pulitzer prize - nominated american novelist john updike has died of lung cancers at a hospice near his residence in beverly farms , virginia . he was 76 . born william hoyer mcphee in easton , massachusetts in 1932 , he documented ordinary ― if highly promiscuous ― american life in around 50 titles , beginning with the poorhouse fair in 1959 . he once said that his books were about " the australian small town , the lower class " .
John Updike won the Pulitzer Prize.