Award-winning author Dame Antonia Byatt dies aged 87
- Described as ‘one of the most important writers and critics of our time’
- Publisher says she ‘died peacefully at home surrounded by immediate family’
Dame Antonia Byatt, author of Possession, has died at the age of 87, her publisher has announced.
The famed novelist, critic and poet was described by Penguin Random House as “one of the most important writers and critics of our time.”
In a statement, the publisher said they were “deeply saddened” to announce the death of Dame Byatt – whose full name was Antonia Susan Byatt.
Penguin said: “She died peacefully at home surrounded by close family. A Sheffield girl with a strong European sensibility, Antonia had a remarkable mind that produced a unique creative vision.’
The author won the Booker Prize for Fiction for her best-selling 1990 novel Possession.
The novel was adapted into a film of the same name in 2002 and a serialized radio play that ran on BBC Radio 4 from 2011 to 2012.
Dame Antonia was again shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Children’s Books in 2009.
The author was appointed CBE in 1990 and made a Dame nine years later.
In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Prize.
Her most recent publication was a collection of short stories – 2021’s Medusa’s Ankles: Selected Stories (2021).
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