Nobel laureate poet Derek Walcott has died aged 87 at his home on the Caribbean island of St Lucia after a long illness, local media reports say.

He was regarded by critics as one of the greatest Caribbean poets.

The writer’s collections include In A Green Night: Poems 1948-1960 and his epic work, Omeros, which draws on Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2011. His winning collection for the TS Eliot Prize, White Egrets, was called “a moving, risk-taking and technically flawless book by a great poet” by the judges.

The Nobel Committee, announcing his prize, said: “His poetry acquires at one and the same time singular lustre and great force... Walcott’s style is melodious and sensitive.”

The poet won many other prizes, including a MacArthur Foundation award—the so-called “genius grant”.

Born in 1930, he studied at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, before moving to Trinidad in 1953, where he worked as a theatre and art critic. He published his first collection, 25 Poems, at the age of 18. He was also an accomplished painter and playwright.

The Cultural Development Foundation of St Lucia paid tribute to Walcott, saying in a statement: “The world has lost one of its noted literary icons.

“Our sympathies extend to St Lucia as a nation, who without doubt are proud and honoured to call him a true son of St Lucia.

“He was very vocal about the island’s culture and heritage, and its preservation, and his love for St Lucia and the Caribbean was evident in his numerous mentions of ‘home’ in his work.”

Speaking about the shock of returning home to St Lucia, Walcott said: “You had to balance off the beauty of the place with some of the poverty around you.” The Poetry Society described his death as “terrible news” and encouraged others to read his poetry in memoriam.

Walcott was also embroiled in controversy over his candidacy for the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry in 2009. He pulled out of the race after academics at the university received dozens of anonymous letters linking him to an allegation of sexual harassment in 1982.

The eventual winner—the first woman to hold the prestigious position—was then forced to resign after just days in office, when it emerged she had briefed journalists on the allegations.