2008 in literature

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The year 2008 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

• January 1 – In the UK's 2008 New Year Honours List, Hanif Kureishi (CBE), Jenny Uglow (OBE), Peter Vansittart (OBE) and Debjani Chatterjee (MBE) are all rewarded for "services to literature".
• May 7–11 – First Palestine Festival of Literature.
• June 15 – Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times interview how he felt about the death of his great rival William F. Buckley, Jr., replies: "I thought hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred."
• July – Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children is the winner of a poll to select the "Best of the Booker".
• First Twitter novels appear.

Books

Prose fiction

• Aravind Adiga – The White Tiger and Between the Assassinations (November 1)
• Uwem Akpan – Say You’re One of Them
• Paul Auster – Man in the Dark
• Henry Bauchau – Le Boulevard périphérique
• John Berger – From A to X
• Charles Bock – Beautiful Children (January 22)
• Roberto Bolaño – 2666: A Novel (November 11)
• Christopher Buckley – Supreme Courtship (September 3)
• Alastair Campbell – All in the Mind (October 30)
• Martín Caparrós – A quien corresponda
• Eleanor Catton – The Rehearsal
• Wendy Coakley-Thompson – Triptych (December 18)
• Robert Crais – Chasing Darkness
• Klaus Ebner – Hominid (October 1)
• Ralph Ellison (edited by John F. Callahan) – Three Days Before the Shooting... (posthumously published manuscript)
• Mathias Énard – Zone (August 15)
• Sebastian Faulks – Devil May Care (James Bond continuation novel)
• Keith Gessen – All the Sad Young Literary Men (April 10)
• Juan Goytisolo – Exiled from Almost Everywhere
• Lauren Groff – The Monsters of Templeton (February 5)
• Johan Harstad – DARLAH
• Zoë Heller – The Believers (September 24)
• Aleksandar Hemon – The Lazarus Project (May 1)
• Samantha Hunt – The Invention of Everything Else (February 7)
• Siri Hustvedt – The Sorrows of an American (April 1)
• Karl Iagnemma – The Expeditions (January 15)
• Robert Juan-Cantavella – El Dorado
• Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs (posthumous) – And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (November 1; written 1945)
• Christian Kracht – Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten (September)
• László Krasznahorkai – Seiobo There Below
• Jhumpa Lahiri – Unaccustomed Earth (April 1)
• Kelly Link – Pretty Monsters (October 2)
• David Lodge – Deaf Sentence (May 1)
• James McBride – Song Yet Sung (February 5)
• Joe McGinniss Jr. – The Delivery Man (January 15)
• Lydia Millet – How the Dead Dream (January 25)
• Toni Morrison – A Mercy (November 11)
• Nunoe Mura – GeGeGe no Nyōbō
• Joyce Carol Oates – My Sister, My Love (June 24)
• Chuck Palahniuk – Snuff (May 20)
• Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Painter of Battles (January 8)
• Jodi Picoult – Change of Heart (March 4)
• José Luis Rodríguez Pittí – Sueños urbanos
• Richard Price – Lush Life (March 4)
• Ruth Rendell – Portobello (November 20)
• Nina Revoyr – The Age of Dreaming
• Nathaniel Rich – The Mayor's Tongue (April 8)
• Marilynne Robinson – Home (September 2)
• Charlotte Roche – Feuchtgebiete (February 25)
• Philip Roth – Indignation (September 16)
• Salman Rushdie – The Enchantress of Florence (June 3)
• Will Self – The Butt
• Curtis Sittenfeld – American Wife (September 2)
• Sjón – Rökkurbýsnir (Icelandic title) From the Mouth of the Whale (October 23)
• Tom Rob Smith – Child 44
• John Updike – The Widows of Eastwick (October 28)
• Tobias Wolff – Our Story Begins (March 25)

Horror Fiction

• Stephen King – Duma Key (January 22)
• Matthew J. Costello – Doom 3: Worlds on Fire (February 26)
• Stephenie Meyer – Breaking Dawn (August 2)

Children's and young adults' fiction

• Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (July 15)
• Keith Gray - Ostrich Boys (July 15)
• John Green – Paper Towns (October 16)
• Brian Greene – Icarus At The Edge Of Time
• Charlie Higson – Young Bond: By Royal Command (September 3)
• Tōru Honda and Kasumu Kirino – Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata (February 15)
• Minoru Kawakami and Satoyasu – Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere
• D. J. MacHale – Raven Rise (May 20)
• Jenny Nimmo – Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock (June 1)
• Garth Nix – Superior Saturday (May 5)
• Christopher Paolini – Brisingr (September 20)
• Angie Sage – Queste (April 8)
• Michael Salzhauer – My Beautiful Mommy

Science fiction and fantasy

• Douglas Preston – Blasphemy (January 8)
• Jim Butcher – Small Favor (April 1) (Harry Dresden #10)
• Cornelia Funke – Inkdeath (October 7)
• Patricia A. McKillip – The Bell at Sealey Head (September 2)
• Matthew Stover – Caine Black Knife (October 14)
• Brent Weeks – The Way of Shadows

New drama

• Salvatore Antonio – In Gabriel's Kitchen
• Howard Brenton – Never So Good
• Mary Higgins Clark – Where Are You Now?
• Nicholas de Jongh – Plague Over England
• Sam Holcroft – Coackroach
• Lynn Nottage – Ruined
• Tyler Perry – The Marriage Counselor
• Taavi Vartia – Kaikkien aikojen Pertsa ja Kilu

Poetry

Non-fiction

• The Academi – Encyclopaedia of Wales / Gwyddoniadur Cymru (January)
• Julie Andrews – Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (April 1)
• Dan Ariely – Predictably Irrational (February 19)
• Margaret Atwood – Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (October 1)
• Dionne Brand – A Kind of Perfect Speech: The Ralph Gustafson Lecture, Malaspina University College October 19, 2006
• Augusten Burroughs – A Wolf at the Table (April 29)
• Michael Chabon – Maps and Legends (May 1)
• Sloane Crosley – I Was Told There'd Be Cake (April 1)
• John Duignan – The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology (October 7)
• Eminem – The Way I Am (October 21)
• Richard Florida – Who's Your City? (March)
• Haruki Murakami (trans. Philip Gabriel) – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (July 29)
• Frances Osborne – The Bolter: Idina Sackville – the woman who scandalised 1920s society and became White Mischief's infamous seductress
• David Sedaris – When You Are Engulfed in Flames (June 3)
• Ronnie Thompson (pseudonym) – Screwed: The Truth About Life as a Prison Officer (January 24)
• Bjørn Christian Tørrissen – One for the Road (January 31; translation of I pose og sekk!, 2005)
• Barbara Walters – Audition: A Memoir (May 6)
• Russell Wangersky – Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself^[1]
• Meralda Warren and others – Mi Base side orn Pitcairn ("My Favourite Place on Pitcairn", first book published in Pitkern creole)
• Dagmar S. Wodko, Britta Irslinger and Carolin Schneider, ed. – Nomina im Indogermanischen Lexikon

Philosophy

• Kwame Anthony Appiah – Experiments in Ethics
• Raymond Geuss – Philosophy and Real Politics

Awards and honors

• Camões Prize: João Ubaldo Ribeiro
• Canada Reads: Paul Quarrington, King Leary
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Philip Reeve, Here Lies Arthur
• Europe Theatre Prize: Patrice Chéreau
• IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: Rawi Hage, De Niro's Game
• Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2008 Lambda Literary Awards.
• Man Booker Prize: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
• Miles Franklin Award: Steven Carroll, The Time We Have Taken
• National Book Award for Fiction: to Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen
• National Book Critics Circle Award: to 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
• Nobel Prize in Literature: J. M. G. Le Clézio
• Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction: to The Road Home by Rose Tremain
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Kate Christensen, The Great Man
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Junot Diaz, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Joseph Boyden, Through Black Spruce
• Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year: The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais, Philip M. Parker
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Laura Amy Schlitz, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
• Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Bruce Serafin, Stardust^[2]
• Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Main award, Zoe Whittall; honours of distinction, Brian Francis, John Miller.
• Governor General's Awards: Multiple categories; see 2008 Governor General's Awards.
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: Miriam Toews, The Flying Troutmans
• Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction: Taras Grescoe, Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood
• Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award: Michael Winter

Deaths

January–February

• January 2 – George MacDonald Fraser, 82, British author (Flashman)
• January 3 – Henri Chopin, 85, French poet
• January 11 – Nancy Phelan, 94, Australian writer
• January 13 – Patricia Verdugo, 60, Chilean journalist and writer
• January 16 – Hone Tuwhare, 85, New Zealand poet
• January 17 – Edward D. Hoch, 77, American pulp writer
• January 26
  • John Ardagh, 79, British journalist and writer
  • Abraham Brumberg, 81, American writer and editor
• January 29 – Margaret Truman, 83, American writer
• January 30 – Miles Kington, 66, British journalist and writer

• February 4 – Rose Hacker, 101, British writer and journalist
• February 7 – Richard Altick, 92, American literary scholar
• February 8 – Phyllis A. Whitney, 104, American mystery writer
• February 10 – Steve Gerber, 60, American comic book writer (Howard the Duck)
• February 18 – Alain Robbe-Grillet, 85, French novelist
• February 21
  • Archie Hind, 80, British novelist
  • Robin Moore, 82, American writer
• February 22 – Stephen Marlowe, 79, American sci-fi and crime writer
• February 28
  • Julian Rathbone, 73, British novelist
  • (probable) Val Plumwood, 68, Australian philosopher

March–April

• March 16 – Jonathan Williams, 79, American poet
• March 19
  • Arthur C. Clarke, 90, British science-fiction writer and futurist
  • Hugo Claus, 78, Belgian writer
• March 23 – E. A. Markham, 68, Montserratian poet
• April 3 – Andrew Crozier, 64, British poet and editor
• April 7 – Ludu Daw Amar, 92, Burmese writer and journalist
• April 13 – Robert Greacen, 87, Irish poet
• April 17
  • Aimé Césaire, 94, Francophone Martinican poet and writer
  • Zoya Krakhmalnikova, 79, Russian writer and editor
• April 18
  • Michael de Larrabeiti, 63, British novelist
  • William W. Warner, 88, American biologist and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer

May–June

• May 1 – Elaine Dundy, 86, American novelist
• May 9 – Nuala O'Faolain, Irish Journalist, novelist and critic
• May 11 – Jeff Torrington, 72, British novelist
• May 12 – Oakley Hall, 87, American novelist
• May 14 – Roy Heath, 81, Guyanese novelist
• May 19 – Vijay Tendulkar, 80, Indian playwright
• May 23 – Alan Brien, 83, British journalist and novelist
• May 28 – Elinor Lyon, 86, British children's writer

• June 2 – Ferenc Fejtő, 98, French-Hungarian historian and journalist
• June 4 – Matthew Bruccoli, 76, American biographer and editor
• June 5 – Angus Calder, 65, British writer and editor
• June 8 – Peter Rühmkorf, 78, German poet
• June 9 – Algis Budrys, 77, Lithuanian-American science fiction writer and editor
• June 10
  • Chinghiz Aitmatov, 79, Kyrgyz writer
  • Eliot Asinof, 88, American sportswriter
• June 16 – Mario Rigoni Stern, 86, Italian novelist
• June 18 – Tasha Tudor, 92, American children's writer and illustrator
• June 22 – Albert Cossery, 94, French-Egyptian novelist
• June 24 – Ruth Cardoso, 77, Brazilian anthropologist and writer
• June 25 – Lyall Watson, 69, South African new age writer
• June 27 – Lenka Reinerová, 92, Czech writer

July–August

• July 1
  • Clay Felker, 82, American magazine editor and journalist, founder of New York
  • Robert Harling, 98, British typographer, editor and novelist
• July 2 – Simone Ortega, 89, Spanish cookery writer
• July 4
  • Thomas M. Disch, 68, American science fiction author and poet.
  • Janwillem van de Wetering, 77, Dutch novelist
• July 20 – Roger Wolcott Hall, 89, American memoirist and novelist
• July 27 – Bob Crampsey, 78, British writer
• July 30 – Peter Coke, 95, British playwright

• August 3 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 89, Russian writer and Nobel Prize laureate
• August 7 – Simon Gray, 71, British playwright
• August 9 – Mahmoud Darwish, 67, Palestinian poet
• August 11 – George Furth, 75, American playwright
• August 17 – Dave Freeman, 47, American travel writer
• August 23 – John Russell, 89, British-American art critic
• August 25 – Ahmed Faraz, 77, Pakistani poet
• August 31 – Ken Campbell, 66, British novelist and playwright

September–October

• September 5 – Robert Giroux, 94, American editor and publisher
• September 7 – Gregory Mcdonald, 71, American mystery writer
• September 12 – David Foster Wallace, 46, American novelist
• September 17 – James Crumley, 68, American crime writer
• September 20 – Duncan Glen, 75, British poet, critic and literary historian
• September 23 – William Woodruff, 92, British historian and autobiographer
• September 29 – Hayden Carruth, 87, American poet and literary critic
• October 4 – Peter Vansittart, 88, British historical novelist
• October 14 – Barrington J. Bayley, 71, British science-fiction writer
• October 26 – Tony Hillerman, 83, American mystery writer
• October 27 – Es'kia Mphahlele, 88, South African writer
• October 29 – William Wharton, 82, American novelist
• October 31 – Studs Terkel, 96, American historian

November–December

• November 4 – Michael Crichton, M.D., 66, author.
• December 1 – Dorothy Sterling, 95, nonfiction writer of black history for children^[3]
• December 15 – Anne-Catharina Vestly, 88, Norwegian children's book author^[4]
• December 24 – Harold Pinter, 78, playwright and screenwriter.
• December 31 – Donald E. Westlake, American novelist,^[5]

References

See also

• List of literary awards
• List of poetry awards
• 2008 in comics
• 2008 in Australian literature