Dame Antonia Byatt has died at the age of 87 – as tributes pour in for the acclaimed writer.
The renowned writer, who penned the famous 1990 novel Possession, passed away “surrounded by close family”.
GettyDame Antonia Byatt has died aged 87[/caption]
CorbisDame Antonia pictured in January 1967[/caption]
The famous book was adapted for a 2002 Hollywood movie of the same name starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Toby Stephens and Tom Hollander.
Clara Farmer, her publisher at Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Penguin Random House, said: “
A statement from publisher Penguin said: “She died peacefully at home surrounded by close family.
“A girl from Sheffield with a strong European sensibility, Antonia had a remarkable mind which produced a unique creative vision.”
Dame Antonia won the Booker Prize for her novel Possession in 1990 and was appointed CBE the same year.
The time-jumping tale tells the story of the love between two Victorian poets that is uncovered by scholars in the modern age.
Dame Antonia was made a dame in 1999 and received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in 2018 amid a glittering career.
The author also penned the Children’s Book in 2009, which again saw her nominated for the Booker Prize.
More recently, she published a number of short stories including Medusa’s Ankles: Selected Stories, in 2021.
Clara Farmer, her publisher at Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Penguin Random House, added: “Antonia’s books are the most wonderful jewel boxes of stories and ideas.
“Her compulsion to write (A4 blue notebook always to hand) and her ability to create intricate skeins of narrative was remarkable.
“It was always a treat to see her, to hear updates about her evolving literary characters and indulge in delicious titbits of literary gossip.
“Like all Chatto’s publishers before me, I was devoted to her and her writing. 2024 would have been her 60th (Diamond) anniversary as a Chatto author.
“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.”
Zoe Waldie, her literary agent at agency RCW, said she “held readers spellbound” and called her writing “multi-layered, endlessly varied and deeply intellectual, threaded through with myths and metaphysics”.
She added: “Her formidable erudition and passion for language were combined with a love of scholarship and an astonishing memory, forged learning poetry and rules for spelling and grammar by heart as a child.”
Born in 1936, Dame Antonia grew up in Sheffield and York before studying English at Newnham College, Cambridge.
She went on to study the same subject at Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, and Oxford.
The dame became a teacher at University College London in 1962, two years before publishing her debut book Shadows of a Sun.
GettyThe author won a number of awards across a distinguished career in writing[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
