Byatt’s archive brings drafts and diaries to the British Library

The British Library has acquired the archive of novelist and critic A. S. Byatt, bringing handwritten drafts, research notes, correspondence and personal diaries into its literary collections. Announced on 19 October 2026, the acquisition spans 68 boxes and will take up to two years to catalogue once that work begins.

Drafts, diaries and a letter from Iris Murdoch

The archive follows Byatt’s work from her early life through a writing career that lasted six decades. It includes diary entries from her youth, drafts and research for Possession: A Romance, and material relating to The Virgin in the Garden and The Children’s Book.

Among the correspondence is a letter from writer Iris Murdoch congratulating Byatt on Possession. The collection also contains letters involving friends, writers, publishers and academics, offering researchers material on Byatt’s literary and personal relationships.

A record of Byatt’s working life

Byatt, born Antonia Susan Drabble in Sheffield in 1936, published 11 novels and nine short-story collections. Possession won the Booker Prize in 1990; The Children’s Book was shortlisted for the prize in 2009. She also wrote criticism, including two studies of Murdoch, and worked in academia for 11 years before writing full-time.

The range of drafts and notebooks lets researchers trace how Byatt developed stories shaped by folklore, mythology and 19th-century literature. Once cataloguing is complete, file descriptions will help readers identify material for study. The archive joins the British Library’s holdings of writers including Angela Carter, Beryl Bainbridge and J. G. Ballard.

The Library says the acquisition was made possible with support from the British Library Collections Trust and the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries. Byatt’s literary trustees said it was her wish for her records as a writer to be available for research in the UK.

Source: British Library Press Releases