Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1998, has died at the age of 87, the Associated Press reports.

Publisher Zeferino Coelho is quoted on the website of the Portuguese paper Publico as saying that Saramago died at his home in Lanzarote, one of Spain's Canary Islands, the AP reports.

Coelho said the author's health had worsened after a recent illness.

(Posted by Doug Stanglin)