Iain Banks dies

Iain Banks, celebrated author and honorary associate of the National Secular Society, has died at the age of 59. Mr Banks was an enthusiastic secularist and an atheist who valued rational thought and a just society.

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: "We were always very proud to have Iain Banks among our number. His fabulous literary achievements go without saying, and these will be his lasting epitaph. We are sorry that such an inspired writer and a genuinely warm and genial character has died at such an early age. We should be grateful, though, for the wonderful legacy of stories he has left behind that will entertain and inspire readers for generations to come."

An obituary can be read here.