Hilary Mantel is an English novelist, short story writer, and critic. She is best known for her historical fiction works, including the Booker Prize-winning novels Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012). Her other works include A Place of Greater Safety (1992), Beyond Black (2005), and The Mirror and the Light (2020). Mantel has also written several non-fiction works, including Giving Up the Ghost (2003) and The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher (2014). She has been awarded numerous awards, including the Man Booker Prize, the Costa Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Member of the Order of the British Empire.