Novelist E L Doctorow dies, aged 84

E L Doctorow, the acclaimed American Jewish author, has died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 84.

In a tweet, United States president Barack Obama paid tribute, describing him as “one of America’s greatest novelists.

“His books taught me much, and he will be missed.”

Born in New York, the child of Russian Jewish immigrants, Doctorow was known for novels such as Ragtime and Billy Bathgate.

He was recognised last year with the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

He seemed set on a literary career, even from birth – his parents named him Edgar Lawrence after the 19th-century American author Edgar Allen Poe.