This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1996.

Events

July 8 Events Pre-1600 * 1099 – Some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city as its Muslim defenders watch. * 1167 – The Byzantines defeat the Hungarian army ...

–

Harper Lee Nelle Harper Lee (April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016) was an American novelist whose 1960 novel ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. She assisted her close friend Truman ...

's ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a 1960 Southern Gothic novel by American author Harper Lee. It became instantly successful after its release; in the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' ...

'',

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

's '' Huckleberry Finn'' and 30 other books are struck from an English reading list in Lindale, Texas, as they "conflict with the values of the community." *

July 11 Events Pre-1600 * 813 – Byzantine emperor Michael I, under threat by conspiracies, abdicates in favor of his general Leo the Armenian, and becomes a monk (under the name Athanasius). * 911 – Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair ...

– As requested by

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

, Benjamin Zephaniah hosts the President's Two Nations Concert at London's

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. * October 3 – The first performance is held in New York of Eve Ensler's episodic feminist play '' The Vagina Monologues''. *''unknown dates'' **In the UK, the first Orange Prize for Fiction for female novelists goes to Helen Dunmore for '' A Spell of Winter''. ** Peter O'Donnell publishes '' Cobra Trap'', a final volume featuring Modesty Blaise. The first appeared in 1965. **

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone ...

's lost first novella, '' Lost Laysen'', is published, 80 years after it was written. ** Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's ''Romance Writings'', including her novel ''Princess Docile'', are first published 234 years after her death.

New books

Fiction

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

( Joe Klein) – '' Primary Colors: a novel of politics'' *

Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist and former politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth (Lincolnshire) from 1969 to 1974, but did not seek re-election after a fina ...

– '' The Fourth Estate'' *

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

– '' Alias Grace'' * Beryl Bainbridge – '' Every Man for Himself'' * David Baldacci – '' Absolute Power'' * Iain M. Banks – '' Excession'' * David Bergen – '' A Year of Lesser'' *

Dionne Brand Dionne Brand (born 7 January 1953) is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was Toronto's third Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012 and first Black Poet Laureate. She was admitted to the Order of Canada in ...

– ''In Another Place, Not Here'' * Larry Brown – '' Father and Son'' * Candace Bushnell – ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

'' * Brett Butler – '' Knee Deep in Paradise'' *

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

– '' Executive Orders'' * Joseph Connolly – '' This Is It'' *

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his long-running series of novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also writ ...

– ''The Bloody Ground'' and '' Enemy of God'' *

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms Generation X and McJob. He ...

– '' Polaroids from the Dead'' * Amanda Craig – '' A Vicious Circle'' *

Robert Crais Robert Crais (pronounced ; born June 20, 1953) is an American author of detective fiction and former screenwriter. Crais began his career writing scripts for television shows such as '' Hill Street Blues'', '' Cagney & Lacey'', '' Quincy'', '' M ...

– '' Sunset Express'' * John Darnton – ''

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

'' * Donald Davidson – '' The Big Ballad Jamboree'' * Seamus Deane – '' Reading in the Dark'' * Joan Didion – '' The Last Thing He Wanted'' * Stephen R. Donaldson – '' The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die'' *

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire ...

– ''

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

'' * Steve Erickson – '' Amnesiascope'' * Helen Fielding – '' Bridget Jones's Diary'' *

Jon Fosse Jon Olav Fosse (; born 29 September 1959) is a Norwegian author, translator, and playwright. In 2023, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable." Fosse's work spans over se ...

– '' Melancholy II (Melancholia II)'' *

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

**'' The Sandman: The Kindly Ones'' (graphic novel; ninth in '' The Sandman'' series) **'' The Sandman: The Wake'' (graphic novel; tenth in '' The Sandman'' series) * John Gardner – ''

Cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

'' * Richard Garfinkle – '' Celestial Matters'' * Alex Garland – '' The Beach'' *

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel '' Lord of the Flies'' (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 19 ...

– '' The Double Tongue'' *

John Grisham John Ray Grisham Jr. (; born February 8, 1955) is an American novelist, lawyer, and former politician, known for his best-selling legal thrillers. According to the Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 37 ...

– '' The Runaway Jury'' and '' Hackers'' (short stories) * James L. Halperin – '' The Truth Machine'' * Colin Harrison – '' Manhattan Nocturne'' * Elisabeth Harvor – ''Let Me Be the One'' (short stories) * Nancy Huston – ''The Goldberg Variations'' * Tama Janowitz – '' By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee'' * Matt Jones – '' Bad Therapy'' *

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

**'' Desperation'' **'' The Green Mile'' **'' The Regulators'' * Dean R. Koontz – ''

Intensity Intensity may refer to: In colloquial use * Strength (disambiguation) *Amplitude * Level (disambiguation) * Magnitude (disambiguation) In physical sciences Physics *Intensity (physics), power per unit area (W/m2) *Field strength of electric, m ...

'' * Michael P. Kube-McDowell – '' Before the Storm'' **'' Shield of Lies'' **'' Tyrant's Test'' * Caroline Lamarche – ''Le Jour du chien (The Day of the Dog)'' * Hugh Laurie – '' The Gun Seller'' * John le Carré – '' The Tailor of Panama'' * Paul Leonard – '' Speed of Flight'' * Steve Lyons – '' Killing Ground'' * George R. R. Martin – '' A Game of Thrones'' * David A. McIntee – '' The Shadow of Weng-Chiang'' * Terry McMillan – '' How Stella Got Her Groove Back'' * Javier Marías – '' When I Was Mortal'' (''Cuando fui mortal'', short stories) * Vladimir Megre – ''Anastasiya'' * Lawrence Miles – '' Christmas on a Rational Planet'' * Rohinton Mistry – '' A Fine Balance'' * Shani Mootoo – ''Cereus Blooms at Night'' *

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

– '' We Were the Mulvaneys'' * Daniel O'Mahony – '' The Man in the Velvet Mask'' * Kate Orman – '' Return of the Living Dad'' and '' Sleepy'' *

Chuck Palahniuk Charles Michael Palahniuk (;, , born February 21, 1962) is an American novelist of Ukrainian and French ancestry who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two ad ...

– '' Fight Club'' * Lance Parkin – ''

Cold Fusion Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature. It would contrast starkly with the nuclear fusion, "hot" fusion that is known to take place naturally within Main sequence, stars and artific ...

'' and '' Just War'' * Marc Platt – ''

Downtime In computing and telecommunications, downtime (also (system) outage or (system) drought colloquially) is a period when a system is unavailable. The unavailability is the proportion of a time-span that a system is unavailable or offline. This is ...

'' *

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

– '' Feet of Clay'' and ''

Hogfather ''Hogfather'' is the 20th '' Discworld'' novel by Terry Pratchett, and a 1997 British Fantasy Award nominee. It was first released in 1996 and published by Victor Gollancz. It came in 137th place in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the most loved ...

'' * Qiu Miaojin (posthumous) – ''Last Words from Montmartre'' * James Redfield – '' The Tenth Insight'' * Justin Richards – '' The Sands of Time'' * Gareth Roberts **'' The English Way of Death'' **'' The Plotters'' * Mary Rosenblum – '' Synthesis & Other Virtual Realities'' * Kristine Kathryn Rusch – '' The New Rebellion'' * Gary Russell – '' The Scales of Injustice'' * Jeff Shaara – '' Gods and Generals'' * Michael Stackpole **'' The Krytos Trap'' **'' Rogue Squadron'' **'' Wedge's Gamble'' * Dave Stone – '' Death and Diplomacy'' *

Graham Swift Graham Colin Swift FRSL (born 4 May 1949) is a British people, British writer. Born in London, UK, he was educated at Dulwich College, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York. Career Some of Swift's books have been filmed ...

– '' Last Orders'' * Guy Vanderhaeghe – '' The Englishman's Boy'' *

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novel ''Infinite Jest'', which ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine ...

– '' Infinite Jest'' * Daniel Woodrell – ''Give Us a Kiss'' * Monika Maron – '' Animal Triste''

Children and young people

* K.A. Applegate – ''

Animorphs ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of youth books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all si ...

'' series * Marion Zimmer Bradley (with Rosemary Edghill) – '' Witchlight'' *

Eve Bunting Eve Bjørgum Bunting (née Bolton, December 19, 1928 – October 1, 2023), better known as Eve Bunting, was a Northern Irish-born American writer of more than 250 books. Her work covered a broad array of subjects and included fiction and non-fic ...

(with Ned Bittinger) – '' The Blue and the Gray'' * James C. Christensen (with Renwick St. James and

Alan Dean Foster Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts. Career ''Star Wars'' Foster was the ghost ...

) – '' Voyage of the Basset'' * Anne Fine – '' The Tulip Touch'' * Elaine Forrestal – '' Someone Like Me'' * Mem Fox – '' Boo to a Goose'' * Mark Helprin (with Chris Van Allsburg) – '' A City in Winter'' * E. T. A. Hoffmann (with Roberto Innocenti) – ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'' * Lyll Becerra de Jenkins – '' So Loud a Silence'' * Julius Lester – '' Sam and the Tigers: A New Telling of Little Black Sambo'' *

Anne McCaffrey Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 1968) an ...

– '' No One Noticed the Cat'' * Michael Morpurgo – '' The Butterfly Lion'' * Jim Murphy – '' A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy'' *

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen na ...

(with Martin H. Greenberg and Mark Hess) – '' Catfantastic IV'' *

(with Barry Moser) – '' First Love: A Gothic Tale'' * Iona Opie – '' My Very First Mother Goose'' * Philip Pullman – '' The Subtle Knife'' (second in ''

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...

'' trilogy) * Alan Schroeder – '' Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman'' * Diane Stanley – ''

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

'' * Jean Ure – '' Skinny Melon and Me''

Drama

* Jeff Baron – '' Visiting Mr. Green'' * Nick Enright – ''

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

'' * Eve Ensler – '' The Vagina Monologues'' *

**''Barnet'' (The Child) **''Nokon kjem til å komme'' (Someone is going to come) (completed 1993) * Pam Gems – '' Stanley'' * Jenny Kemp – '' The Black Sequin Dress'' * Ayub Khan-Din – '' East is East'' *

Martin McDonagh Martin Faranan McDonagh ( ; born 26 March 1970) is a British-Irish playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his Absurdism, absurdist Black comedy, dark humour which often challenges the modern theatre aesthetic. He has won List of awards and no ...

– '' The Beauty Queen of Leenane'' *

Mark Ravenhill Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist. Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include '' Shoppi ...

– '' Shopping and Fucking'' *

Wallace Shawn Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, essayist, playwright, and screenwriter. He is known for playing Vizzini in '' The Princess Bride'' (1987), Mr. Hall in '' Clueless'' (1995), Dr. John Sturgis in '' Young Sheldo ...

– '' The Designated Mourner'' * Joshua Sobol – '' Alma'' * Shelagh Stephenson – '' The Memory of Water'' *

Botho Strauß Botho Strauss (; written as Botho Strauß) (born 2 December 1944) is a German playwright, novelist, and essayist. Early life His father was a chemist. After finishing his secondary education, Strauss studied German, History of the Theatre a ...

– '' Ithaka'' *

Enda Walsh Enda Walsh (born 1967) is an Irish playwright. Biography Enda Walsh was born in Kilbarrack, North Dublin on 7 February 1967. His father ran a furniture shop and his mother had been an actress. He is the second youngest of six children. Walsh ...

– ''Disco Pigs'' * Peter Whelan – '' The Herbal Bed'' * Roy Williams – ''The No Boys Cricket Club''

Poetry

Non-fiction

* Nelson Algren (posthumous) – '' Nonconformity'' (essay, written 1953) * Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner and Álvaro Vargas Llosa – '' Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot'' (essay) * Stephen Ambrose – '' Undaunted Courage'' * Bruce Bawer (editor) – '' Beyond Queer'' * John Berendt – '' Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' *

David Chalmers David John Chalmers (; born 20 April 1966) is an Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist, specializing in philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. He is a professor of philosophy and neural science at New York University, as well ...

– '' The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory'' * Norman Davies – '' Europe: A History'' *

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

– '' Climbing Mount Improbable'' * David Denby – ''Great Books'' *

Antonia Fraser Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and prior to h ...

– '' The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605'' * Daniel Goleman – ''

Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence (EI), also known as emotional quotient (EQ), is the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. High emotional intelligence includes emotional recognition of emotions of the self and others, using ...

'' * Denis Guedj – '' Numbers: The Universal Language'' * Jennifer Hanson – '' The Real Freshman Handbook'' * Samuel P. Huntington – '' The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order'' * Richard Mabey – ''Flora Britannica'' * Howard Marks – '' Mr Nice'' * Dylan Morgan – ''The Principles of Hypnotherapy'' * Anne Mullens – '' Timely Death'' * Denise Schmandt-Besserat – ''How Writing Came About'' * Arun Shourie – '' Missionaries in India'' * Alexander Skutch – ''The Minds of Birds'' * Alessandro Vezzosi – '' Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance''

Births

May 29 Events Pre-1600 * 363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city. * 1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops unde ...

- R. F. Kuang, American fantasy and contemporary fiction writer *

August 13 Events Pre-1600 * 29 BC – Octavian holds the first of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes. * 523 – John I becomes the new Pope after the death of Pope Hormisdas. * 554 &ndash ...

- Emrecan Doğan, Turkish fantasy, horror, science fiction and speculative fiction writer * November 13 -

Zeki Majed Zeki Majed (born 13 November 1996) is a Kurdish filmmaker and poet. He was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. Biography His first poem, ''Eyes Never Dry'', won first prize at Pendle War Poetry Competition. He wrote multiple love poems, praisin ...

, Kurdish filmmaker and poet *

December 25 Events Pre-1600 * 36 – Forces of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, under the command of Wu Han, conquer the separatist Chengjia empire, reuniting China. * 274 – A temple to Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aurelian. ...

- Elvira Natali, Indonesian author and actress

Deaths

January 5 Events Pre-1600 * 1477 – Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is defeated and killed in a conflict with René II, Duke of Lorraine; Burgundy subsequently becomes part of France. 1601–1900 * 1675 – Battle of Colmar: The French ...

– Lincoln Kirstein, American writer and impresario (born

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

) *

January 8 Events Pre-1600 * 307 – Emperor Huai of Jin, Sima Chi becomes emperor of the Jin dynasty (266–420), Jin dynasty in succession to his brother, Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, despite a challenge from his other brother, Sima Ying. * 871 ...

– Howard Taubman, American author and critic (born 1907) *

January 11 Events Pre-1600 * 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence. * 630 – Conquest of Mecca: Muhammad and his ...

– Harold Walter Bailey, English linguistics scholar (born

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

) *

January 16 Events Pre-1600 * 1458 BC – Hatshepsut dies at the age of 50 and is buried in the Valley of the Kings. * 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the R ...

– Kaye Webb, English publisher and journalist (born

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

) *

January 21 Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. * 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded wh ...

– Efua Sutherland, Ghanaian dramatist, poet and children's author (born 1924) *

January 27 Events Pre-1600 * 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor. * 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII, who becomes sole emperor of the ...

– Barbara Skelton, English fiction writer, memoirist and literary figure (born 1916) *

January 28 Events Pre-1600 *AD 98, 98 – On the death of Nerva, Trajan is declared Roman emperor in Cologne, the seat of his government in lower Germany. * 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accessi ...

Jerry Siegel Jerome "Jerry" Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./ Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He was the co-creator of ...

, American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

(born

) **

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

, Russian-born poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (myocardial infarction, born

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

) *

February 11 Events Pre-1600 * 660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. * 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Empire, on the eve of his comin ...

** Bob Shaw, Northern Irish science fiction writer (born 1931) ** Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet (born 1930) *

February 12 Events Pre-1600 * 1096 – Pope Urban II confirms the foundation of the abbey of La Roë under Robert of Arbrissel as a community of canons regular. * 1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sofia performed the first post- ...

– Ryōtarō Shiba, Japanese novelist (born

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

) *

February 18 Events Pre-1600 * 3102 BC – Kali Yuga, the fourth and final yuga of Hinduism, starts with the death of Krishna. * 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining J ...

– Cathal Ó Sándair, Irish-language novelist (born 1922) *

March 3 Events Pre-1600 * 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. * 1575 ...

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

, French dramatist and film director (born

) ** Léo Malet, French crime novelist and surrealist (born 1909) *

March 15 Events Pre-1600 * 474 BC – Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years truce. * 44 BC – The assassination of Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman R ...

– Wolfgang Koeppen, German novelist (born

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

) *

March 18 Events Pre-1600 * 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10. * 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ar ...

** Jacquetta Hawkes (née Hopkins), English writer and archeologist (born 1910) ** Odysseas Elytis, Greek writer and Nobel Prize laureate (born

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

) *

March 22 Events Pre-1600 * 106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea. * 235 – Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century. * 871 – Æthel ...

** Claude Mauriac, French novelist and journalist (born

) ** Ian Stephens, Canadian poet (year of birth not known) *

March 29 Events Pre-1600 * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of Venice. * 1461 – Battle of Towton: Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England, bringing a ...

– Frank Daniel, Czech-born screenwriter, director, and teacher (born

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

) *

March 31 Events Pre-1600 * 307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian. * 1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging ...

– Dario Bellezza, Italian poet and dramatist (HIV, born

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

) *

April 16 Events Pre-1600 * 1457 BC – Battle of Megido – the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. * 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Roman emperor Otho commits suicide. * ...

– Leila Mackinlay, British romantic novelist (born 1910) *

April 18 Events Pre-1600 * 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days. * 1428 – Peace of Ferrara ...

– Kalim Siddiqui, Pakistani-born English writer and Islamic activist (born 1931) *

April 20 Events Pre-1600 * 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. 1601–1900 * 1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament. * 1657 – English Admiral Robert Blake destroy ...

– Christopher Robin Milne, English writer and bookseller (born 1920) *

April 22 Events Pre-1600 * 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil ( discovery of Brazil). * 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. * 1529 – Treaty of Zara ...

– Erma Bombeck, American humorist and writer (born

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...

) *

April 23 Events Pre-1600 * 215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene. *599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in so ...

– P. L. Travers, Australian-born children's writer (born

) *

May 2 Events Pre-1600 * 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first royal charter. * 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great. * 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and impris ...

– Emile Habibi, Palestinian Israeli writer and politician (born 1922) *

May 8 Events Pre-1600 * 453 BC – Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin. * 413 – Emperor Honorius signs a ...

– Larry Levis, American poet, author, and critic (born

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

) *

May 24 Events Pre-1600 * 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom. * 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. * 1276 – Magnus ...

– Joseph Mitchell, American journalist (born 1908) *

May 26 Events Pre-1600 * 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe. * 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire ta ...

** Ovidiu Papadima, Romanian critic and essayist (born 1909) ** Margaret Douglas-Home, English writer and musician (born

) *

May 31 Events Pre-1600 * 455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. * 1215 – Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by th ...

– Timothy Leary, American psychologist and writer (born 1920) * June 2 – Leon Garfield, English children's author (born

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

) *

June 14 Events Pre-1600 * 1158 – The city of Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar. * 1216 – First Barons' War: Prince Louis of France takes the city of Winchester, abandoned by John, King of England, and soo ...

– Gesualdo Bufalino, Italian novelist (born 1920) *

June 15 Events Pre-1600 * 763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history. * 844 – Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II. * 923 – Battle of So ...

– Fitzroy Maclean, Scottish political writer, autobiographer and diplomat (born

) * July 10 – Eno Raud, Estonian children's author (born

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

) * July 22 – Jessica Mitford, English author, journalist and campaigner (born

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

) * September 21 – Henri Nouwen, Dutch priest, theologian and author (born

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

) * September 29 – Shusaku Endo (遠藤周作), Japanese novelist (born

) * October 16 – Eric Malpass, English novelist (born 1910) *

October 24 Events Pre-1600 *AD 69 – In the Second Battle of Bedriacum, troops loyal to Vespasian defeat those of Emperor Vitellius. * 1260 – Chartres Cathedral is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France. * 1260 – Afte ...

– Sorley Maclean, Gaelic poet (born

) *

November 27 Events Pre-1600 * AD 25 – Luoyang is declared capital of the Eastern Han dynasty by Emperor Guangwu of Han. * 176 – Emperor Marcus Aurelius grants his son Commodus the rank of " Imperator" and makes him Supreme Commander of th ...

– Lili Berger, Yiddish writer, antifascist militant and literary critic (born 1916) * December 7 – José Donoso, Chilean writer (born 1924) * December 9 – Diana Morgan, Welsh playwright and screenwriter (born 1908) * December 12 – Vance Packard, American journalist and social critic (born

) *

December 16 Events Pre-1600 * 714 – Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the Merovingian palace, dies at Jupille (modern Belgium). He is succeeded by his infant grandson Theudoald, while his widow Plectrude holds actual power in the Frankish Kingdom. * ...

– Quentin Bell, English biographer and art historian (born 1910) *

December 20 Events Pre-1600 *AD 69 – Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian. * 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England ...

–

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...

, American astronomer, astrophysicist and writer (born

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

) *

December 21 Events Pre-1600 *AD 69 – The Roman Senate declares Vespasian Roman emperor, emperor of Rome, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors. *1124 – Pope Honorius II is consecrated, having been elected after the controversial dethroning ...

– Margret Rey, American author and illustrator (born

)

Awards

* Nobel Prize for Literature: Wislawa Szymborska * Camões Prize: Eduardo Lourenço

Australia

* The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Bernard Cohen, ''The Blindman's Hat'' * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Peter Bakowski, ''In the Human Night'' * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Eric Beach, ''Weeping for Lost Babylon'' * Mary Gilmore Prize: Jordie Albiston, ''Nervous Arcs'' *

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

: Christopher Koch, '' Highways to a War''

Canada

Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to a writer who has not yet published his or her first book. Formerly restricted to writers under age 35, the age li ...

* Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction:

: – '' Alias Grace'' *See 1996 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. * Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: George G. Blackburn, '' The Guns of Normandy''

United Kingdom

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

, '' Last Orders'' * Carnegie Medal for

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

Melvin Burgess Melvin Burgess (born 25 April 1954) is a British writer of children's fiction. He became famous in 1996 with the publication of ''Junk (novel), Junk'', about heroin-addicted teenagers on the streets of Bristol. In Britain, ''Junk'' became one o ...

, '' Junk'' *

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

for fiction:

, ''Last Orders'', and Alice Thompson, ''Justine'' *

for biography:

Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...

, ''

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a theologian, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a Oxford Martyrs, martyr ...

: A Life'' * Cholmondeley Award: Elizabeth Bartlett, Dorothy Nimmo, Peter Scupham,

Iain Crichton Smith Iain Crichton Smith, (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn''; 1 January 1928 – 15 October 1998) was a Scottish people, Scottish poet and novelist, who wrote in both English and Gaelic. He was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Isl ...

* 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 Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

, '' The Spirit Level''

United States

* Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Helen Conkling, ''Red Peony Night'' * 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 The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...

, '' The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer'' *

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

: 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 The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

: Nicola Griffith, '' Slow River'' *

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

for

: Karen Cushman, '' The Midwife's Apprentice'' * PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Richard Ford, ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

'' *

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

: Jonathan Larson, '' Rent'' *

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

: Richard Ford – ''

'' * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Jorie Graham: ''The Dream of the Unified Field'' * 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

Elsewhere

* International Dublin Literary Award:

David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and Libretto, librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University ...

, '' Remembering Babylon'' * Premio Nadal: Pedro Maestre, ''Matando dinosaurios con tirachinas''

References

{{Year in literature article categories