The report also suggests that Mr Byatt could use the Competition Act, which comes into effect next March, to force water companies to sell unused rights to extract water.
Among the other academicians named at Wednesday's announcement at the British Library in London are AS Byatt, JM Coetzee, Sebastian Faulks, Mark Haddon, David Mitchell, Zadie Smith and Jeanette Winterson.
Lady of the Snakes is a literary mystery crossed with a funny, feminist commentary on marriage think A.S. Byatt linking arms in sisterhood with chick-lit champs Susan Isaacs and Jennifer Weiner.