1981 IN LITERATURE

The year '1981 in literature' involved some significant events and new books.

Contents

Events

New books

New drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

Australia

Canada

France

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

Events

★ PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time

★ 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 would run uninterrupted until 2002.

New books

★ Kingsley Amis - ''The Golden Age of Science Fiction''

★ Martin Amis - ''

★ René Barjavel - ''Une rose au paradis''

★ Samuel Beckett - ''Ill Seen Ill Said''

★ Pierre Berton - ''Flames Across the Border''

★ William Boyd - ''A Good Man in Africa''

★ Peter Carey - ''Bliss''

★ Raymond Carver - ''What We Talk About When We Talk About Love''

★ David Case - ''The Third Grave''

★ James Clavell - ''Noble House''

★ L. Sprague de Camp - ''The Hand of Zei''

★ L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp - ''Footprints on Sand''

★ Samuel R. Delany - ''Distant Star''

★ Régine Deforges - ''La Bicyclette Bleue'' (''The Blue Bicycle'')

★ Joan Finnegan - ''Giants of the Ottawa Valley''

★ Cynthia Freeman - ''No Time for Tears''

★ John Gardner - ''Licence Renewed''

★ Charles L. Grant - ''Tales from the Nightside''

★ Alasdair Gray - ''Lanark''

★ Jan Guillou - ''Ondskan''

★ Thomas Harris - ''Red Dragon''

★ Frank Herbert - ''God Emperor of Dune''

★ Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp - ''The Flame Knife''

★ John Irving - ''Hotel New Hampshire''

★ Alan Judd - ''A Breed of Heroes''

★ Ismail Kadare - ''Dosja J'' (''The File on H'')

★ Stephen King - ''Cujo''

★ Colleen McCullough - ''An Indecent Obsession''

★ Elliot S! Maggin - ''Miracle Monday''

★ Naguib Mahfouz - ''Arabian Nights and Days''

★ Toni Morrison - ''Tar Baby''

★ Robert B. Parker

★
★ ''A Savage Place''

★
★ ''Early Autumn''

★ Terry Pratchett - ''Strata''

★ Harold Robbins - ''Goodbye, Janette''

★ Lawrence Sanders - ''The Third Deadly Sin''

★ Martin Cruz Smith - ''Gorky Park''

★ Jack Vance - ''The Book of Dreams''

★ Gore Vidal - ''Creation''

★ Joseph Wambaugh - ''The Glitter Dome''

★ Kit Williams - ''Masquerade''

★ Gene Wolfe

★
★ ''The Claw of the Conciliator''

★
★ ''The Sword of the Lictor''

★ Roger Zelazny

★
★ ''The Changing Land''

★
★ ''Madwand''

New drama

★ John Krizanc - ''Tamara''

★ Larry Shue - ''The Nerd''

Poetry

★ L. Sprague de Camp - ''Heroes and Hobgoblins''

★ Norman Nicholson - ''Sea to the West''

★ Richard L. Tierney - ''Collected Poems''

Non-fiction

★ Maya Angelou - ''The Heart of a Woman''

★ Hugo Brandt Corstius - ''Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde''

★ Timothy Findley - ''Famous Last Words (book)''

★ Stephen Jay Gould - ''The Mismeasure of Man''

★ Ian Smith - ''The Great Betrayal''

★ Viktor Suvorov - ''The Liberators''

Births

★

Deaths

★ January 9 - A. J. Cronin, novelist

★ March 7 - Bosley Crowther, film critic

★ March 20 - Pedro García Cabrera, poet

★ April 26 - Robert Garioch, poet (b. 1909)

★ May 9 - Nelson Algren, novelist

★ May 18 - William Saroyan, novelist and dramatist

★ June 15 - Philip Toynbee, novelist and journalist

★ September 3 - Alec Waugh, novelist

★ September 12 - Eugenio Montale, poet

Awards

★ Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti

★ Hugo Award for Best Novel: ''The Snow Queen'' by Joan D. Vinge

Australia

★ The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Chris Matthews (writer), ''Al Jazzar''; Tim Winton, ''An Open Swimmer''

★ Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Alan Gould, ''Astral Sea''

Canada

★ See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

★ 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''

United Kingdom

★ Booker Prize: Salman Rushdie, ''Midnight's Children''

★ 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

★ Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: D. J. Enright

★ Whitbread Best Book Award: William Boyd, ''A Good Man in Africa''

United States

★ 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''

★ 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

★ Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, ''Cantiga de aguero''