LONDON (Reuters) – The publisher of Booker-prize winning British novelist Antonia Susan Byatt, also known as A.S. Byatt, announced on Friday that she had passed away at the age of 87.
Byatt, whose career spanned almost six decades, was most famous for her 1990 novel “Possession: A Romance”. She was the sister of the novelist Margaret Drabble, and the siblings were often compared to the Brontes, a comparison they did not embrace.
Her publisher, Chatto & Windus, described her as “one of the most significant writers and critics of our time”. In a statement, they mentioned that she “died peacefully at home surrounded by close family” and paid tribute to her “remarkable mind” which “produced a unique creative vision.”
A mother of three daughters, Byatt experienced tragedy when her only son Charles was killed crossing the road in the week of his 11th birthday.
Byatt was born on August 24, 1936 in Sheffield, England, and attended a Quaker school in York. She went on to study at Cambridge and Oxford before becoming a teacher of English and American Literature in London from 1972.
Her first novel “Shadow of a Sun” was published in 1964, depicting the story of a young girl growing up under the shadow of a dominating father.
Following this, she released several more works, some of which were written frantically during university breaks. Byatt eventually left her teaching career in 1983 to become a full-time writer.
Her breakthrough came with “Possession”, which became a bestseller and won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1990. The tale was viewed by critics as a departure from her earlier style towards a more commercial approach.
“Possession” was later adapted into a feature film featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, and her subsequent book, “Angels and Insects”, was also made into a movie.
Byatt received numerous awards and honors, including a CBE and DBE from the British Empire. In 2003, she stirred controversy when she questioned adults reading the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling, criticizing the lack of a spiritual dimension in the magical world created by Rowling.
(The story has been refiled to remove an incorrect picture)
(Writing by Mike Collett-White and Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Gareth Jones)
