World, Bruce Van-Wyngarden, in his review of Power of the Sword, noted that "the book's principal strengths lie in the author's considerable storytelling talents and his compelling way with action sequences. Smith writes with real panache about fighting and riding and shooting and bleeding." Simon Ritchie of the This Is York Web site claimed: "Smith must surely be the world's greatest living storyteller."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 33, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1985.

Contemporary Popular Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1997.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 2001, Kathleen Hughes, review of Warlock, p. 1189; March 15, 2003, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Blue Horizon, p. 1254.

British Book News, August, 1980.

Geographical, April, 2001, "The Write Stuff," p. 114.

Guardian Weekly, August 19, 1990.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2003, review of The Blue Horizon, p. 426.

Library Journal, May 15, 1999, Kathy Piehl, review of Monsoon, p. 128; April 15, 2001, Jane Baird, review of Warlock, p. 134; December, 2001, Cliff Glaviano, review of audiocassette edition of War lock, p. 199; July, 2002, Cliff Glaviano, reviews of audiocassette editions of The Angels Weep, The Leopard Hunts in Darkness, and Wild Justice, p. 141; May 15, 2003, Robert Conroy, review of The Blue Horizon, p. 127; October 1, 2003, Cliff Glaviano, audiobook review of the audiobook version of The Blue Horizon, p. 132.

Listener, April 4, 1974.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, November 22, 1987; April 8, 1990.

M2 Best Books, February 19, 2002, "Best-Selling Author in Trust Fund Legal Battle."

New Statesman, October 20, 1972.

New York Times Book Review, October 25, 1970; April 23, 1972; July 29, 1973; May 30, 1976; September 4, 1977; February 24, 1980; April 26, 1981.

Publishers Weekly, December 6, 1993; March 20, 1995, p. 42; May 1, 1995, p. 38; April 26, 1999, review of Monsoon, p. 55; April 9, 2001, review of Warlock, p. 49; June 3, 2002, review of audiocassette edition of Cry Wolf, p. 32; April 28, 2003, review of The Blue Horizon, p. 426.

Spectator, July 6, 1991.

Times (London, England), April 30, 1981; June 16, 1990.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), April 21, 1991; February 16, 1992.

Village Voice Literary Supplement, July-August, 1990.

Virginia Quarterly Review, winter, 1978; summer, 1992.

Washington Post, August 3, 1983; August 4, 1984; October 7, 1985; September 20, 1986; October 9, 1987.

Washington Post Book World, September 20, 1986; February 24, 1994.

ONLINE

Liquid Review Web site, http://users.chariot.net.au/∼rastous/wilbur.htm/ (April 10, 2003), Stuart Beaton, interview with Wilbur Smith and Danielle Thomas.

Out There Web site, http://www.outthere.co.za/ (October, 1997), Jonah Hull, interview with Wilbur Smith.

This Is York Web site, http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/ (March 19, 2003), Simon Ritchie, "Licence to Thrill."

Wilbur Smith Books Web site, http://www.wilbursmithbooks.com/ (April 10, 2003).