Richard Osman among authors missing royalties amid ongoing cyber-attack on British Library

Writers’ much-needed ‘annual windfall’ of up to £6,600 delayed as library in London struggles to restore crippled systems

Richard Osman’s cosy crime books The Thursday Murder Club and The Man Who Died Twice, followed by, appropriately enough, Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library were the most borrowed library books in the UK this time last year.

In February 2023, those authors would have been paid thousands of pounds each from Public Lending Right (PLR) payments – money earned by writers, illustrators and translators each time a book is borrowed. But not this year.