We are deeply saddened by the death, aged 91, of our Patron, Barbara Taylor Bradford. Barbara was a great advocate for the Library and an inspiration to local writers. We are grateful for her support, most notably our Barbara Taylor Bradford lecture series which launched in 2023. Barbara will be remembered fondly by our staff, trustees and members and we hope that her legacy will continue.
Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE was born in Upper Armley in Leeds and began her career as a journalist for the Yorkshire Evening Post. She then moved to London to work on Fleet Street and continued on to America to pursue her writing career. An author of 38 novels, all of which have been international bestsellers, Barbara has sold over 90 million novels and is one of UK’s most commercially successful authors of all time.
She became Patron of the Leeds Library in 2021. Martin Staniforth, former Chair of the Trustees of The Leeds Library, said at the time: ‘We are honoured that Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE has agreed to support the Library as a patron. As a charity that has championed the work of local writers over a number of years it seems fitting that Barbara, as the most successful author ever to come from Leeds, should be a patron. We are looking forward to working with her over the coming months and years to help establish both an annual lecture and literary award which we hope will inspire more people from the city to take up writing.’
