1986 in literature
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The year 1986 in literature involved some significant literary events and new works.
Events
- July 21 - Michael Grade, Controller of BBC1, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.
- September 26 - Bloomsbury Publishing is set up in London by Nigel Newton.
New prose fiction
- Kingsley Amis – The Old Devils
- Piers Anthony – Ghost
- Jeffrey Archer – A Matter of Honour
- James Axler – Pilgrimage to Hell and Red Holocaust
- Iain Banks – The Bridge
- Thomas Bernhard – Extinction
- Azouz Begag - Le Gone du Chaâba
- Anita Brookner – A Misalliance
- Orson Scott Card – Speaker for the Dead
- Ana Castillo – Mixquiahuala Letters
- Tom Clancy – Red Storm Rising
- James Clavell – Whirlwind
- Jackie Collins – Hollywood Husbands
- Pat Conroy – The Prince of Tides
- Hugh Cook – The Wizards and the Warriors
- Bernard Cornwell – Sharpe's Regiment
- Bernard & Judy Cornwell (as Susannah Kells) – Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats)
- Fernando Del Paso - Noticias del Imperio
- Marguerite Duras – Blue Eyes, Black Hair
- James Ellroy – Silent Terror
- Richard Ford – The Sportswriter
- John Gardner – Nobody Lives For Ever
- Jacques Godbout – Une histoire américaine
- Peter Handke – Repetition
- Carl Hiaasen – Tourist Season
- Kazuo Ishiguro – An Artist of the Floating World
- Brian Jacques – Redwall
- Diana Wynne Jones – Howl's Moving Castle
- Stephen King – It
- Judith Krantz – I'll Take Manhattan
- Louis L'Amour – Last of the Breed
- Joe R. Lansdale - Dead in the West
- John le Carré – A Perfect Spy
- David Leavitt - The Lost Language of Cranes
- Tanith Lee – Dreams of Dark and Light: The Great Short Fiction of Tanith Lee
- Deena Linett – The Translator's Wife
- Gordon Lish – Dear Mr. Capote
- H. P. Lovecraft – Dagon and Other Macabre Tales corrected edition
- Robert Ludlum – The Bourne Supremacy
- Amin Maalouf – Leo Africanus
- Javier Marías – El hombre sentimental ("The Man of Feeling")
- Allan Massie – Augustus (1st of Massie's Roman series)
- Robert Munsch – Love You Forever
- Patrick O'Brian – The Reverse of the Medal
- Ellis Peters
- Terry Pratchett – The Light Fantastic
- Reynolds Price – Kate Vaiden
- James Purdy – In the Hollow of His Hand
- Jean Raspail - Who Will Remember the People...
- José Saramago – O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis
- Ken Saro-Wiwa – Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English
- Idries Shah – Kara Kush
- Danielle Steel – Wanderlust
- Peter Taylor – A Summons to Memphis
- James Tiptree, Jr. – Tales of the Quintana Roo
- Mario Vargas Llosa - ¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero?
- Vladimir Voinovich - Moscow 2042[1]
- Roger Zelazny – Blood of Amber
New drama
- Caryl Churchill and David Lan – A Mouthful of Birds
- Tomson Highway – The Rez Sisters
- Willy Russell – Shirley Valentine
Poetry
- Kama Sywor Kamanda – Chants de brumes
Non-fiction
- Martin Amis – The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America
- Bernard Bailyn - Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution
- Richard Dawkins – The Blind Watchmaker
- Adrian Edmondson et al. – How to be a Complete Bastard
- Sita Ram Goel - History of Hindu–Christian Encounters, AD 304 to 1996
- Kumari Jayawardena - Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World
- Mark Mathabane – Kaffir Boy
- Farley Mowat – My Discovery of America
- Marc Reisner – Cadillac Desert
- Richard Rhodes – The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- Mary Wilson – Dreamgirl: My Life As a Supreme
Births
- July 3 - Chris Bush, British playwright, artistic director and comedian
- date unknown - Caroline Bird, English poet and dramatist
Deaths
- January 1 – Lord David Cecil, English critic and biographer, 83
- January 4 – Christopher Isherwood, English-born novelist, 81
- January 7 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer, screenwriter and photographer, 68
- January 24 – L. Ron Hubbard, American science fiction writer, founder of Scientology, 74
- February 4 – Phyllis Shand Allfrey, Dominican writer, 77
- February 11 – Frank Herbert, American science fiction novelist, 65
- February 28 – Edith Ditmas, English archivist, historian and writer, 90
- March 4 – Elizabeth Smart, Canadian poet and novelist, 72
- March 15 - Pandelis Prevelakis, Greek novelist, poet, dramatist and essayist, 77
- March 18 – Bernard Malamud, novelist, 71
- April 12 - Valentin Kataev, Russian novelist and dramatist, 89
- April 14
- Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher and feminist writer, 78
- Jean Genet, French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist and political activist, 75
- May 15 – Theodore H. White, political journalist, historian, and novelist, 71
- June 14 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer, 80
- August 1 – Lena Kennedy, romantic novelist, 72
- August 3 – Beryl Markham, traveller and author, 83
- August 20 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright, 63 (complications of heart condition and diabetes)
- December 17 – J. F. Hendry, poet, 74
- December 19 – V. C. Andrews, novelist, 63
Awards
- Nobel Prize for Literature: Wole Soyinka
Australia
- The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Robin Walton, Glace Fruits
- C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Rhyll McMaster, Washing the Money and John A. Scott, St. Clair
- Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Robert Gray Selected Poems 1963–83
- Mary Gilmore Prize: Stephen Williams, A Crowd of Voices
- Miles Franklin Award: Elizabeth Jolley, The Well
Canada
- See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
France
- Prix Goncourt: Michel Host, Valet de nuit
- Prix Médicis French: Pierre Combescot, Les Funérailles de la Sardine
- Prix Médicis International: John Hawkes, Aventures dans le commerce des peaux en Alaska
United Kingdom
- Booker Prize: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
- Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Berlie Doherty, Granny Was a Buffer Girl
- Cholmondeley Award: Lawrence Durrell, James Fenton, Selima Hill
- Eric Gregory Award: Mick North, Lachlan Mackinnon, Oliver Reynolds, Stephen Romer
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jenny Joseph, Persephone
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: D. Felicitas Corrigan, Helen Waddell
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Norman MacCaig
- Whitbread Best Book Award: Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World
United States
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Robley Wilson, Kingdoms of the Ordinary
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Sidney Kingsley
- Frost Medal: Allen Ginsberg / Richard Eberhart
- Nebula Award: Orson Scott Card, Speaker For the Dead
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Patricia MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall
- Prometheus Award: Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Henry Taylor, The Flying Change
Elsewhere
- Premio Nadal: Manuel Vicent, Balada de Caín