1981 in literature

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	In poetry 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1981.

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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]

Poetry

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

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

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]

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)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti

Australia

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

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

Spain

Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Octavio Paz

United Kingdom

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

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

Hugo Award for Best Novel: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero

Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (Second ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198715542.

[1]
Tassie Seneviratne (June 1, 2014). "Burning Of The Jaffna Public Library: Whodunit?". Colombo Telegraph. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
[2]
Newsweek, 16 February 1981, p. 95; see also Philip Lewis, "The Post-Structuralist Condition", Diacritics 12:1 (1982): 2–24, p. 2.
[3]
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1979). Reports of the President and the Treasurer - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
[4]
Brian M. Stableford (2004). Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature. Scarecrow Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8108-4938-9.
[5]
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.
[6]
Michel Deon; Michel Déon (1983). Where are You Dying Tonight?. H. Hamilton. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-241-10908-3.
[7]
Stephen M. Hart (2005). Gabriel García Márquez: Crónica de Una Muerte Anunciada. Grant & Cutler. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7293-0445-0.
[8]
"1981 - Alasdair Gray's Lanark". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
[9]
Michael Tapper (2014). Swedish Cops: From Sjöwall and Wahlöö to Stieg Larsson. Intellect Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-78320-188-4.
[10]
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.
[11]
Hahn 2015, p. 609
[12]
Rothman, Lily (8 June 2013). "How is 'Tiger Eyes' the First Movie Based on a Judy Blume Book?". Time. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
[13]
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.
[14]
Hahn 2015, p. 227
[15]
Hahn 2015, p. 236
[16]
Hahn 2015, pp. 526-527
[17]
"Literature for Children". The Reading Teacher. 35 (8): 972–976. 1982. ISSN 0034-0561. JSTOR 20198135. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
[18]
Hahn 2015, p. 620
[19]
Gussow, Mel (12 April 1981). "STAGE: WORLD PREMIERE OF SAMUEL BECKETT'S 'ROCKABY' AT STATE U." The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
[20]
Howard Frederic Vos (1985). Genesis and Archaeology. Academic Books. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-310-33901-4.
[21]
Schwartzbrod, Alexandra (29 September 2014). "Leïla Slimani. "Madame Bovary X"". Liberation (in French). Retrieved 3 April 2018.
[22]
"NoViolet Bulawayo [real name Elizabeth Zandile Tshele] (1981 -)". Zimbabwe Monitor. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
[23]
"The Still Point by Amy Sackville". Orange Prize for Fiction. 2010. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
[24]
"Sunjeev Sahota". Picador. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
[25]
"UKRAIŃSKIE POETKI O WOJNIE". Wizje (in Polish). 2022-02-26. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
[26]
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.
[27]
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.
[28]
The New York Times Biographical Service. New York Times & Arno Press. 1981. p. 99.
[29]
"Normand Poirier." New York Times. February 4, 1981
[30]
Palmer, Alan; Alan Warwick Palmer; Veronica Palmer (1987). Who's who in Bloomsbury. Harvester Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7108-0312-2.
[31]
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.
[32]
Willis, John A. (1982). Screen World. Crown Publishers. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-517-54740-3.
[33]
Sobrer, Josep Miquel (1992). Catalonia, a Self-portrait. Indiana University Press. p. 157. ISBN 0-253-28883-5.
[34]
"Uri Zvi Greenberg, 83; Hebrew and Yiddish Poet". The New York Times. 10 May 1981.
[35]
Hamalian, Leo (1987). William Saroyan: The Man and the Writer Remembered. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-8386-3308-3.
[36]
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.
[37]
David, Deirdre (2017). Pamela Hansford Johnson : a writing life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-184328-0. OCLC 980257624.
[38]
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.
[39]
Peterkin, Tom (6 November 2007). "Christy Brown 'neglected by ex-prostitute wife'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
[40]
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.
[41]
"Who is Salman Rushdie? The writer who emerged from hiding". BBC News. 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
[42]
Hahn 2015, p. 660
[43]
Hahn 2015, p. 657

[1] [1]
Tassie Seneviratne (June 1, 2014). "Burning Of The Jaffna Public Library: Whodunit?". Colombo Telegraph. Retrieved December 30, 2020.

[2] [2]
Newsweek, 16 February 1981, p. 95; see also Philip Lewis, "The Post-Structuralist Condition", Diacritics 12:1 (1982): 2–24, p. 2.

[3] [3]
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1979). Reports of the President and the Treasurer - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

[4] [4]
Brian M. Stableford (2004). Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature. Scarecrow Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8108-4938-9.

[5] [5]
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.

[6] [6]
Michel Deon; Michel Déon (1983). Where are You Dying Tonight?. H. Hamilton. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-241-10908-3.

[7] [7]
Stephen M. Hart (2005). Gabriel García Márquez: Crónica de Una Muerte Anunciada. Grant & Cutler. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7293-0445-0.

[8] [8]
"1981 - Alasdair Gray's Lanark". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

[9] [9]
Michael Tapper (2014). Swedish Cops: From Sjöwall and Wahlöö to Stieg Larsson. Intellect Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-78320-188-4.

[10] [10]
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.

[11] [11]
Hahn 2015, p. 609

[12] [12]
Rothman, Lily (8 June 2013). "How is 'Tiger Eyes' the First Movie Based on a Judy Blume Book?". Time. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

[Stein-13] [13]
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.

[14] [14]
Hahn 2015, p. 227

[15] [15]
Hahn 2015, p. 236

[16] [16]
Hahn 2015, pp. 526-527

[17] [17]
"Literature for Children". The Reading Teacher. 35 (8): 972–976. 1982. ISSN 0034-0561. JSTOR 20198135. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

[18] [18]
Hahn 2015, p. 620

[19] [19]
Gussow, Mel (12 April 1981). "STAGE: WORLD PREMIERE OF SAMUEL BECKETT'S 'ROCKABY' AT STATE U." The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

[20] [20]
Howard Frederic Vos (1985). Genesis and Archaeology. Academic Books. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-310-33901-4.

[21] [21]
Schwartzbrod, Alexandra (29 September 2014). "Leïla Slimani. "Madame Bovary X"". Liberation (in French). Retrieved 3 April 2018.

[22] [22]
"NoViolet Bulawayo [real name Elizabeth Zandile Tshele] (1981 -)". Zimbabwe Monitor. Retrieved 27 January 2021.

[23] [23]
"The Still Point by Amy Sackville". Orange Prize for Fiction. 2010. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2010.

[24] [24]
"Sunjeev Sahota". Picador. Retrieved 30 December 2020.

[25] [25]
"UKRAIŃSKIE POETKI O WOJNIE". Wizje (in Polish). 2022-02-26. Retrieved 2022-04-30.

[26] [26]
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.

[27] [27]
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.

[28] [28]
The New York Times Biographical Service. New York Times & Arno Press. 1981. p. 99.

[29] [29]
"Normand Poirier." New York Times. February 4, 1981

[30] [30]
Palmer, Alan; Alan Warwick Palmer; Veronica Palmer (1987). Who's who in Bloomsbury. Harvester Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7108-0312-2.

[31] [31]
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.

[32] [32]
Willis, John A. (1982). Screen World. Crown Publishers. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-517-54740-3.

[33] [33]
Sobrer, Josep Miquel (1992). Catalonia, a Self-portrait. Indiana University Press. p. 157. ISBN 0-253-28883-5.

[34] [34]
"Uri Zvi Greenberg, 83; Hebrew and Yiddish Poet". The New York Times. 10 May 1981.

[35] [35]
Hamalian, Leo (1987). William Saroyan: The Man and the Writer Remembered. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-8386-3308-3.

[36] [36]
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.

[37] [37]
David, Deirdre (2017). Pamela Hansford Johnson : a writing life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-184328-0. OCLC 980257624.

[38] [38]
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.

[39] [39]
Peterkin, Tom (6 November 2007). "Christy Brown 'neglected by ex-prostitute wife'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 November 2007.

[40] [40]
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.

[41] [41]
"Who is Salman Rushdie? The writer who emerged from hiding". BBC News. 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.

[42] [42]
Hahn 2015, p. 660

[43] [43]
Hahn 2015, p. 657

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1981 in literature

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Australia

Canada

France

Spain

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

Wikiwand in your browser!

1981 in literature

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Australia

Canada

France

Spain

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

Wikiwand in your browser!

Events

New books

Births

Deaths

Awards

Notes

References