This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1981.
Events 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. 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.Newsweek, 16 February 1981, p. 95; see also Philip Lewis, "The Post-Structuralist Condition", Diacritics 12:1 (1982): 2–24, p. 2. The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is given for the first time.
New books
Fiction Eric Ambler – The Care of Time Kingsley Amis (ed.) – The Golden Age of Science Fiction Martin Amis – Other People V. C. Andrews – If There Be Thorns Louis Auchincloss – The Cat and the King René Barjavel – Une rose au paradis Samuel Beckett – Ill Seen Ill Said Thomas Berger – Reinhart's Women Pierre Berton – Flames Across the Border William Boyd – A Good Man in Africa Pascal Bruckner – Evil Angels William S. Burroughs – Cities of the Red Night Robert Olen Butler – The Alleys of Eden Peter Carey – Bliss Raymond Carver – What We Talk About When We Talk About Love David Case – The Third Grave James Clavell – Noble House Bernard Cornwell Sharpe's Eagle Sharpe's Gold John Crowley – Little, Big L. Sprague de Camp – The Hand of Zei L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp – Footprints on Sand Régine Deforges – La Bicyclette bleue (The Blue Bicycle) Samuel R. Delany – Distant Star Michel Déon – Where Are You Dying Tonight? (Un déjeuner de soleil) Cynthia Freeman – No Time for Tears Gabriel García Márquez – Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Crónica de una muerte anunciada) 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 Douglas Hill – Planet of the Warlord Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp – The Flame Knife John Irving – The Hotel New Hampshire Rona Jaffe – Mazes and Monsters Alan Judd – A Breed of Heroes Ismail Kadare – The File on H (Dosja J) Stephen King – Cujo Dean Koontz (as Leigh Nichols) – The Eyes of Darkness Chart Korbjitti – Khamphiphaksa (The Judgment) Joe R. Lansdale – Act of Love Stanisław Lem – Golem XIV Colleen McCullough – An Indecent Obsession Elliot S! Maggin – Miracle Monday Naguib Mahfouz – Arabian Nights and Days (ليالي ألف ليلة) Ian McEwan – The Comfort of Strangers Toni Morrison – Tar Baby Robert B. Parker A Savage Place Early Autumn Ellis Peters Saint Peter's Fair The Leper of Saint Giles Terry Pratchett – Strata Bano Qudsia – Raja Gidh ("King Vulture") Alain Robbe-Grillet – Djinn Harold Robbins – Goodbye, Janette Salman Rushdie – Midnight's Children Lawrence Sanders – The Third Deadly Sin Martin Cruz Smith – Gorky Park Muriel Spark – Loitering with Intent Botho Strauß – Couples, Passersby (Paare, Passanten) (stories) Paul Theroux – The Mosquito Coast D. M. Thomas – The White Hotel John Updike – Rabbit Is Rich 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
Children and young people Chris Van Allsburg – JumanjiHahn 2015, p. 609. Hans Christian Andersen (with Jane S. Woodward and Michael Hague) – Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales Judy Blume – Tiger Eyes Beverly Cleary – Ramona Quimby, Age 8 Eth Clifford – The Dastardly Murder of Dirty Pete Roald Dahl – George's Marvellous MedicineHahn 2015, p. 227. Rumer Godden – The Dragon of Og' Roger Hargreaves – Little Miss (first 13 books in the Little Miss series of 21) Florence Parry Heide – Treehorn's Treasure Gordon Korman – I Want to Go Home! Harold Lamb (with George Barr and Alicia Austin) – Durandal Michael de Larrabeiti – The Borribles Go for Broke Janet Lunn – The Root Cellar Patricia Lynch – The Turf-Cutter's Donkey Michelle Magorian – Goodnight Mister TomHahn 2015, p. 236. C. L. Moore (with Alicia Austin) - Scarlet Dream Uri Orlev – The Island on Bird Street (האי ברחוב הציפורים) Ruth Park – The Muddle-Headed Wombat is Very Bad Bill Peet – Encore for Eleanor Alvin Schwartz – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Maurice Sendak – Outside Over ThereHahn 2015, pp. 526–527. Jan Wahl – The Cucumber Princess Robert Westall – The ScarecrowsHahn 2015, p. 620.
Drama Samuel Beckett – Rockaby Edward Bond – Restoration Tankred Dorst – Merlin oder das wüste Land Dario Fo – Trumpets and Raspberries (Clacson, trombette e pernacchi) John Krizanc – Tamara Larry Shue – The Nerd Barney Simon – Woza Albert! Botho Strauß – Kalldewey, Farce Patrick Süskind – Der Kontrabaß Peter Whelan – The Accrington Pals Tennessee Williams – The Notebook of Trigorin
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 Angela Davis – Women, Race and Class''' Daniel Dennett – Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and PsychologyNancy Dorian – Language Death: The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic DialectTimothy Findley – Famous Last WordsStephen Jay Gould – The Mismeasure of Manbell hooks – Ain't I a Woman? Black Women and FeminismDumas Malone – The Sage of MonticelloV. S. Naipaul – Among the Believers: An Islamic JourneyGiovanni Pettinato – The Archives of Ebla: An Empire Inscribed in ClayAnne Scott-James – The Cottage GardenViktor Suvorov – The LiberatorsBirths Jan 4 – Sarah Crossan, Irish young-adult writer April 7 – Lili Wilkinson, Australian young-adult writer April 13 – Rebecca Yarros, American fantasy author 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 October 12 – NoViolet Bulawayo (Elizabeth Zandile Tshele), Zimbabwe-born novelist October 31 – Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer December 11 – Hamish Blake, Australian comedian, actor and author December 13 – Mathis Bailey, American-Canadian novelist and fiction writerunknown datesAmy Sackville, English novelist Sunjeev Sahota, English novelist Saud Alsanousi, Kuwaiti novelist Olesya Mamchich, Ukrainian poet and children's writer
Deaths January 5 – Lanza del Vasto, Italian-born philosopher, poet and activist (born 1901) January 6 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (born 1896) January 7 – John Pascal, American playwright, screenwriter, author and journalist (born 1932) January 23 – Lobsang Rampa (Cyril Henry Hoskin), English author (born 1910) February 3 – Normand Poirier, American newspaper editor, journalist and essayist (born 1928)"Normand Poirier." New York Times. February 4, 1981 February 17 – David Garnett, English novelist (born 1892) February 23 – Nan Shepherd, Scottish novelist and poet (born 1893) March 7 – Bosley Crowther, American film critic (born 1905) March 14 – Eleanor Perry, American screenwriter and author (born 1914) 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) April 26 – Robert Garioch, Scottish poet (born 1909) May 8 – Uri Zvi Grinberg, Israeli poet writing in Hebrew and Yiddish (born 1896) May 9 – Nelson Algren, American novelist (born 1909) May 18 – William Saroyan, American novelist and dramatist (born 1908) 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) June 18 – Pamela Hansford Johnson, English poet, novelist, playwright, literary and social critic (born 1912) August 15 – Carol Ryrie Brink, American author (born 1895) September 3 – Alec Waugh, English novelist (born 1898) September 7 – Christy Brown, Irish writer and painter (born 1932) September 12 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet (born 1896) October 20 – Mary Coyle Chase, American playwright (born 1906) 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)
Awards Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti
Australia The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Chris Matthews, Al Jazzar; Tim Winton, An Open SwimmerKenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Alan Gould, Astral SeaMiles Franklin Award: Peter Carey, BlissCanada See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
France Prix Goncourt: Lucien Bodard, Anne MariePrix Médicis French: François-Olivier Rousseau, L'Enfant d'ÉdouardPrix Médicis International: David Shahar, Le Jour de la comtesseSpain Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Octavio Paz
United Kingdom Booker Prize: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's ChildrenCarnegie Medal for children's literature: Robert Westall, The ScarecrowsHahn 2015, p. 660 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 CoastJames 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 AfricaUnited States Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kathy Calloway, Heart of the GarfishAmerican 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 ConciliatorNewbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I LovedHahn 2015, p. 657 Pulitzer Prize: Drama: Beth Henley, Crimes of the HeartFiction: John Kennedy Toole – A Confederacy of DuncesPoetry: James Schuyler: The Morning of the PoemHugo Award: Best Novella: Gordon R. Dickson, Lost DorsaiElsewhere Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Lev Kopelev Hugo Award for Best Novel: Joan D. Vinge, The Snow QueenPremio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero''
Notes
References
External links Popular Books of 1981 at Goodreads Published 1981 Books at Goodreads 1981 Books at Goodreads