1981 in literature
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1981.
Events
[edit]- May 31 – The burning of Jaffna Public Library in Sri Lanka is begun by a mob of police and government-sponsored paramilitaries. They destroy over 97,000 volumes in one of the worst examples of ethnic book burning in the modern era.[1]
- August – Sefer ve Sefel opens as an English used bookstore in Jerusalem.
- unknown dates
- John Gardner successfully revives the James Bond novel series originated by Ian Fleming with Licence Renewed (not counting a faux biography of Bond and a pair of film novelizations, the first original Bond novel since 1968's Colonel Sun). The revived Bond book series will run uninterrupted until 2002.
- Colin MacCabe is denied tenure at the University of Cambridge, apparently because of a dispute within the English Faculty about the teaching of structuralism.[2]
- The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is given for the first time.[3]
New books
[edit]Fiction
[edit]- Eric Ambler – The Care of Time
- Kingsley Amis (ed.) – The Golden Age of Science Fiction
- Martin Amis – Other People
- V. C. Andrews – If There Be Thorns
- Louis Auchincloss – The Cat and the King
- René Barjavel – Une rose au paradis[4]
- Samuel Beckett – Ill Seen Ill Said
- Thomas Berger – Reinhart's Women
- Pierre Berton – Flames Across the Border
- William Boyd – A Good Man in Africa
- Pascal Bruckner – Evil Angels
- William S. Burroughs – Cities of the Red Night
- Robert Olen Butler – The Alleys of Eden
- Peter Carey – Bliss
- Raymond Carver – What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
- David Case – The Third Grave
- James Clavell – Noble House
- Bernard Cornwell
- John Crowley – Little, Big
- L. Sprague de Camp – The Hand of Zei
- L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp – Footprints on Sand
- Régine Deforges – La Bicyclette bleue (The Blue Bicycle)[5]
- Samuel R. Delany – Distant Star
- Michel Déon – Where Are You Dying Tonight? (Un déjeuner de soleil)[6]
- Cynthia Freeman – No Time for Tears
- Gabriel García Márquez – Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Crónica de una muerte anunciada)[7]
- John Gardner – Licence Renewed
- Charles L. Grant – Tales from the Nightside
- Alasdair Gray – Lanark[8]
- Jan Guillou – Ondskan[9]
- Thomas Harris – Red Dragon
- Frank Herbert – God Emperor of Dune
- Douglas Hill – Planet of the Warlord
- Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp – The Flame Knife
- John Irving – The Hotel New Hampshire
- Rona Jaffe – Mazes and Monsters
- Alan Judd – A Breed of Heroes
- Ismail Kadare – The File on H (Dosja J)
- Stephen King – Cujo
- Dean Koontz (as Leigh Nichols) – The Eyes of Darkness
- Chart Korbjitti – Khamphiphaksa (The Judgment)
- Joe R. Lansdale – Act of Love
- Stanisław Lem – Golem XIV
- Colleen McCullough – An Indecent Obsession
- Elliot S! Maggin – Miracle Monday
- Naguib Mahfouz – Arabian Nights and Days (ليالي ألف ليلة)
- Ian McEwan – The Comfort of Strangers
- Toni Morrison – Tar Baby
- Robert B. Parker
- A Savage Place
- Early Autumn
- Ellis Peters
- Terry Pratchett – Strata
- Bano Qudsia – Raja Gidh ("King Vulture")
- Alain Robbe-Grillet – Djinn
- Harold Robbins – Goodbye, Janette
- Salman Rushdie – Midnight's Children
- Lawrence Sanders – The Third Deadly Sin
- Martin Cruz Smith – Gorky Park
- Muriel Spark – Loitering with Intent
- Botho Strauß – Couples, Passersby (Paare, Passanten) (stories)[10]
- Paul Theroux – The Mosquito Coast
- D. M. Thomas – The White Hotel
- John Updike – Rabbit Is Rich
- Jack Vance – The Book of Dreams
- Gore Vidal – Creation
- Joseph Wambaugh – The Glitter Dome
- Kit Williams – Masquerade
- Gene Wolfe
- Roger Zelazny
Children and young people
[edit]- Chris Van Allsburg – Jumanji[11]
- Hans Christian Andersen (with Jane S. Woodward and Michael Hague) – Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
- Judy Blume – Tiger Eyes[12]
- Beverly Cleary – Ramona Quimby, Age 8[13]
- Eth Clifford – The Dastardly Murder of Dirty Pete[13]
- Roald Dahl – George's Marvellous Medicine[14]
- Rumer Godden – The Dragon of Og[13]
- Roger Hargreaves – Little Miss (first 13 books in the Little Miss series of 21)
- Florence Parry Heide – Treehorn's Treasure[13]
- Harold Lamb (with George Barr and Alicia Austin) – Durandal
- Michael de Larrabeiti – The Borribles Go for Broke
- Janet Lunn – The Root Cellar
- Patricia Lynch – The Turf-Cutter's Donkey
- Michelle Magorian – Goodnight Mister Tom[15]
- C. L. Moore (with Alicia Austin) - Scarlet Dream
- Uri Orlev – The Island on Bird Street (האי ברחוב הציפורים)
- Ruth Park – The Muddle-Headed Wombat is Very Bad
- Bill Peet – Encore for Eleanor
- Alvin Schwartz – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
- Maurice Sendak – Outside Over There[16]
- Jan Wahl – The Cucumber Princess[17]
- Robert Westall – The Scarecrows[18]
Drama
[edit]- Samuel Beckett – Rockaby[19]
- Edward Bond – Restoration
- Tankred Dorst – Merlin oder das wüste Land
- John Krizanc – Tamara
- Larry Shue – The Nerd
- Barney Simon – Woza Albert!
- Botho Strauß – Kalldewey, Farce
- Patrick Süskind – Der Kontrabaß
- Peter Whelan – The Accrington Pals
- Tennessee Williams – The Notebook of Trigorin
Poetry
[edit]- L. Sprague de Camp – Heroes and Hobgoblins
- Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi – Rang-o-Noor (The Colour and the Light)
- Norman Nicholson – Sea to the West
- Sylvia Plath (posthumous) – Collected Poems, edited by Ted Hughes
- Kathleen Raine – Collected Poems, 1935–1980
- Richard L. Tierney – Collected Poems
Non-fiction
[edit]- Maya Angelou – The Heart of a Woman
- Colin Robert Chase – The Dating of Beowulf
- Mary Chesnut – Mary Chesnut's Civil War
- Hugo Brandt Corstius – Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde
- Daniel Dennett – Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology
- Nancy Dorian – Language Death: The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic Dialect
- Timothy Findley – Famous Last Words
- Stephen Jay Gould – The Mismeasure of Man
- Dumas Malone – The Sage of Monticello
- V. S. Naipaul – Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey
- Giovanni Pettinato – The Archives of Ebla: An Empire Inscribed in Clay[20]
- Anne Scott-James – The Cottage Garden
- Viktor Suvorov – The Liberators
Births
[edit]- Jan 4 – Sarah Crossan, Irish young-adult writer
- April 7 – Lili Wilkinson, Australian young-adult writer
- May 19 – Kiera Cass, American young-adult writer
- May 20 – Ottessa Moshfegh, American novelist
- June 10 – Juno Dawson, born James Dawson, English young-adult LGBT writer
- July 10 – Karen Russell, American novelist
- July 27 – Dan Jones, British historian and TV presenter
- September 30 – Cecelia Ahern, Irish novelist
- October 3 – Leïla Slimani, Franco-Moroccan novelist[21]
- October 12 – NoViolet Bulawayo (Elizabeth Zandile Tshele), Zimbabwe-born novelist[22]
- October 31 – Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer
- December 11 – Hamish Blake, Australian comedian, actor and author
- December 13 – Mathis Bailey, American-Canadian novelist and fiction writer
- unknown dates
- Amy Sackville, English novelist[23]
- Sunjeev Sahota, English novelist[24]
- Saud Alsanousi, Kuwaiti novelist
- Olesya Mamchich, Ukrainian poet and children's writer[25]
Deaths
[edit]- January 5 – Lanza del Vasto, Italian-born philosopher, poet and activist (born 1901)[26]
- January 6 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (born 1896)[27]
- January 7 – John Pascal, American playwright, screenwriter, author and journalist (born 1932)[28]
- January 23 – Lobsang Rampa (Cyril Henry Hoskin), English author (born 1910)
- February 3 – Normand Poirier, American newspaper editor, journalist and essayist (born 1928)[29]
- February 17 – David Garnett, English novelist (born 1892)[30]
- February 23 – Nan Shepherd, Scottish novelist and poet (born 1893)
- March 7 – Bosley Crowther, American film critic (born 1905)[31]
- March 14 – Eleanor Perry, American screenwriter and author (born 1914)[32]
- March 20 – Pedro García Cabrera, Spanish poet (born 1905)
- March 29 – Clive Sansom, English-born Tasmanian poet and playwright (born 1910)
- March 31 – Enid Bagnold, English writer and playwright (born 1889)
- April 1 – D. F. Jones, English science fiction writer (born 1918)
- April 13 – Gwyn Thomas, Welsh novelist and broadcaster (born 1913)
- April 23 – Josep Pla, Catalan Spanish journalist and writer (born 1897)[33]
- April 26 – Robert Garioch, Scottish poet (born 1909)
- May 8 – Uri Zvi Grinberg, Israeli poet writing in Hebrew and Yiddish (born 1896)[34]
- May 9 – Nelson Algren, American novelist (born 1909)
- May 18 – William Saroyan, American novelist and dramatist (born 1908)[35]
- May 23 – Rayner Heppenstall, English writer and poet (born 1911)
- May 30 – Gwendolyn B. Bennett, African-American writer and artist (born 1902)
- June 15 – Philip Toynbee, English novelist and journalist (born 1916)
- June 17 – Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (born 1889)[36]
- June 18 – Pamela Hansford Johnson, English poet, novelist, playwright, literary and social critic (born 1912)[37]
- August 15 – Carol Ryrie Brink, American author (born 1895)[38]
- September 3 – Alec Waugh, English novelist (born 1898)
- September 7 – Christy Brown, Irish writer and painter (born 1932)[39]
- September 12 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet (born 1896)
- October 20 – Mary Coyle Chase, American playwright (born 1906)[40]
- October 25 – Cynthia Harnett, English children's writer (born 1893)
- October 30 – Denys Rhodes, English novelist (born 1919)
- November 6 – Digby George Gerahty, English novelist (born 1898)
- November 30 – Charles Eric Maine, English science fiction writer (born 1921)
- December 9 – C. P. Taylor, Scottish playwright (born 1929)
- December 26 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-born English scholar, feminist and novelist (born 1887)
Awards
[edit]Australia
[edit]- The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Chris Matthews, Al Jazzar; Tim Winton, An Open Swimmer
- Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Alan Gould, Astral Sea
- Miles Franklin Award: Peter Carey, Bliss
Canada
[edit]- See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
France
[edit]- Prix Goncourt: Lucien Bodard, Anne Marie
- Prix Médicis French: François-Olivier Rousseau, L'Enfant d'Édouard
- Prix Médicis International: David Shahar, Le Jour de la comtesse
Spain
[edit]United Kingdom
[edit]- Booker Prize: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children[41]
- Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Robert Westall, The Scarecrows[42]
- Cholmondeley Award: Roy Fisher, Robert Garioch, Charles Boyle
- Eric Gregory Award: Alan Jenkins, Simon Rae, Marion Lomax, Philip Gross, Kathleen Jamie, Mark Abley, Roger Crowley, Ian Gregson
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children, and Paul Theroux, The Mosquito Coast
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Victoria Glendinning, Edith Sitwell: Unicorn Among Lions
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: D. J. Enright
- Whitbread Best Book Award: William Boyd, A Good Man in Africa
United States
[edit]- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kathy Calloway, Heart of the Garfish
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres: Malcolm Cowley
- Dos Passos Prize: Gilbert Sorrentino
- Nebula Award: Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved[43]
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Beth Henley, Crimes of the Heart
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Kennedy Toole – A Confederacy of Dunces
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Schuyler: The Morning of the Poem
Elsewhere
[edit]- Hugo Award for Best Novel: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
- Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero
Notes
[edit]- Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (Second ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198715542.
References
[edit]- ^ Tassie Seneviratne (June 1, 2014). "Burning Of The Jaffna Public Library: Whodunit?". Colombo Telegraph. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
- ^ Newsweek, 16 February 1981, p. 95; see also Philip Lewis, "The Post-Structuralist Condition", Diacritics 12:1 (1982): 2–24, p. 2.
- ^ John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1979). Reports of the President and the Treasurer - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
- ^ Brian M. Stableford (2004). Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature. Scarecrow Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8108-4938-9.
- ^ Janet Husband; Jonathan F. Husband (1990). Sequels: An Annotated Guide to Novels in Series. American Library Association. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-8389-0533-3.
- ^ Michel Deon; Michel Déon (1983). Where are You Dying Tonight?. H. Hamilton. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-241-10908-3.
- ^ Stephen M. Hart (2005). Gabriel García Márquez: Crónica de Una Muerte Anunciada. Grant & Cutler. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7293-0445-0.
- ^ "1981 - Alasdair Gray's Lanark". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Michael Tapper (2014). Swedish Cops: From Sjöwall and Wahlöö to Stieg Larsson. Intellect Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-78320-188-4.
- ^ Charles A. Carpenter (1997). Modern Drama Scholarship and Criticism 1981-1990: An International Bibliography. Modern drama by University of Toronto Press. p. 425. ISBN 978-0-8020-0914-2.
- ^ Hahn 2015, p. 609
- ^ Rothman, Lily (8 June 2013). "How is 'Tiger Eyes' the First Movie Based on a Judy Blume Book?". Time. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d Stein, Ruth M. (1982). "Book reMarks: A Personal View of Current Juvenile Literature". Language Arts. 59 (4): 367–373. ISSN 0360-9170. JSTOR 41404080. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Hahn 2015, p. 227
- ^ Hahn 2015, p. 236
- ^ Hahn 2015, pp. 526-527
- ^ "Literature for Children". The Reading Teacher. 35 (8): 972–976. 1982. ISSN 0034-0561. JSTOR 20198135. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Hahn 2015, p. 620
- ^ Gussow, Mel (12 April 1981). "STAGE: WORLD PREMIERE OF SAMUEL BECKETT'S 'ROCKABY' AT STATE U." The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Howard Frederic Vos (1985). Genesis and Archaeology. Academic Books. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-310-33901-4.
- ^ Schwartzbrod, Alexandra (29 September 2014). "Leïla Slimani. "Madame Bovary X"". Liberation (in French). Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ "NoViolet Bulawayo [real name Elizabeth Zandile Tshele] (1981 -)". Zimbabwe Monitor. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
- ^ "The Still Point by Amy Sackville". Orange Prize for Fiction. 2010. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
- ^ "Sunjeev Sahota". Picador. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
- ^ "UKRAIŃSKIE POETKI O WOJNIE". Wizje (in Polish). 2022-02-26. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
- ^ Galiana, Ismael (1 July 1981). "Murió en Murcia el poeta y pacifista Lanza del Vasto: Apóstol de la no violencia" [The poet and pacifist Lanza del Vasto died in Murcia: Apostle of nonviolence] (PDF). ABC (in Spanish). Madrid. p. 24.
- ^ Mitgang, Herbert (10 January 1981). "A. J. Cronin, author of 'Citadel' and 'Keys of the Kingdom', dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ The New York Times Biographical Service. New York Times & Arno Press. 1981. p. 99.
- ^ "Normand Poirier." New York Times. February 4, 1981
- ^ Palmer, Alan; Alan Warwick Palmer; Veronica Palmer (1987). Who's who in Bloomsbury. Harvester Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7108-0312-2.
- ^ McFadden, Robert D. (March 8, 1981). "Bosley Crowther, 27 Years a Critic of Film for Times, is Dead at 75". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
- ^ Willis, John A. (1982). Screen World. Crown Publishers. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-517-54740-3.
- ^ Sobrer, Josep Miquel (1992). Catalonia, a Self-portrait. Indiana University Press. p. 157. ISBN 0-253-28883-5.
- ^ "Uri Zvi Greenberg, 83; Hebrew and Yiddish Poet". The New York Times. 10 May 1981.
- ^ Hamalian, Leo (1987). William Saroyan: The Man and the Writer Remembered. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-8386-3308-3.
- ^ Ohles, Frederik; Shirley G. Ohles; Shirley M. Ohles; John G. Ramsay (1997). Biographical Dictionary of Modern American Educators. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-313-29133-3.
- ^ David, Deirdre (2017). Pamela Hansford Johnson : a writing life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-184328-0. OCLC 980257624.
- ^ Cullinan, Bernice E.; Person, Diane Goetz (2005). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. New York: Continuum. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-82641-778-7.
- ^ Peterkin, Tom (6 November 2007). "Christy Brown 'neglected by ex-prostitute wife'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
- ^ Robinson, Alice M.; Vera Mowry Roberts; Milly S. Barranger (1989). Notable Women in the American Theatre: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-313-27217-2.
- ^ "Who is Salman Rushdie? The writer who emerged from hiding". BBC News. 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
- ^ Hahn 2015, p. 660
- ^ Hahn 2015, p. 657