A.S. Byatt (1936–2023)
Author of Possession
About the Author
A.S. Byatt was born on August 24, 1936 in Sheffield, England. She received a B.A. from Newnham College, Cambridge in 1957, did graduate study at Bryn Mawr College from 1957-58, and attended Somerville College, Oxford from 1958-59. She was a staff member in the extra-mural department at the show more University of London from 1962-71. From 1968-69, she was also a part-time lecturer in the liberal studies department of the Central School of Art and Design, London. She was a lecturer at University College from 1972-80 and then senior lecturer from 1981-83. She became a full-time writer in 1983. Her works include The Biographer's Tale, The Virgin in the Garden, Babel Tower, A Whistling Woman, and The Children's Book. She also wrote numerous collections of short stories including Sugar and Other Stories, The Matisse Stories, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, Elementals, and Little Black Book of Stories. Byatt received the English Speaking Union fellowship in 1957-58, the Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1983, the Silver Pen Award for Still Life, and the Booker Prize for Possession: A Romance in 1990. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Seamus Kearney
Series
Works by A.S. Byatt
The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye / The Story of the Eldest Princess / Dragons' Breath (1995) — Author — 12 copies
Possession | Angels & Insects — Author — 2 copies
Cold {story} 2 copies
2001 1 copy
Possession : a romance 1 copy
A Stone Woman (Storycuts) 1 copy
Gode's Story {short story} 1 copy
A Glass Coffin {short story} 1 copy
Envy {story} 1 copy
Associated Works
The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights (2001) — Introduction, some editions — 1,802 copies
A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen (2009) — Contributor — 367 copies
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales (1998) — Contributor, some editions — 298 copies
The Outspoken Princess and The Gentle Knight: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales (1994) — Contributor — 200 copies
The Pleasure of Reading: 43 Writers on the Discovery of Reading and the Books that Inspired Them (2015) — Contributor — 82 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Duffy, Antonia Susan
- Other names
- Byatt, Antonia Susan
Drabble, Antonia Susan (birth) - Birthdate
- 1936-08-24
- Date of death
- 2023-11-16
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK
- Education
- University of Cambridge (BA|1957|Newnham College)
Bryn Mawr College
University of Oxford (Somerville College) - Occupations
- short-story writer
novelist
academic
teacher - Relationships
- Duffy, Peter (husband)
Byatt, Ian Charles Rayner (first husband)
Drabble, Margaret (sister)
Langdon, Helen (sister)
Holroyd, Michael (brother-in-law)
Swift, Rebecca (1) (niece) (show all 7)
Swift, Joe (nephew) - Organizations
- University of London (University College)
Central School of Art and Design - Awards and honors
- Order of the British Empire (Commander, 1990)
Order of the British Empire (Dame Commander, 1999)
Premio Malaparte (1995)
Shakespeare Prize (2002)
Booker Prize (1990)
Park Kyong-ni Prize (2017) (show all 17)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014)
Aga Khan Prize for Fiction (1995)
PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award (1986)
Irish Times International Fiction Prize (1990)
Commonwealth Writers Prize (1991)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature (1998)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (2010)
Erasmus Prize (2016)
Fellow, British Academy (2017)
Golden Plate Award from American Academy of Achievement (2017)
Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award (2018) - Short biography
- Antonia Susan Drabble was born in Yorkshire and educated at a Quaker school in York. After studying at Cambridge University and Bryn Mawr College, she did postgraduate work at Oxford University. In 1959, she married Ian Charles Rayner Byatt and had two children; she later married Peter John Duffy and had two more children. She goes by the pen name A.S. Byatt. She taught in the Extra-Mural Department of London University and the Central School of Art and Design, and in 1972 became full-time Lecturer in English and American Literature at University College, London. She left in 1983 to concentrate on her writing full-time. She has travelled widely to lecture and talk about her work, often with the British Council, and was Chairman of the Society of Authors between 1986 and 1988. She has served on the judging panels for a number of literary prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction, and is recognised as a distinguished critic, contributing regularly to journals and newspapers including the Times Literary Supplement, The Independent and the Sunday Times, as well as to BBC radio and television programs. Her first novel, Shadow of a Sun, was published in 1964. A.S. Byatt was awarded a CBE in 1990 and a DBE in 1999.
Members
Discussions
BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE - SHEFFIELD in 75 Books Challenge for 2017 (June 2017)
***Group Read of The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt in 2015 Category Challenge (April 2015)
JULY: Reading A. S. Byatt in Monthly Author Reads (September 2011)
Reviews
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Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 69
- Also by
- 70
- Members
- 34,959
- Popularity
- #540
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 807
- ISBNs
- 527
- Languages
- 20
- Favorited
- 228
There are many illustrations. It's a lovely book.… (more)