21st century in literature

            List of years in literature       (table)
... 2003 . 2004 . 2005 . 2006 . 2007 . 2008 . 2009 ...
2010 2011 2012 -2013- 2014 2015 2016
... 2017 . 2018 . 2019 . 2020 . 2021 . 2022 . 2023 ...
Art . Archaeology . Architecture . Literature . Music . Philosophy . Science +...

See also: 21st century in poetry, 20th century in literature, list of years in literature.

The 21st century in literature refers to world literature in prose produced during the 21st century. The range of years is, for the purpose of this article, literature written from (roughly) the year 2001 to the present.

2000s

The 2000s saw a steep increase in the acceptability of literature of all types, inspired by the coming-of-age of millions of people who enjoyed the works of writers such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in their youths. Neil Gaiman, for instance, one of the decade's most popular writers of speculative fiction, cites Tolkien, Lewis, and G. K. Chesterton as his three biggest influences growing up. J. K. Rowling admits to being heavily influenced by Lewis as well. Philip Pullman's gritty and controversial young adult His Dark Materials trilogy, written and published in the late 1990s, increased in popularity and was more widely read during the 2000s. The popularity of Lewis, Tolkien, Pullman, and Rowling was spurred on by movies which proved to be some of the biggest of the 2000s.

The 2000s also saw the popularization of manga, or Japanese comics, among international audiences, particularly in English-speaking nations. Many famous books like Harry Potter series were converted into movies. Books on wars, guides for exams, myths, etc. were frequent sellers in this decade. Some books were written in simple English and works of old writers were translated into language that was easier to understand. Mythology was converted into graphic novel form to build interest among young readers.

2010s

See also