David Storey, "a novelist, playwright and screenwriter, best known for his 1960 debut, This Sporting Life, about Rugby League football, set in a Northern industrial city and based on his own experiences as a professional rugby player," died March 27, the Bookseller reported. He was 83. Storey's first book won the Macmillan Fiction Award and was adapted into a 1963 film. His second novel, Saville, won the Booker Prize in 1976. His other works include Flight into Camden and Pasmore, as well as plays The Restoration of Arnold Middleton, The Contractor, Home, In Celebration and The Changing Room.
Dan Franklin, associate publisher at Jonathan Cape, said Storey was "a delightful man." He worked with the author on one of his very last novels, A Serious Man, published in 1998, an experience Franklin described as a "privilege."
Three of Storey's works "were named best play by the New York Drama Critics' Circle, all within four years in the 1970s. He also earned two Tony nominations," the New York Times noted, adding that his plays have been performed in 60 countries.