British sci-fi icon Arthur C. Clarke will be buried at a private funeral in Sri Lanka’s capital on Saturday, in a secular and simple ceremony according to his wishes, a spokesperson said Thursday.

An aide for Arthur C. Clarke said Thursday that the visionary author would be buried according to the written instructions he had left.

“It will be a secular, simple funeral and there will be no speeches,” said Nalaka Gunawardene, according to BBC News.

Clarke was 90 when he passed away Wednesday, March 19. He had left written instructions that he did not want his funerary ceremony to have the pomp of a state funeral or any religious rites of any faith associated with it.

He will be buried at Colombo’s General Cemetery on Saturday at 1530 (1000 GMT) in a plot owned by his friend and diving company partner with whom the writer lived for decades, Gunawardene said.

The aide added that the writer’s brother, Fred Clarke, and his daughter would arrive Thursday on the island to participate in the funeral.

Sri Lanka became Arthur C. Clarke’s adopted home in 1956. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has described Clarke’s death as a loss to the island.

Clarke’s body has been laid out in a casket at his home near Colombo for mourners to pay respects, BBC News adds.

Gunawardene also said Clarke had left instructions for his personal letters to remain unopened for 50 years after his death. His scientific papers, literary productions and other unpublished work will be available to the public.

The author’s aide also reiterated the three wishes Clarke had once said were his last: conclusive proof of extraterrestrial life, clean energy to stop global warming and peace in Sri Lanka during his lifetime.

“Now unfortunately he didn't live long enough to see any of these last wishes come true,” Gunawardene said, adding that “the challenge for all his fans and all his admirers is to make these three wishes come true as early and as comprehensively as possible.”

Clarke wrote more than 100 books on space, science and the future and is best known for the 1968 story “2001: A Space Odyssey” and his collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same title.