This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Today Hilary Mantel, the award-winning novelist, has become the only living author to have a portrait on display at the British Library.
The double Man Booker Prize winner is the subject of a new work by 25-year-old artist Nick Lord, who was awarded the commission after being crowned Sky Portrait Artist of the Year in 2013.
Mantel is said to be thrilled with the completed piece and told the Daily Telegraph she wanted the finished portrait to "have a bit of force behind it".
"I didn't want to look as if I was just sitting, contemplating the daffodils, but as though I might have an impact in the world.”
Hilary is best known for her 2009 book Wolf Hall, a historical novel about Henry VIII’s advisor Thomas Cromwell, and it’s sequel Bringing Up Bodies, which delves into the downfall of Anne Boleyn.The painting was unveiled today and joins other celebrated writers including William Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf.
What do you think? Is Hilary Mantel a good choice for the first living author portrait at our national library?