This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1996.
Quick Facts List of years in literature (table) ...
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Children and young people
- January 5 – Lincoln Kirstein, American writer and impresario (born 1907)
- January 8 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (born 1907)
- January 11 – Harold Walter Bailey, English linguistics scholar (born 1899)
- January 16 – Kaye Webb, English publisher and journalist (born 1914)[19]
- January 21 – Efua Sutherland, Ghanaian dramatist, poet and children's author (born 1924)[20]
- January 27 – Barbara Skelton, English fiction writer, memoirist and literary figure (born 1916)
- January 28
- February 11
- February 12 – Ryōtarō Shiba, Japanese novelist (born 1923)[23]
- February 18 – Cathal Ó Sándair, Irish-language novelist (born 1922)[24]
- March 3
- March 15 – Wolfgang Koeppen, German novelist (born 1906)[26]
- March 18
- March 22
- March 29 – Frank Daniel, Czech-born screenwriter, director, and teacher (born 1926)
- March 31 – Dario Bellezza, Italian poet and dramatist (HIV, born 1944)
- April 16 – Leila Mackinlay, British romantic novelist (born 1910)
- April 18 – Kalim Siddiqui, Pakistani-born English writer and Islamic activist (born 1931)
- April 20 – Christopher Robin Milne, English writer and bookseller (born 1920)[30]
- April 22 – Erma Bombeck, American humorist and writer (born 1927)[31]
- April 23 – P. L. Travers, Australian-born children's writer (born 1899)
- May 2 – Emile Habibi, Palestinian Israeli writer and politician (born 1922)
- May 8 – Larry Levis, American poet, author, and critic (born 1946)
- May 24 – Joseph Mitchell, American journalist (born 1908)
- May 26
- May 31 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and writer (born 1920)[32]
- June 2 – Leon Garfield, English children's author (born 1921)[33]
- June 14 – Gesualdo Bufalino, Italian novelist (born 1920)
- June 15 – Fitzroy Maclean, Scottish political writer, autobiographer and diplomat (born 1911)
- July 10 – Eno Raud, Estonian children's author (born 1928)
- July 22 – Jessica Mitford, English author, journalist and campaigner (born 1917)[34]
- September 21 – Henri Nouwen, Dutch priest, theologian and author (born 1932)
- September 29 – Shusaku Endo (遠藤周作), Japanese novelist (born 1923)[35]
- October 16 – Eric Malpass, English novelist (born 1910)[36]
- October 24 – Sorley Maclean, Gaelic poet (born 1911)
- November 27 – Lili Berger, Yiddish writer, antifascist militant and literary critic (born 1916)
- December 7 – José Donoso, Chilean writer (born 1924)[37]
- December 9 – Diana Morgan, Welsh playwright and screenwriter (born 1908)
- December 12 – Vance Packard, American journalist and social critic (born 1914)[38]
- December 16 – Quentin Bell, English biographer and art historian (born 1910)
- December 20 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist and writer (born 1934)[39]
- December 21 – Margret Rey, American author and illustrator (born 1906)
United Kingdom
- Booker Prize: Graham Swift, Last Orders
- Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Melvin Burgess, Junk
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Graham Swift, Last Orders, and Alice Thompson, Justine
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life
- Cholmondeley Award: Elizabeth Bartlett, Dorothy Nimmo, Peter Scupham, Iain Crichton Smith
- Eric Gregory Award: Sue Butler, Cathy Cullis, Jane Griffiths, Jane Holland, Chris Jones, Sinéad Morrissey, Kate Thomas
- Orange Prize for Fiction: Helen Dunmore, A Spell of Winter
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Peter Redgrove
- Whitbread Best Book Award: Seamus Heaney, The Spirit Level
United States
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Helen Conkling, Red Peony Night[41]
- Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: John Voiklis, "The Princeling's Apology", and (separately) Sarah Arvio, "Visits from the Seventh"
- Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: Kenneth Koch, One Train
- Compton Crook Award: Daniel Graham Jr., The Gatekeepers
- Hugo Award: Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
- National Book Award: Andrea Barrett, Ship Fever and Other Stories
- National Book Critics Circle Award: for Fiction Gina Berriault, Women in Their Beds
- National Book Critics Circle Award: for Poetry William Matthews, Time and Money
- National Book Critics Circle Award: for General nonfiction Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action
- National Book Critics Circle Award: for Biography Robert Polito, Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson
- Nebula Award: Nicola Griffith, Slow River
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice
- PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Richard Ford, Independence Day
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Jonathan Larson, Rent[42]
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Richard Ford – Independence Day[42]
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Jorie Graham: The Dream of the Unified Field[42]
- Wallace Stevens Award: Adrienne Rich
- Whiting Awards: Fiction: Anderson Ferrell, Cristina García, Molly Gloss, Brian Kiteley, Chris Offutt (fiction/nonfiction), Judy Troy, A.J. Verdelle. Nonfiction: Patricia Storace (nonfiction/poetry). Poetry: Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Elizabeth Spires
Atwood, Margaret (1996). Alias Grace. "Author's Afterword": McClelland & Stewart. p. 462. ISBN 0-7710-0835-X. C. Loring Brace (2000). Evolution in an Anthropological View. AltaMira Press. p. 58. ISBN 9780742502635. Löschnigg, Maria (2022). "7". The Routledge Introduction to the Canadian Short Story. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000816419. Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature. St. James Press. 2002. p. 167.
Contemporary Authors. Gale Research Company. 1997. p. 302.
Harriet Monroe (1997). Poetry. Modern Poetry Association. p. 305.