The year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books. [edit] Events [edit] New books [edit] New drama [edit] Poetry Main article: 1998 in poetry[edit] Non-fiction [edit] Births [edit] Deaths - January 2 - Frank Muir, comedy writer
- January 11 - John Wells, satirical writer
- January 23 - John Forbes, Australian poet
- January 27 - Geoffrey Trease, historical novelist
- February 7 - Lawrence Sanders, author
- February 17 - Ernst Jünger, novelist and war memoirist
- March 15 - Dr Benjamin Spock, childcare expert
- April 11 - Francis Durbridge, playwright
- April 19 - Octavio Paz, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature
- April 27 - Pauline Réage, author
- April 27 - Carlos Castaneda, author
- May 9 - Nat Perrin, comedy writer
- June 10 - Hammond Innes, novelist
- June 11 - Dame Catherine Cookson, bestselling novelist
- July 1 - Martin Seymour-Smith, biographer
- July 5 - Johnny Speight, comedy writer
- July 9 - Ian Wallace, science fiction author
- July 14 - Miroslav Holub, Czech poet
- July 23 - John Hopkins, film and television writer
- September 28 - Eric Malling, journalist
- October 22 - Eric Ambler, novelist
- October 28 - Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate of Great Britain
- November 8 - Rumer Godden, novelist
[edit] Awards [edit] Australia [edit] Canada [edit] France [edit] United Kingdom - Booker Prize: Ian McEwan - Amsterdam
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More
- Cholmondeley Award: Roger McGough, Robert Minhinnick, Anne Ridler, Ken Smith
- Eric Gregory Award: Mark Goodwin, Joanne Limburg, Patrick McGuinness, Kona Macphee, Esther Morgan, Christiania Whitehead, Frances Williams
- Orange Prize for Fiction: Carol Shields, Larry's Party
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Les Murray
- Whitbread Best Book Award: Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters
[edit] United States - Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Shara McCallum, The Water Between Us
- Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: X.J. Kennedy
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Horton Foote
- American Book Award Before Columbus Foundation: Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, and (separately) Allison Hedge Coke, Dog Road Woman
- Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Sherod Santos, "Elegy for My Sister", and (separately) Neil Azevedo, "Caspar Hauser Songs"
- Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: Frank Bidart, Desire
- Compton Crook Award: Katie Waitman, The Merro Tree
- Hugo Award for Best Novel: Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
- Frost Medal: Stanley Kunitz
- Nebula Award: Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Philip Roth, American Pastoral
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Charles Wright, Black Zodiac
- Wallace Stevens Award: A. R. Ammons
[edit] Elsewhere Fiction Rituparna Bhattacharjee 'Bhutia' an award winning collection of short stories by the youngest female writer (11 years old) of India ,1998. Her book was released by the then Chief Minister, West Bengal Jyoti Basu in presence of Sri Buddhadev Bhattacharjee. The book got plethora of commendations from the book reviewers in the country and abroad in Bengali and English newspapers |
