2017 In Literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2017.

Events

*March – Emulating Kerouac's '' On the Road'', Ross Goodwin drives from New York to New Orleans with an artificial intelligence device in a laptop hooked up to various sensors, whose output it turns into words printed on rolls of thermal paper; the result is published unedited as '' 1 the Road'' in 2018.
*August – The Chinese crime novelist Liu Yongbiao is arrested and eventually sentenced to death for four murders committed 22 years before.
* August 30 – A hard disk drive containing unfinished work by the English comic fantasy novelist Sir Terry Pratchett (died 2015) is crushed by a steamroller on his instructions.
*October 5 - The Swedish Academy announce that the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro.
*October – Tianjin Binhai Library opens in China.
*December – Kristen Roupenian's short story " Cat Person" is published in ''The New Yorker'' and becomes a viral phenomenon online, with more than 2.6 million hits.

Anniversaries

*Tercentenary of the Aberbaijani poet Molla Panah Vagif's birth in 1717"Anniversaries 2017" UNESCO.
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*600th anniversary of the death of the Turkic mystical poet Imadaddin Nasimi in 1417
*March 19 – Bicentenary of the Slovak writer Jozef Miloslav Hurban's birth
*May 8 – The American novelist Thomas Pynchon turns 80.
*June 18 – Centenary of the death of the Romanian literary critic and former prime minister Titu Maiorescu
*June 26 – 20th anniversary of the publication of '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (U.K. edition)
* July 12 – 200th birthday of Henry David Thoreau, author of ''Walden''
* July 14 – Bicentenary of the early French salonnière Madame de Staël's death
* July 18 – Bicentenary of the novelist Jane Austen's death in 1817
* Nov 30 – 350th anniversary of the Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift's birth in 1667
* December 4 – Bicentenary of the birth of Nikoloz Baratashvili's in 1817, who introduced European style into Georgian literature.

New books

''Dates after each title indicate U.S. publication, unless otherwise indicated.''

Fiction

* Ayobami Adebayo – ''Stay With Me'' (March 2, UK)
*Paul Auster – '' 4 3 2 1'' (January 31)
* Brunonia Barry – '' The Fifth Petal: a novel''
*Darcey Bell – '' A Simple Favor'' (March 1)
*Dan Brown – '' Origin'' (October 3)
* Peter Carey – ''A Long Way From Home'' (October 30, Australia)
*J. M. Coetzee – '' The Schooldays of Jesus'' (February 21)
* Claire G. Coleman – ''Terra Nullius''
*Curtis Dawkins – '' The Graybar Hotel'' (July 4)
* Didier Decoin – '' Le bureau des jardins et des étangs'' (The Office of Gardens and Ponds) (France)
* Steve Erickson – ''Shadowbahn''
* Christine Féret-Fleury – ''La fille qui lisait dans le Métro'' (The Girl who Read on the Metro) (March 9, France)
* Karl Geary – '' Montpelier Parade'' (August 31)
*John Grisham – '' Camino Island'' (June 6)
* Mohsin Hamid – '' Exit West'' (March 2, UK)
* Catherine Hernandez - ''Scarborough''
* Alan Hollinghurst – '' The Sparsholt Affair'' (September 26, UK)
*Gail Honeyman – '' Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine'' (UK)
* N. K. Jemisin – '' The Stone Sky'' (August 15)
* Lisa Jewell – ''Then She Was Gone'' (July 27, UK)
*The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty) – ''2023'' (August 23, UK)
* Attica Locke – ''Bluebird, Bluebird''
* Ian McDonald – '' Luna: Wolf Moon'' (March 23, UK)
* Jon McGregor – ''Reservoir 13'' (April 6, UK)
*Claude McKay (died 1948) – ''Amiable with Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of Harlem'' (February 7; written 1941)
* Robert Menasse – ''Die Hauptstadt'' (The Capital) (Germany)
* Denise Mina – ''The Long Drop'' (March 2, UK)
*Fiona Mozley – ''Elmet'' (August 10, UK)
* Neel Mukherjee – ''A State of Freedom'' (July 6, UK)
* Timothy Ogene – '' The Day Ends Like Any Day'' (April 6, UK)
*James Patterson & Candice Fox – '' Never Never'' (January 16, US)
* Tim Pears – ''The Horseman'' (January, UK)
* Gwendoline Riley – ''First Love'' (February, UK)
*Sally Rooney – '' Conversations with Friends'' (June, UK)
* George Saunders – '' Lincoln in the Bardo'' (February 14)
* Rachel Seiffert – ''A Boy in Winter'' (June 1, UK)
* Kamila Shamsie – ''Home Fire'' (August 15, UK)
* Joss Sheldon – ''Money Power Love'' (October 7, UK)
* Elizabeth Strout – ''Anything is Possible'' (April 25)
*J. R. R. Tolkien (died 1973), edited by Christopher Tolkien – '' Beren and Lúthien'' (June 1, UK; original version written 1917)
* Zlatko Topčić
**'' Dagmar''
**'' The Final Word (Zavrsna rijec)''
* Éric Vuillard – '' The Order of the Day (L'Ordre du jour)'' (April 29, France)
* Jesmyn Ward – '' Sing, Unburied, Sing'' (September 5)
* Sarah Winman – ''Tin Man'' (July 27, UK)
* Kathleen Winter – '' Lost in September''

Children and young people

*Galia Bernstein – '' I Am a Cat'' (November, Australia, Singapore)
* Sarah Crossan – ''Moonrise'' (September 1, UK)
* Lissa Evans – ''Wed Wabbit'' (January 5, UK)
*Susie Ghahremani – '' Stack the Cats'' (USA)
* Connie Glynn – ''Undercover Princess'' (October 30, UK)
* Kiran Millwood Hargrave – ''The Island at the End of Everything'' (May 4, UK)
*Amanda Hocking – ''Freeks'' (January 3)
*Anna McQuinn – '' Lulu Gets a Cat''
*Philip Pullman – ''La Belle Sauvage'', first volume in '' The Book of Dust'' trilogy (October 19, UK)
* Katherine Rundell – ''The Explorer'' (August 10, UK)
* Angie Thomas – '' The Hate U Give'' (September 28)
* Jacqueline Wilson – ''Wave Me Goodbye'' (May 18, UK)

Poetry

* Helen Dunmore (died June 5) – '' Inside the Wave'' (April 27, UK)
* Robert Macfarlane (illustrated by Jackie Morris) – ''The Lost Words: A Spell Book'' (October, UK)
* Sinéad Morrissey – ''On Balance'' (May 25)

Drama

* Jez Butterworth – '' The Ferryman''
* Inua Ellams – ''Barber Shop Chronicles''

Non-fiction

*Joan Didion – '' South and West''
*Nathaniel Frank – '' Awakening: How Gays and Lesbians Brought Marriage Equality to America''
* Howard W. French – ''Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power''
* David Grann – '' Killers of the Flower Moon''
* Paul Hawken – '' Drawdown'' (April 18)
*Michel Houellebecq – '' En présence de Schopenhauer'' (January 11, France)
* Christine Hyung-Oak Lee – '' Tell Me Everything You Don't Remember'' (February 14)
* Obi Kaufmann – '' The California Field Atlas'' (September 1)
* Roel Konijnendijk - '' Classical Greek Tactics''
* Jamie Oliver – ''5 Ingredients – Quick and Easy Food'' (August 24, UK)
*Walter Scheidel – ''The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century''
* Matt Taibbi – '' Insane Clown President'' (January 17)
*Hedi Yahmed – '' I Was in Raqqa'' (كنت في الرقة)

Biography and memoirs

* Craig Brown – ''Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret'' (September 21, UK)
*Richard Ford – ''Between Them: Remembering My Parents'' (May 2)
* Adam Kay – '' This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor'' (September 7, UK)
* Caroline Moorehead – ''A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Rossellis and the Fight Against Mussolini'' (June 15)
* Rebecca Stott – ''In the Days of Rain: a daughter, a father, a cult'' (June 1, UK)
* Stephen Westaby – ''Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon's Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table'' (February 9, UK)
* Xiaolu Guo – ''Once Upon a Time in the East'' (January 26)

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding " earin literature" article:
*January 2 – John Berger, English novelist, painter, art critic and poet, 90 (born 1926)
*January 12 – William Peter Blatty, American author (''The Exorcist''), 89 (born 1928)
*January 25:
** Buchi Emecheta, Nigerian novelist and children's writer ('' The Bride Price'', '' The Joys of Motherhood''), 72 (born 1944)
** Harry Mathews, American novelist and poet, 86 (born 1930)
*January 29 – Howard Frank Mosher, American novelist ('' Where the Rivers Flow North''), 74 (born 1942)
*January 30 - Teresa Amy, Uruguayan poet and translator, 66 (born 1950)
*February 1 – William Melvin Kelley, African-American novelist, 79 (born 1937)
*February 8 – Tom Raworth, English poet, 78 (born 1938)
*March 10 – Robert James Waller, American novelist (''The Bridges of Madison County''), 77 (b. 1939)
*March 16 – Torgny Lindgren, Swedish writer, 78 (born 1938)
*March 17 – Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright, Nobel Laureate in 1992, 87 (b. 1930)
*April 1 – Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Russian poet, 84 (b. 1933)
*May 1:
** Anatoly Aleksin, Russian writer and poet, 92
** Mohamed Talbi, Tunisian historian, 95
*May 24 – Denis Johnson, American poet, novelist ('' Tree of Smoke''), and short story writer ('' Jesus' Son''), 67 (born 1949).
* June 2
** Jaroslav Kořán, Czech translator, writer and politician, 77
** Barrie Pettman, English author, publisher and philanthropist, 73
** S. Abdul Rahman, Indian poet, 79
* June 4
**Juan Goytisolo, Spanish essayist, poet and novelist, 86
** Jack Trout, American marketer and author, 82
* June 5
** Helen Dunmore, English poet, novelist and children's writer, 64 (born 1952)
** Anna Jókai, Hungarian writer, 84
* June 8 – Naseem Khan, British journalist, 77
* June 12 – C. Narayana Reddy, Indian poet and writer, Jnanpith Awardee, 85
*June 27 – Michael Bond, English author ( Paddington Bear), 91 (born 1926)
*June 28 – Bruce Stewart, New Zealand author and playwright, 80
* July 2
** Tony Bianchi, Welsh-language author, 65
** Jack Collom, American poet, essayist and poetry teacher, 85
** Abiola Irele, Nigerian literary critic, 81
** Fay Zwicky, Australian poet, 83
*July 5 – Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian poet, 63 (cancer)
*July 9
** Miep Diekmann, Dutch writer of children's literature, 92 (born 1925)
** Anton Nossik, Russian writer and internet entrepreneur, 51 (heart attack)
* July 10 – Peter Härtling, German writer and poet, 83
* September 23 – Harvey Jacobs, American author, 87
* November 20 – Amir Hamed, Uruguayan writer, essayist and translator, 55 (born 1962)
*November 23 – Božena Mačingová, Slovak writer, author of books for children and young adults (born 1922)
* December 28 – Sue Grafton, American mystery author, 77

Awards

In alphabetical order of prize names:
* Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction: Naomi Alderman for ''The Power''
*Baillie Gifford Prize: David France for ''How to Survive a Plague''
*Booker Prize: George Saunders for '' Lincoln in the Bardo''
* Caine Prize for African Writing: Bushra Elfadil, "The Story of the Girl Whose Bird Flew Away"
* Camões Prize: Manuel Alegre
*Costa Book Awards: Helen Dunmore (died June 5) for '' Inside the Wave'' (poetry)
* Danuta Gleed Literary Award: Kris Bertin, ''Bad Things Happen''
* David Cohen Prize: Tom Stoppard
* Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Kai Cheng Thom
*Desmond Elliott Prize: Francis Spufford, ''Golden Hill''
* DSC Prize for South Asian Literature:
* Dylan Thomas Prize: Fiona McFarlane for ''The High Places''
* European Book Prize: David Van Reybrouck, ''Zink'' and, Raffaele Simone, ''Si la démocratie fait faillite''
* Folio Prize: Hisham Matar for ''The Return''
* German Book Prize: Robert Menasse for ''Die Hauptstadt''
*Goldsmiths Prize: Nicola Barker for ''H(a)ppy''
* Gordon Burn Prize: Denise Mina for ''The Long Drop''
* Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: Joel Thomas Hynes, '' We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night''
* Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: Christian Guay-Poliquin, ''Le Poids de la neige''
* Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française:
*Hugo Award for Best Novel: N. K. Jemisin for '' The Obelisk Gate''
* International Booker Prize: David Grossman for '' A Horse Walks Into a Bar''
* International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Mohammed Hasan Alwan for ''A Small Death''
* International Dublin Literary Award: José Eduardo Agualusa for '' A General Theory of Oblivion''
* James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction:
*James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography:
* Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award:
*Lambda Literary Awards: Various categories, see 29th Lambda Literary Awards
*Miguel de Cervantes Prize:
*Miles Franklin Award: Josephine Wilson (writer), Josephine Wilson for ''Extinctions''
*National Biography Award:
*National Book Award for Fiction:
*National Book Critics Circle Award:
*Newdigate Prize: Dominic Hand
*Nike Award:
*Nobel Prize in Literature: Kazuo Ishiguro
*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Imbolo Mbue for ''Behold the Dreamers''
*PEN Center USA Fiction Award:
*Premio Planeta de Novela:
*Premio Strega:
*Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing:
*Prix Goncourt:
*Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Colson Whitehead for ''The Underground Railroad (novel), The Underground Railroad''
*Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Tyehimba Jess for ''Olio (book), Olio''
*RBC Taylor Prize: Ross King (author), Ross King for ''Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies''
*Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: David Chariandy, ''Brother''
*Russian Booker Prize:
*Scotiabank Giller Prize: Michael Redhill, ''Bellevue Square (novel), Bellevue Square''
*Struga Poetry Evenings, Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings:
*Walter Scott Prize: Sebastian Barry for ''Days Without End (novel), Days Without End''
*W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction:
*Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Breyten Breytenbach

See also

References

{{Year in literature article categories
2017-related lists