2011 in literature

Events

• June 7 – Ransom Riggs publishes his young-adult novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which pins its narrative around a series of earlier private photographs he had collected. It remains top of The New York Times Children's Chapter Books list for 45 weeks and founds a series of five novels.
• July – J. K. Rowling ends her relationship with her long-standing agent Christopher Little and joins his rival, Neil Blair.
• September 24 – The first 100 Thousand Poets for Change Day takes place, the organization having been founded by Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion in March.
• November 12 – The Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Literature Museum Library opens in Istanbul, Turkey.

New books

Fiction

• Chris Adrian – The Great Night
• David Almond – The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean
• Kevin Barry – City of Bohane
• Giannina Braschi – United States of Banana
• T. C. Boyle – When the Killing's Done
• Geraldine Brooks – Caleb's Crossing
• Kate Christensen – The Astral: A Novel
• Patrick deWitt – The Sisters Brothers
• E. L. Doctorow – All the Time in the World
• Steve Earle – I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive
• Esi Edugyan – Half-Blood Blues
• Jeffrey Eugenides – The Marriage Plot
• Jonathan Evison – West of Here
• Robb Forman Dew – Being Polite to Hitler
• Charles Frazier – Nightwoods
• James Frey – The Final Testament of the Holy Bible
• Roxane Gay – Ayiti
• Abdulrazak Gurnah – The Last Gift
• Benjamin Hale – The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore
• Hallgrímur Helgason – Konan við 1000°
• Ron Hansen – A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion
• Chad Harbach – The Art of Fielding
• Philip Hensher – King of the Badgers
• Alan Hollinghurst – The Stranger's Child
• E. L. James – Fifty Shades of Grey
• Mat Johnson – Pym
• Stephen Kelman – Pigeon English
• Ben Lerner – Leaving the Atocha Station
• Merethe Lindstrøm – Days in the History of Silence
• Javier Marías – Los enamoramientos
• Andrew Miller – Pure
• Haruki Murakami – 1Q84
• Téa Obreht – The Tiger's Wife
• Daniel Olivas – The Book of Want
• Michael Ondaatje – The Cat's Table
• Ann Patchett – State of Wonder
• Chuck Palahniuk – Damned
• Tom Perrotta – The Leftovers
• Arthur Phillips – The Tragedy of Arthur
• Nina Revoyr – Wingshooters
• Rodrigo Rey Rosa – Severina
• Karen Russell – Swamplandia!
• Stig Sæterbakken – Through the Night
• John Sayles – A Moment in the Sun
• Faruk Šehić – Knjiga o Uni
• Dana Spiotta – Stone Arabia
• Colm Tóibín – The Empty Family
• Zlatko Topčić – The Final Word
• Donald Trump – Trump Tower
• Juan Gabriel Vásquez – The Sound of Things Falling
• David Foster Wallace – The Pale King
• Daniel Woodrell – ''The Outlaw Album''

Children and young people

• David Almond – The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean
• Kelley Armstrong – The Gathering
• Stéphane-Yves Barroux – Mr Leon's Paris
• Paula Bossio – El Lapiz
• Carmen Agra Deedy – The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale
• Andy Griffiths – The 13-Storey Treehouse
• Anthony Horowitz – Scorpia Rising
• Jon Klassen – I Want My Hat Back
• Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Rick Riordan, and Jude Watson – Vespers Rising
• Derek Landy – Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of the Wicked
• Patricia McKissack – Never Forgotten
• Courtney Allison Moulton – Angelfire
• Brandon Mull – Beyonders: A World Without Heroes
• Christopher Paolini – Inheritance
• Jerry Pinkney – Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
• Catherine Rayner – Solomon Crocodile
• Rick Riordan
• *The Throne of Fire
• *The Son of Neptune
• Douglas Wood – ''Franklin and Winston: A Christmas That Changed the World''

Poetry

• Rae Armantrout – Money Shot
• Billy Collins – Horoscopes for the Dead
• Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi – Meri Tasveer
• Susan Howe – That This
• Alice Notley – Culture of One
• Sarah Palin – I Hope Like Heck
• Michael Palmer – Thread
• Lee Wardlaw – ''Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku''

Drama

• Richard Bean – One Man, Two Guvnors
• Alecky Blythe – London Road
• Nick Dear – Frankenstein
• Vivienne Franzmann – Mogadishu
• Rodrigo García – Golgota Picnic
• Stephen Adly Guirgis – The Motherfucker with the Hat
• Sam Holcroft – Edgar and Annabel
• Stephen Karam – Sons of the Prophet
• Andrew Motion – Incoming
• Various authors – ''Sixty-Six Books''

Science fiction and fantasy

• Joe Abercrombie – The Heroes
• Daniel Abraham
• *The Dragon's Path
• *Leviathan Wakes
• Ann Aguirre – Aftermath
• Greg Bear – Halo: Cryptum
• Lauren Beukes – Zoo City
• Jack Campbell – The Lost Frontier: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnought
• Orson Scott Card – The Lost Gate
• Ernest Cline – Ready Player One
• Michael Crichton & Richard Preston – Micro
• Ian Douglas – Center of Gravity
• David Anthony Durham – The Sacred Band
• Greg Egan – The Clockwork Rocket
• William Giraldi – Busy Monsters
• Michael Grant — Plague
• Mira Grant – Deadline
• Lev Grossman – The Magician King
• Stephen Hunt – The Rise of the Iron Moon
• N. K. Jemisin – The Kingdom of Gods
• Stephen King — 11/22/63
• Sharon Lee & Steve Miller – Ghost Ship
• Pittacus Lore — The Power of Six
• George R. R. Martin – A Dance with Dragons
• Jack McDevitt – Firebird
• China Miéville – Embassytown
• Andrew Miller – Pure
• Karen Miller – A Blight of Mages
• Richard K. Morgan – The Cold Commands
• Joseph Nassise – Eyes to See
• Terry Pratchett – Snuff
• Cherie Priest – Ganymede
• Hannu Rajaniemi – The Quantum Thief
• Brian Ruckley – The Edinburgh Dead
• Brandon Sanderson – The Alloy of Law
• John Scalzi – Fuzzy Nation
• Dan Simmons – Flashback
• Neal Stephenson – Reamde
• Charles Stross – Rule 34
• Michael Swanwick – Dancing with Bears
• Catherynne M. Valente – Deathless
• Vernor Vinge – The Children of the Sky
• Jo Walton – Among Others
• David Weber – How Firm a Foundation
• Robert Charles Wilson – Vortex
• Daniel Wilson – Robopocalypse
• Gene Wolfe – ''Home Fires''

Crime and Thrillers

• Jeff Abbott – Adrenaline
• Ace Atkins – The Ranger
• Kate Atkinson – Started Early, Took My Dog
• Steve Berry – The Jefferson Key
• James Lee Burke – Feast Day of Fools
• Lee Child – The Affair
• Edward Conlon – Red on Red
• Michael Connelly – The Fifth Witness
• John Connolly – The Burning Soul
• Jeffery Deaver – Carte Blanche
• Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee – Forbidden
• Ted Dekker – The Priest's Graveyard
• Ranj Dhaliwal – Daaku: The Gangster's Life
• Sue Grafton – V is for Vengeance
• John Grisham – The Litigators
• Morag Joss – Among the Missing
• Stuart M. Kaminsky – A Whisper to the Living
• Joe R. Lansdale
• *Hyenas: a Hap and Leonard Novella
• *Devil Red
• Henning Mankell – The Troubled Man
• Jo Nesbø – The Snowman
• T. Jefferson Parker – The Border Lords
• George Pelecanos – The Cut
• Ralph Peters – The Officers' Club
• Donald Ray Pollock – The Devil All the Time
• James Rollins – The Devil's Colony
• John Sandford – Buried Prey
• Marcus Sakey – The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes
• Bernard J. Schaffer – Whitechapel: The Final Stand of Sherlock Holmes
• Duane Swierczynski – Fun and Games
• Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan – The Night Eternal
• Nicolaas Vergunst – Knot of Stone
• Ferdinand von Schirach – Der Fall Collini
• S. J. Watson – ''Before I Go to Sleep''

Non-fiction

• Peter Bergen – The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda
• Abhinav Bindra – A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold
• Mark Bowden – Worm: The First Digital World War
• Frank Brady – Endgame: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Bobby Fischer
• Michael Bronski – A Queer History of the United States
• David Brooks – The Social Animal
• Brian Christian – The Most Human Human
• Richard Dawkins – The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True
• Joan Didion – Blue Nights
• Douglas Edwards – I'm Feeling Lucky
• T. J. English – The Savage City: Race, Murder and a Generation on the Edge
• Ulrich Eberl – Life in 2050
• Tina Fey – Bossypants
• John M. Findlay and Bruce Hevly - Atomic Frontier Days: Hanford and the American West
• Joshua Foer – Moonwalking with Einstein
• James Gleick – The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
• Brian Greene – The Hidden Reality
• Yuval Noah Harari – קיצור תולדות האנושות
• Matthew Hollis – Now All Roads Lead to France
• Louis Hyman – Debtor Nation
• Zlatan Ibrahimović and David Lagercrantz – I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović
• Daniel Kahneman – Thinking, Fast and Slow
• David King – Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris
• Joshua Knelman – Hot Art
• Lawrence M. Krauss – Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science
• B. B. Lal – Piecing Together – Memoirs of an Archaeologist
• Erik Larson – In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
• Joseph Lelyveld – Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India
• Steven Levy – In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
• Charles C. Mann – 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
• Rajiv Malhotra – Breaking India
• David McCullough – The Greater Journey
• Ben Mezrich – Sex on the Moon
• Scott Miller – The President and the Assassin
• Errol Morris – Believing is Seeing
• Grant Morrison – Supergods
• Joyce Carol Oates – A Widow's Story
• Patton Oswalt – Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland
• Dana Priest – Top Secret America
• Annie Proulx – Bird Cloud: A Memoir
• Janet Reitman – Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
• Sylvain Tesson – The Consolations of the Forest
• Sarah Vowell – Unfamiliar Fishes
• Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie – The Declaration of Independents
• Daniel Yergin – The Quest
• Mitchell Zuckoff – ''Lost in Shangri-La''

Deaths

• January 2 – Robert Trumble, Australian writer
• January 4
• *Eva Strittmatter, German author and poet
• *Dick King-Smith English children's writer
• January 10 – Joe Gores, American novelist and screenwriter
• January 11 – Marcel Trudel, Canadian historian and author
• January 14 – Sun Axelsson, Swedish novelist
• January 15 – Romulus Linney, American playwright
• January 16 – R. F. Langley, English poet and diarist
• January 17 – Jean Dutourd, French novelist
• January 19 – Wilfrid Sheed, English-born American novelist and essayist
• January 20
• *F. A. Nettelbeck, American poet
• *Reynolds Price, American author
• January 22 – Park Wan-suh, South Korean novelist
• January 23 – Novica Tadić, Serbian poet
• January 24 – Anna Yablonskaya, Ukrainian playwright and poet
• January 25 – Vincent Cronin, English writer
• January 29
• *Loreen Rice Lucas, Canadian author
• *Hemayel Martina, Curaçaon poet
• January 30 – Hisaye Yamamoto, Japanese American author
• February 2 – Eric Nicol, Canadian author
• February 3 – Édouard Glissant, Martinique poet and critic writing in French
• February 5
• *Charles E. Silberman, American author
• *Martin Quigley Jr., American author and publisher
• *Brian Jacques, English children's writer
• February 9 – David Sánchez Juliao, Colombian author and diplomat
• February 13 – Oakley Hall III, American playwright
• February 15 – Judith Binney, New Zealand author
• February 16
• *Justinas Marcinkevičius, Lithuanian poet and playwright
• *Hans Joachim Alpers, German science fiction author
• February 17
• *Perry Moore, American author
• *Vivien Noakes, English biographer and critic
• *James McLure, American playwright
• February 18 – Victor Martinez, US poet and novelist
• February 19 – Max Wilk, American playwright, screenwriter and author
• February 25
• *Manny Fried, American playwright and actor
• *Aminath Faiza, Maldivian poet and writer in the Dhivehi language
• February 26 – Arnošt Lustig, Czech author
• February 28 – Netiva Ben-Yehuda, Israeli author
• March 2 – Thor Vilhjálmsson, Icelandic author
• March 3 – May Cutler, Canadian author and publisher
• March 5 – Alberto Granado, Argentine-born Cuban biochemist and writer
• March 8
• *Iraj Afshar, Iranian bibliographer and historian
• *Steven Kroll, American children's author
• March 9 – Doris Burn, American children's author and illustrator
• March 13 – Leo Steinberg, American art historian and critic
• March 14 – Giora Leshem, Israeli poet and publisher
• March 19 – Raymond Garlick, English-born Welsh poet and editor
• March 26 – Diana Wynne Jones, English children's fantasy novelist
• March 27 – H. R. F. Keating, English crime novelist
• April 2 – Paul Violi, American poet
• April 3 – Ulli Beier, German writer, editor and scholar
• April 4 – Craig Thomas, Welsh novelist
• April 6 – Thøger Birkeland, Danish children's writer
• April 10 – Stephen Watson, South African writer and critic in English
• April 12 – Sachin Bhowmick, Indian screenwriter
• April 14
• *Rosihan Anwar, Indonesian journalist
• *Patrick Cullinan, South African poet and biographer
• April 16 – William A. Rusher, American columnist and publisher
• April 17 – Bob Block, English comedy writer
• April 19 – Anne Blonstein, English poet
• April 20 – Madelyn Pugh, American screenwriter
• April 21 – W. J. Gruffydd, Welsh-language poet
• April 25 – Gonzalo Rojas, Chilean poet
• April 29
• *Abdul Hameed, Pakistani novelist
• *Joanna Russ, American science fiction author
• April 30
• *Richard Holmes, English military historian
• *Ernesto Sabato, Argentine writer
• May 4 – Frans Sammut, Maltese writer
• May 5 – Arthur Laurents, American playwright, librettist and screenwriter
• May 9 – Newton Thornburg, American novelist
• May 10 – Patrick Galvin, Irish poet and dramatist
• May 11 – Reach Sambath, Cambodian journalist
• May 13
• *Pam Gems, English playwright
• *Badal Sarkar, Indian dramatist
• May 14 – Birgitta Trotzig, Swedish novelist and poet
• May 15 – Martin Woodhouse, English novelist, screenwriter and inventor
• May 19 – William Kloefkorn, American poet
• May 21 – Pádraig Kennelly, Irish journalist, publisher and editor
• May 22 – Chidananda Dasgupta, Indian film critic
• May 23 – Roberto Sosa, Honduran poet
• May 24 – Fănuș Neagu, Romanian novelist, journalist, and short story writer
• May 25
• *Leonora Carrington, British-born Mexican painter and novelist
• *Edwin Honig, American poet and translator
• *Yannis Varveris, Greek poet, critic and translator
• May 30 – Marek Siemek, Polish philosopher and historian of philosophy
• June 4 – Curth Flatow, German dramatist and screenwriter
• June 7 – Jorge Semprún, Spanish writer and politician
• June 10 – Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, English travel writer and novelist,
• June 13 – Burt Styler, American screenwriter
• June 18 – Cheryl B, American poet and spoken word artist
• June 21 – Robert Kroetsch, Canadian novelist and poet
• June 22 – Zbyněk Zeman, Czech historian
• June 29 – K. D. Sethna, Indian poet, writer and cultural critic
• July 7 – Olav Versto, Norwegian journalist and editor
• July 3 – Iain Blair, Scottish romance novelist
• July 11 – Henry Carlisle, American translator, novelist and activist
• July 16 – Geraint Bowen, Welsh poet
• July 18 – Georgess McHargue, American author and poet
• July 20 – Blaize Clement, American mystery writer and psychologist
• July 22 – Ifti Nasim, Pakistani-born American poet and radio host
• July 27 – Agota Kristof, Hungarian novelist writing in French
• July 28 – Ahmed Omaid Khpalwak, Afghan journalist
• July 30 – Pêr Denez, French Breton linguist and writer
• July 31 – Eliseo Alberto, Cuban-born Mexican novelist, essayist and journalist
• August 1 – Stan Barstow, English novelist
• August 3
• *Simona Monyová, Czech novelist
• *William Sleator, American science-fiction writer
• August 10 – Selwyn Griffith, Welsh poet
• August 15 – Michael Legat, English author and publisher
• August 17 – Michel Mohrt, French writer
• August 26 – Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, American novelist
• August 27 – N. F. Simpson, English dramatist
• September 9
• *Herbert Lomas, English poet
• *Khairy Shalaby, Egyptian novelist and dramatist
• September 14 – Frank Parkin, Welsh sociologist and novelist
• September 22
• *Cengiz Dağcı, Crimean Tatar novelist and poet writing in Turkish
• *Margaret Ogola, Kenyan novelist
• September 23 – José Miguel Varas, Chilean writer
• September 26 – David Zelag Goodman, American screenwriter
• September 27
• *David Croft, English television writer and producer
• *Sara Douglass, Australian fantasy author
• September 29 – Hella Haasse, Dutch novelist
• October 4 – Vittorio Curtoni, Italian science fiction writer and translator
• October 10 – Uno Röndahl, Swedish writer
• October 11 – Ewald Osers, Czech translator and poet
• October 12 – Lowell H. Harrison, American historian
• October 15 – Earl McRae, Canadian journalist
• October 18
• *Paul Everac, Romanian writer
• *Friedrich Kittler, German literary scholar and media theorist
• October 19
• *Kakkanadan, Indian Malayalam writer
• *Bohdan Osadchuk, Ukrainian historian and journalist
• October 21
• *Hikmet Bilâ, Turkish journalist and author
• *Tone Pavček, Slovenian author and translator
• October 23
• *Florence Parry Heide, American children's author
• *Bogdan Zakrzewski, Polish historian and researcher of Polish literature
• October 24 – Morio Kita, Japanese novelist, essayist and psychiatrist
• November 3
• *H. G. Francis, German science fiction author
• *Morris Philipson, American novelist and publisher
• November 21
• *Arie van Deursen, Dutch historian
• *Theodore Enslin, American poet
• *Anne McCaffrey, American fantasy writer
• November 25 – Leonid Borodin, Russian novelist, journalist and Soviet dissident,
• November 26 – Rashid Karim, Bangladeshi novelist
• November 30
• *Ana Daniel, Portuguese poet
• *Partap Sharma, Indian playwright
• December 15 – Christopher Hitchens, English journalist and commentator
• December 20 – Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright
• December 23 – Tripuraneni Maharadhi, Indian screenwriter
• December 27 – Thinley Norbu, Tibetan Buddhist writer and teacher
• December 30 – Eleanor Ross Taylor, American poet
• December 31
• *Celia Dale, English fiction writer and book reviewer

Awards

• Nobel Prize in Literature: Tomas Tranströmer

Australia

• Miles Franklin Award: Kim Scott, ''That Deadman Dance''

Canada

• Amazon.ca First Novel Award: David Bezmozgis, The Free World
• Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Helen Waldstein Wilkes, Letters from the Lost
• Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Main award, Farzana Doctor; honours of distinction, Dani Couture, Matthew J. Trafford.
• Governor General's Awards: Multiple categories; see 2011 Governor General's Awards.
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Esi Edugyan, Half-Blood Blues
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers
• Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction: Charles Foran, Mordecai: The Life and Times
• Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award: Wayne Johnston

United Kingdom

• Man Booker Prize: Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
• Caine Prize for African Writing: NoViolet Bulawayo, "Hitting Budapest"
• David Cohen Prize: Julian Barnes
• Orange Prize for Fiction: Téa Obreht, ''The Tiger's Wife''

United States

• Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2011 Lambda Literary Awards.
• National Book Award for Fiction: to Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
• National Book Critics Circle Award: to Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories by Edith Pearlman
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: to The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg by Deborah Eisenberg
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
• Whiting Awards: Fiction: Scott Blackwood, Ryan Call, Daniel Orozco, Teddy Wayne; Nonfiction: Paul Clemens; Plays: Amy Herzog; Poetry: Don Mee Choi, Eduardo C. Corral, Shane McCrae, Kerri Webster

Other

• Camões Prize: Manuel António Pina
• Europe Theatre Prize: Peter Stein
• European Book Prize: Maxim Leo, Red Love, and Anna Bikont, The Crime and the Silence
• Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Boualem Sansal
• International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Mohammed Achaari, The Arch and the Butterfly, and Raja'a Alem, The Doves' Necklace
• SAARC Literary Award: Ibrahim Waheed, Syed Akhtar Hussain Akhtar