British writer A. S. Byatt dies

British writer Antonia Susan Byatt died yesterday at the age of 87, the Palestinian News Agency reported today, citing her publisher. Byatt won the Booker Prize in 1990, the most important prize for literature in Great Britain, for her novel “Possession.”

“Antonia’s books are the most beautiful jewel boxes of stories and ideas,” said her publisher Chatto and Windus of the Penguin Random House publishing group.

In “Obsessed,” two young literary scholars discover a hidden love story between their research subjects, two Victorian poets. The story was later made into a movie starring actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

Born in Sheffield

Writer Antonia Susan Drabble was born in Sheffield, England, in 1936. Byatt initially worked as a university lecturer and literary critic, while her younger sister made a name for herself as a writer.

But after a few not very successful novels, the tide turned with “Obsession”. She later published, among others, The Tower of Babel, The Little Black Book of Stories, and The Children’s Book.