Brit author of many awards, AS Byatt, passes away at 87

AS Byatt, the acclaimed British author who won the ‘Booker Prize’ for her best-selling romance book ‘Possession’ in 1990, died on Friday at the age of 87, her publisher reported.

Penguin Random House stated, “AS Byatt, a poet, short-story writer, and critic, died peacefully at home surrounded by close family”.

The publisher praised her as one of our generation’s most significant writers and critics.

The novelist, who was also nominated for the Booker Prize for ‘The Children’s Book’ in 2009, was made a dame in 1999.

Other honors she received over her career, included 24 novels and works of criticism, as well as winning the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction.

Clara Farmer, her publisher at Chatto & Windus, a Penguin Random House brand, described her novels as the most wonderful jewel boxes of stories and ideas.

She went on to say, “Her compulsion to write (A4 blue notebook always to hand) and her ability to create intricate skeins of narrative was remarkable”.

“We mourn her loss but it’s a comfort to know that her penetrating works will dazzle, shine, and refract in the minds of readers for generations to come”, Clara Farmer added.

AS Byatt was educated at Cambridge University and worked as a lecturer in English at University College, London, between 1972 and 1984, before returning to full-time writing.

Her books have been translated into a number of other languages.

She received the Erasmus Prize in 2016, for her inspiring contribution to life writing, and the Pak Kyongni Prize in 2017.

The author was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in 2018.

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