Ian McDonald: key obituary facts
Is Ian McDonald dead? Yes. Ian McDonald died on July 24, 2026, at age 93.
Cause of death: Ian McDonald's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Ian McDonald known for?
He was a Trinidad and Tobago writer.
More about Ian McDonald
Born: 18 April 1933.
Place of birth: Saint Augustine.
Gender: male.
Occupation: tennis player, poet, writer, marketer, radio personality, novelist.
Nationality: Guyana.
Education: Clare College.
Employer: Guyana Sugar Corporation.
Awards: Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Father: John Archie McDonald.
Mother: Thelma Seheult.
Also known as: Ian MacDonald, Ian Archie McDonald, Ian Mac Donald, Ian Mc Donald, Ian A. McDonald.
Occupations: Poet and writer.
Ian McDonald, the Trinidadian-born Guyanese poet and writer whose only novel, The Humming-Bird Tree, became a Caribbean classic, died on July 24, 2026.
Born in Saint Augustine, Trinidad, on April 18, 1933, he described himself as “Antiguan by ancestry, Trinidadian by birth, Guyanese by adoption, and West Indian by conviction.” His writing career spanned decades, and he was also known as a novelist and, in other capacities, as a tennis player, marketer and radio personality. McDonald studied at Clare College, Cambridge, and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
He worked for the Guyana Sugar Corporation.