2019 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2019.

Events

February 2 – The family of the U.S. fiction writer J. D. Salinger confirm in an interview published in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian that he left a large unpublished body of work on his death in 2010, which they are preparing for publication.
April 11–13 – Trinity College Dublin holds a three-day symposium on Finnegans Wake, marking the 80th anniversary its publication.
May 10 – Simon Armitage is appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in succession to Carol Ann Duffy.
July 15 – Iris Murdoch's birthday centenary is marked in Ireland with a postage stamp based on a portrait of her. Dublin City Council unveils a plaque at Blessington Street Park, located temporarily due to renovations at her nearby birthplace, 59 Blessington Street. In the U.K., The Times Literary Supplement has her on its cover.
September 20 – Museum of Literature Ireland is opened in Dublin.
December 7 – The seventh film version of Little Women, in a metafictional adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel by the director, Greta Gerwig, is premiered in the United States.

New books

''Dates after each title indicate U.S. publication, unless otherwise indicated.''

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding " in literature" article:

January 1
*Ludwig W. Adamec, Austrian-born American historian noted for his work on Afghanistan and the Middle East, 94
*Katie Flynn, British writer of popular historical and romantic fiction, 82
*Perry Deane Young, American playwright and historian, 77
January 2
*Samuel Rayan, Indian theologian, 98
*Jerzy Turonek, Polish-Belarusian historian, 89
*Tommy Watz, Norwegian translator from Italian and recipient of the 2013 Bastian Prize for his translation of Alberto Moravia's Gli indifferenti, 60
January 3
*Dibyendu Palit, Indian writer of Bengali poems, novels and short stories, 79
*Pinaki Thakur, Indian poet who wrote in Bengali, 59
January 4 – John Burningham, English writer of children's literature, 82
January 5
*Emil Brumaru, Romanian writer and poet, 80
*Aisha Lemu, British-born Nigerian Islamic scholar, 79
January 6 – Bea Vianen, Surinamese writer and admirer of V. S. Naipaul, 83
January 7
*Helmut Berding, German historian, 88
*Aline Kiner, French novelist, 59
*Theodore K. Rabb, American historian noted for his work on the early modern period of European history, 81
*A. G. Rigg, British medievalist, 81
January 8 – Pierre Barillet, French playwright, 95
January 9
*Conxita Julià, Spanish Catalan poet, 98
*Thierry Séchan, French novelist, 69
January 12
*A. Brian Deer, Canadian Kahnawake Mohawk librarian noted for developing the Brian Deer Classification System, 74
*Javier de Hoz, Spanish philologist and academic noted for his work on Paleohispanic languages, historical linguistics, ancient Celtic languages, history of writing, preclassical Greek literature, Greek epigraphy and ancient Greek theatre, 78
*Linda Kelly, English Romantic historian noted for portraying Thomas Chatterton, Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Thomas Moore, 82
January 13
*Miguel Civil, Spanish sumerologist, 92
*Francine du Plessix Gray, Polish-born American writer and literary critic, 88
January 15 – Bai Hua, Chinese novelist, playwright and poet, 88
January 16 – Mirjam Pressler, German novelist and translator from Hebrew, English, Dutch and Afrikaans, 78
January 17
*Michael Hardcastle, British writer of children's literature, 85
*Mary Oliver, American poet and 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry recipient, 83
*Sam Savage, American novelist, 78
January 18 – Brian Stowell, the first recorded full-length Manx novelist, translator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland into Manx and 2008 Reih Bleeaney Vanannan recipient, 82
January 19
*Atin Bandyopadhyay, Bangladeshi writer of Bengali literature, 85
*Thomas Habinek, American classical scholar noted for his work on Latin literature and Roman cultural history, 65
*Henry Horwitz, American historian noted for his work on late seventeenth-century English politics, 80
*Barthélémy Kotchy, Ivorian writer, 84
January 20
*Ian Dewhirst, British historian, 82
*Ronald Hayman, British biographer of Pinter, Beckett, Stoppard, Nietzsche, Kafka, Grass, Proust and Thomas Mann, 86
*Norman Itzkowitz, American translator, historian of the Ottoman Empire and purveyor of psychoanalysis, 87
January 21
*Padraic Fiacc, Irish poet and member of Aosdána, 94
*Roman Kudlyk, Ukrainian poet and literary critic, 77
January 22
*Leonard Dinnerstein, American historian, 84
*Éric Holder, French novelist, 58
*Jean-Maurice Rouquette, French historian noted for his work on ancient and Romanesque Provence, 87
January 23 – Diana Athill, British literary editor and novelist, 101
February 1 – Andrew McGahan, Australian novelist, 52
February 9 – Farhad Ebrahimi, Iranian poet and writer, 83
February 14 – Andrea Levy, English novelist, 62
February 25 – Nikhil Sen, Bangladeshi dramatist, 87
March 1 – Peter van Gestel, Dutch writer, 81
March 4 – Les Carlyon, Australian writer and newspaper editor, 76
March 10 – Pius Adesanmi, Nigerian-born Canadian professor, writer, literary critic, satirist, and columnist, 47
March 15 – Rudi Krausmann, Austrian-born Australian playwright and poet, 85
April 1 – Vonda N. McIntyre, American science fiction writer, 70
April 29 – Les Murray, Australian poet, anthologist and critic, 80
May 14 – Daniel Vidart, Uruguayan anthropologist, writer, historian, and essayist, 98
May 19 – John Millett, Australian poet, reviewer and poetry editor, 98
May 22 – Judith Kerr, English writer and illustrator
June 1 – Christobel Mattingley, Australian author of books for children and adults, 87
June 8 – Milan Asadurov, Bulgarian science fiction writer
July 7 – Steve Cannon, American novelist, playwright, and arts impresario, 84
July 13 – Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Australian poet, author and champion of Indigenous writers, 62
July 17 – Andrea Camilleri, Italian novelist and playwright, 93
July 18 – Luciano De Crescenzo, Italian writer and director, 90
July 21 – Ann Moyal, Australian historian,
July 22 – Brigitte Kronauer, German novelist, 78
August 5 – Toni Morrison, American novelist, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature and 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 88
September 1 – Barbara Probst Solomon, American author
September 11 – Anne Rivers Siddons, American novelist, and, 83
September 13 – György Konrád, Hungarian novelist and political dissident, President of PEN International, 86
September 16 – Steve Dalachinsky, American poet, 72,
September 23
*Al Alvarez, English writer and poetry editor, 90
*Elaine Feinstein, English poet, 88
October 6 – Ciaran Carson, Irish poet, 70
October 12 – Alison Prince, English children's writer and biographer, 88
October 14 – Harold Bloom, American literary critic and writer, 89
October 30 – Beatrice Faust, Australian author and women's activist, 80
November 5 – Ernest J. Gaines, American author, 86
November 7 – Nabanita Dev Sen, Indian writer and academic, 79
November 14 – Krystyna Boglar, Polish writer known mostly for her work for children and young adults
November 24 – Clive James, Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster and writer, 80
December 29 – Alasdair Gray, Scottish author and visual artist, 85
December 30 – Sonny Mehta, Indian-born British and American publishing executive, 76,

Awards

The following list is arranged alphabetically:

Akutagawa Prize: Natsuko Imamura; Makoto Furukawa
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award: Tommy Orange for There There
Baillie Gifford Prize: Hallie Rubenhold, The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
Booker Prize: Margaret Atwood for The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other
Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year: The Dirt Hole and its Variations by Charles L Dobbins.
Caine Prize for African Writing: Lesley Nneka Arimah, "Skinned"
Camões Prize: Chico Buarque
Carnegie Medal: Elizabeth Acevedo for The Poet X
Costa Book Awards: Jack Fairweather, The Volunteer
Danuta Gleed Literary Award: Carrianne Leung, That Time I Loved You
David Cohen Prize: Edna O'Brien
Desmond Elliott Prize: Claire Adam for Golden Child
European Book Prize: Jonathan Coe, Middle England and, Laurent Gaudé, Nous l’Europe, banquet des peuples
Folio Prize: Raymond Antrobus, The Perseverance
Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Sebastião Salgado
German Book Prize: Saša Stanišić, Herkunft
Goldsmiths Prize: Lucy Ellmann, Ducks, Newburyport
Gordon Burn Prize: David Keenan for For the Good Times
Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: Joan Thomas, Five Wives
Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: Céline Huyghebaert, Le drap blanc
Governor General's Awards, other categories: See 2019 Governor General's Awards
Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française:
Hugo Award for Best Novel: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
International Booker Prize: Jokha Alharthi, Celestial Bodies
International Dublin Literary Award: Emily Ruskovich, Idaho
International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Hoda Barakat, The Night Mail
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction:
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography:
Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award:
Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 31st Lambda Literary Awards.
Legion of Honour, Chevalier: Michel Houellebecq
Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Joan Margarit
Miles Franklin Award: Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip
National Biography Award : Behrouz Boochani, No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison
National Book Award for Fiction:
National Book Critics Circle Award:
Nike Award:
Nobel Prize in Literature: Peter Handke
Olof Palme Prize: John le Carré
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction:
PEN Center USA Fiction Award:
Premio Planeta de Novela:
Premio Strega:
Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing:
Prix Goncourt: Jean-Paul Dubois, Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Richard Powers, The Overstory
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry:
Queen's Birthday Honours James Dover Grant, CBE; Tim Hely Hutchinson, CBE; Bettany Hughes, OBE; Sarah Ann Waters, OBE;
RBC Taylor Prize: Kate Harris, Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Roads
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize:
SAARC Literary Award:
Scotiabank Giller Prize: Ian Williams, Reproduction
Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings:
Walter Scott Prize: Robin Robertson, The Long Take
Whiting Awards:
Women's Prize for Fiction: Tayari Jones for An American Marriage
W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction:
Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Agi Mishol

2019 in literature

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Poetry

Drama

Non-fiction

Biography and memoirs

Deaths

Awards