Wilbur Smith

In my teens and twenties, Wilbur Smith was probably my favourite author and I voraciously read all his books.

Wilbur Smith books read

• When the Lion Feeds (1964)
• The Sound of Thunder (1966)
• Shout at the Devil (1968)
• Gold Mine (1970)
• The Diamond Hunters (1971)
• The Sunbird (1972)
• The Eye of the Tiger (1974)
• Cry Wolf (1976)
• A Sparrow Falls (1977)
• Hungry as the Sea (1978)
• Wild Justice (1979)
• A Falcon Flies (1980)
• Eagle in the Sky (1980)
• Men of Men (1981)
• The Angels Weep (1982)
• The Leopard Hunts in Darkness (1984)
• The Burning Shore (1985)
• Power of the Sword (1986)
• Rage (1987)
• A Time to Die (1989)
• Golden Fox (1990)
• Elephant Song (1991)
• River God (1994)
• The Seventh Scroll (1995)
• Warlock (1995)
• Monsoon (1999)
• Blue Horizon (2003)
  
  

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Fascinating facts about Wilbur Smith

• He was born in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia) in 1933 and grew up largely in South Africa, which became the setting for many of his novels.
• His first novel, When the Lion Feeds (1964), was rejected multiple times before publication—and went on to become an international bestseller, launching the famous Courtney saga.
• Wilbur Smith sold over 140 million books worldwide, translated into more than 30 languages, making him one of the best-selling authors of all time.
• Many of his novels are built around meticulously researched African history, especially colonial-era southern Africa, blending real historical events with fictional families.
• He was an avid big-game hunter, sailor, and scuba diver, and often personally experienced the kinds of adventures he wrote about—deserts, jungles, oceans, and warfare.
• Smith famously wrote longhand on yellow legal pads, believing the physical act of writing helped his storytelling flow.
• Despite global fame, he said he suffered crippling self-doubt before starting each new book and feared that “this time I won’t be able to do it.”
• Several of his books were adapted into films, including When the Lion Feeds, Gold, and Shout at the Devil, though he was often dissatisfied with Hollywood adaptations.
• In later life, he created the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize to encourage and mentor new adventure writers, ensuring the genre’s future.
• After his death in 2021, a team of carefully selected co-writers has continued publishing novels based on his detailed notes, outlines, and story worlds, a practice he personally approved while alive.