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Author Saul Bellow Dies at Age 89

Saul Bellow, the award-winning author of books including Humboldt's Gift and The Adventures of Augie March, died Tuesday at his home in Brookline, Mass. He was 89.

Bellow was considered one of the great writers of the 20th century. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976, the Pulitzer Prize, and three National Book Awards.

He was born Solomon Bellows in 1915 to Russian immigrants in a suburb of Montreal. His family moved to Chicago when he was 9. Later, Bellow would become immersed in Chicago's intellectual life and leftist politics. He moved to New England later in life.

Friend and colleague Keith Botsford, a professor at Boston University, says he saw Bellow just a week ago and that the writer had been in declining health for some time.

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As special correspondent and guest host of NPR's news programs, Melissa Block brings her signature combination of warmth and incisive reporting. Her work over the decades has earned her journalism's highest honors, and has made her one of NPR's most familiar and beloved voices.