Remembering Dame Hilary Mantel, recipient of the Bodley Medal (2013)

23 September 2022
Dame Hilary Mantel in a red and grey academic gown standing on rooftop with Oxford skyline behind. She is accompanied by a woman in full academic dress and two men in dark suits.

The Bodleian Libraries are deeply saddened to learn that the acclaimed novelist Dame Hilary Mantel has died.

Dame Hilary Mantel was one of the most original writers of her generation, her work ranging from historical fiction to personal memoir.

A Place of Greater Safety dealt with the French Revolution, and she received multiple accolades (including two Booker Prizes) for her Thomas Cromwell Trilogy, Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light.

In 2013 we were delighted to award Dame Hilary with the Bodley Medal for her contribution to the world of letters.

She remained a friend to the Bodleian Libraries, visiting again in 2016 when Bodley’s Librarian Richard Ovenden enjoyed showing her and her husband around the Weston Library when she received an Honorary Degree from Oxford (together with Professor Dame Hermione Lee and Professor John Barnard), pictured.