Antonia Susan Byatt, better known by her pen name, A.S. Byatt, was a renowned novelist from the United Kingdom who passed away at the age of 87. Byatt left an everlasting mark on the world of literature with his work throughout a career that spanned almost six decades.

Her well-known novel, “Possession: A Romance,” was why she was awarded the renowned Booker Prize in 1990. Byatt, who is the sister of the novelist Margaret Drabble, established herself as one of the most influential writers and critics of her day by drawing parallels between herself and the Brontes.

The First Years of Life and Education

Byatt was given her early education at a Quaker school in York, where she was born on August 24, 1936, in the city of Sheffield, England. She continued her education at Cambridge and Oxford, and in 1972 she began teaching English and American literature in London. She had previously studied at Cambridge and Oxford.

A Literary Career Gets Off the Ground

Byatt’s career as a writer got off to a promising start in 1964 when the publication of her debut novel, “Shadow of a Sun,” took place. This piece explored the narrative of a young girl attempting to navigate life while living in the shadow of a controlling father.

Even though other works followed suit, it wasn’t until 1983 that Byatt took the life-changing choice to quit her job as a teacher and concentrate solely on her literary career.

A.S. Byatt made his big break in the literary world in 1990 with the publication of his novel “Possession: A Romance,” an instant best-seller, and went on to win the prestigious Booker Prize for Fiction the same year.

The academic treasure hunt storyline, which pitted a crafty American biographer against a frustrated English scholar, signified a shift from the former writing style employed by Byatt and embraced an approach that was more focused on the commercial sector.