1996 in literature
The year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
New books
New drama
Poetry
Main article:
1996 in poetryNon-Fiction
Births
Deaths
- January 21 - Efua Sutherland, Ghanaian dramatist, poet and children's author (b. 1924)
- January 28
- Jerry Siegel, cartoonist, creator of Superman (b. 1914)
- Joseph Brodsky, Russian poet and essayist, Nobel laureate (b. 1940)
- February 11
- Bob Shaw, science fiction writer (b. 1931)
- Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet (b. 1930)
- March 3 - Marguerite Duras, French dramatist and film director (b. 1914)
- March 18 - Odysseas Elytis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- March 22 - Ian Stephens, Canadian poet
- March 31 - Dario Bellezza, Italian poet and dramatist (b. 194)
- April 22 - Erma Bombeck, American humorist and writer (b. 1927)
- May 24 - Joseph Mitchell, American journalist (b. 1908)
- May 26 - Ovidiu Papadima, Romanian critic and essayist (b. 1909)
- May 31 - Timothy Leary, American writer
- June 2 - Leon Garfield, English children's author (b. 1921)
- June 14 - Gesualdo Bufalino, Italian novelist (b. 1920)
- June 26 - Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist
- July 10 - Eno Raud, Estonian children's author (b. 1928)
- October 24 - Sorley Maclean, Gaelic poet (b. 1911)
- December 20 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist and writer
- December 12 - Vance Packard, journalist and social critic (b. 1914)
- December 16 - Quentin Bell, English biographer and art historian (b. 1910)
Awards
Australia
Canada
France
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
- 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
- Nebula Award: Nicola Griffith, Slow River
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Jonathan Larson, Rent
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Richard Ford - Independence Day
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Jorie Graham: The Dream of the Unified Field
- Wallace Stevens Award: Adrienne Rich
Elsewhere