Editing 1981 in literature

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{{Year nav topic5|1981|literature|poetry}}

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1981'''.
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==Events==
*[[May 31]] – The [[burning of Jaffna Public Library]] in [[Sri Lanka]] is begun by a mob of police and government-sponsored paramilitaries. They destroy over 97,000 volumes in one of the worst examples of ethnic [[book burning]] in the modern era.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/burning-of-the-jaffna-public-library-whodunit/|title=Burning Of The Jaffna Public Library: Whodunit?|date=June 1, 2014|website=Colombo Telegraph|author=Tassie Seneviratne|access-date=December 30, 2020}}</ref>
*August – [[Sefer ve Sefel]] opens as an English [[used bookstore]] in [[Jerusalem]].
*''unknown dates''
**[[John Gardner (thriller writer)|John Gardner]] successfully revives the [[James Bond]] novel series originated by [[Ian Fleming]] with ''[[Licence Renewed]]'' (not counting a faux biography of Bond and a pair of film novelizations, the first original Bond novel since 1968's ''[[Colonel Sun]]''). The revived Bond book series will run uninterrupted until [[2002 in literature|2002]].
**[[Colin MacCabe]] is denied [[tenure]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], apparently because of a dispute within the English Faculty about the teaching of [[structuralism]].<ref>''[[Newsweek]]'', 16 February 1981, p. 95; see also Philip Lewis, "The Post-Structuralist Condition", ''Diacritics'' 12:1 (1982): 2–24, p. 2.</ref>
**The [[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction]] is given for the first time.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|title=Reports of the President and the Treasurer - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TkEUAQAAMAAJ|year=1979|publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation}}</ref>

==New books==
<!-- (''Title of published book translation''), ("Title of published poem/story translation"), (Literal translation of title) -->

===Fiction===
* [[Eric Ambler]] – ''[[The Care of Time]]''
*[[Kingsley Amis]] (ed.) – ''The Golden Age of Science Fiction''
*[[Martin Amis]] – ''[[Other People (novel)|Other People]]''
*[[V. C. Andrews]] – ''[[If There Be Thorns]]''
*[[Louis Auchincloss]] – ''[[The Cat and the King]]''
*[[René Barjavel]] – ''[[Une rose au paradis]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Brian M. Stableford|title=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzmIPZg5xicC&pg=PA21|year=2004|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-4938-9|pages=21}}</ref>
*[[Samuel Beckett]] – ''[[Ill Seen Ill Said]]''
*[[Thomas Berger (novelist)|Thomas Berger]] – ''Reinhart's Women''
*[[Pierre Berton]] – ''Flames Across the Border''
*[[William Boyd (writer)|William Boyd]] – ''[[A Good Man in Africa]]''
*[[Pascal Bruckner]] – ''[[Evil Angels (novel)|Evil Angels]]''
*[[William S. Burroughs]] – ''[[Cities of the Red Night]]''
*[[Robert Olen Butler]] – ''[[The Alleys of Eden]]''
*[[Peter Carey (novelist)|Peter Carey]] – ''[[Bliss (novel)|Bliss]]''
*[[Raymond Carver]] – ''[[What We Talk About When We Talk About Love]]''
*[[David F. Case|David Case]] – ''[[The Third Grave]]''
*[[James Clavell]] – ''[[Noble House (book)|Noble House]]''
*[[Bernard Cornwell]]
**''[[Sharpe's Eagle (novel)|Sharpe's Eagle]]''
**''[[Sharpe's Gold (novel)|Sharpe's Gold]]''
*[[John Crowley (author)|John Crowley]] – ''[[Little, Big]]''
*[[L. Sprague de Camp]] – ''[[The Hand of Zei]]''
*[[L. Sprague de Camp]] and [[Catherine Crook de Camp]] – ''[[Footprints on Sand]]''
*[[Régine Deforges]] – ''La Bicyclette bleue'' (The Blue Bicycle)<ref>{{cite book|author1=Janet Husband|author2=Jonathan F. Husband|title=Sequels: An Annotated Guide to Novels in Series|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4zbgAAAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=American Library Association|isbn=978-0-8389-0533-3|page=98}}</ref>
*[[Samuel R. Delany]] – ''Distant Star''
*[[Michel Déon]] – ''[[Where Are You Dying Tonight?]] (Un déjeuner de soleil)''<ref>{{cite book|author1=Michel Deon|author2=Michel Déon|title=Where are You Dying Tonight?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FSUnAAAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=H. Hamilton|isbn=978-0-241-10908-3|page=4}}</ref>
*[[Cynthia Freeman]] – ''No Time for Tears''
*[[Gabriel García Márquez]] – ''[[Chronicle of a Death Foretold]] (Crónica de una muerte anunciada)''<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen M. Hart|title=Gabriel García Márquez: Crónica de Una Muerte Anunciada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RS0fAQAAIAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Grant & Cutler|isbn=978-0-7293-0445-0|page=14}}</ref>
*[[John Gardner (thriller writer)|John Gardner]] – ''[[Licence Renewed]]''
*[[Charles L. Grant]] – ''[[Tales from the Nightside]]''
*[[Alasdair Gray]] – ''[[Lanark (book)|Lanark]]''<ref>{{cite web |title=1981 - Alasdair Gray's Lanark |url=https://digital.nls.uk/scotlandspages/timeline/1981.html |website=National Library of Scotland |access-date=12 January 2022}}</ref>
*[[Jan Guillou]] – ''[[Ondskan (novel)|Ondskan]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Tapper|title=Swedish Cops: From Sjöwall and Wahlöö to Stieg Larsson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mp8CBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA134|year=2014|publisher=Intellect Books|isbn=978-1-78320-188-4|pages=134}}</ref>
*[[Thomas Harris]] – ''[[Red Dragon (novel)|Red Dragon]]''
*[[Frank Herbert]] – ''[[God Emperor of Dune]]''
*[[Douglas Hill]] – ''[[Planet of the Warlord]]''
*[[Robert E. Howard]] and [[L. Sprague de Camp]] – ''[[The Flame Knife]]''
*[[John Irving]] – ''[[The Hotel New Hampshire]]''
*[[Rona Jaffe]] – ''[[Mazes and Monsters (novel)|Mazes and Monsters]]''
*[[Alan Judd]] – ''[[A Breed of Heroes]]''
*[[Ismail Kadare]] – ''[[The File on H]] (Dosja J)''
*[[Stephen King]] – ''[[Cujo]]''
*[[Dean Koontz]] (as Leigh Nichols) – ''[[The Eyes of Darkness]]''
*[[Chart Korbjitti]] – ''Khamphiphaksa'' (The Judgment)
*[[Joe R. Lansdale]] – ''[[Act of Love (novel)|Act of Love]]''
*[[Stanisław Lem]] – ''[[Golem XIV]]''
*[[Colleen McCullough]] – ''An Indecent Obsession''
*[[Elliot S! Maggin]] – ''[[Miracle Monday]]''
*[[Naguib Mahfouz]] – ''[[Arabian Nights and Days]]'' (ليالي ألف ليلة)
*[[Ian McEwan]] – ''[[The Comfort of Strangers]]''
*[[Toni Morrison]] – ''[[Tar Baby (novel)|Tar Baby]]''
*[[Robert B. Parker]]
**''A Savage Place''
**''Early Autumn''
*[[Ellis Peters]]
**''[[Saint Peter's Fair]]''
**''[[The Leper of Saint Giles]]''
*[[Terry Pratchett]] – ''[[Strata (novel)|Strata]]''
*[[Bano Qudsia]] – ''[[Raja Gidh]]'' ("King Vulture")
*[[Alain Robbe-Grillet]] – ''[[Djinn (novel)|Djinn]]''
*[[Harold Robbins]] – ''Goodbye, Janette''
*[[Salman Rushdie]] – ''[[Midnight's Children]]''
*[[Lawrence Sanders]] – ''The Third Deadly Sin''
*[[Martin Cruz Smith]] – ''[[Gorky Park (novel)|Gorky Park]]''
*[[Muriel Spark]] – ''[[Loitering with Intent]]''
*[[Botho Strauß]] – ''[[Couples, Passersby]] (Paare, Passanten)'' (stories)<ref>{{cite book|author=Charles A. Carpenter|title=Modern Drama Scholarship and Criticism 1981-1990: An International Bibliography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=611ltP0zuaIC|year=1997|publisher=Modern drama by University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-0914-2|page=425}}</ref>
*[[Paul Theroux]] – ''[[The Mosquito Coast (novel)|The Mosquito Coast]]''
*[[D. M. Thomas]] – ''[[The White Hotel]]''
*[[John Updike]] – ''[[Rabbit Is Rich]]''
*[[Jack Vance]] – ''[[The Book of Dreams (Vance novel)|The Book of Dreams]]''
*[[Gore Vidal]] – ''[[Creation (novel)|Creation]]''
*[[Joseph Wambaugh]] – ''[[The Glitter Dome]]''
*[[Kit Williams]] – ''[[Masquerade (book)|Masquerade]]''
*[[Gene Wolfe]]
**''[[The Claw of the Conciliator]]''
**''[[The Sword of the Lictor]]''
*[[Roger Zelazny]]
**''[[The Changing Land]]''
**''[[Madwand]]''

===Children and young people===
*[[Chris Van Allsburg]] – ''[[Jumanji (picture book)|Jumanji]]''<ref>Hahn 2015, p. 609</ref>
*[[Hans Christian Andersen]] (with [[Jane S. Woodward]] and [[Michael Hague]]) – ''Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales''
*[[Judy Blume]] – ''[[Tiger Eyes]]''<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Rothman |first1=Lily |title=How is 'Tiger Eyes' the First Movie Based on a Judy Blume Book? |url=https://entertainment.time.com/2013/06/08/how-is-tiger-eyes-the-first-movie-based-on-a-judy-blume-book/ |magazine=Time |access-date=12 January 2022 |date=8 June 2013}}</ref>
*[[Beverly Cleary]] – ''[[Ramona Quimby, Age 8]]''<ref name=Stein>{{cite journal |last1=Stein |first1=Ruth M. |title=Book reMarks: A Personal View of Current Juvenile Literature |journal=Language Arts |date=1982 |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=367–373 |jstor=41404080 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41404080 |access-date=12 January 2022 |issn=0360-9170}}</ref>
*[[Eth Clifford]] – ''The Dastardly Murder of Dirty Pete''<ref name=Stein />
*[[Roald Dahl]] – ''[[George's Marvellous Medicine]]''<ref>Hahn 2015, p. 227</ref>
*[[Rumer Godden]] – ''The Dragon of Og''<ref name=Stein />
*[[Roger Hargreaves]] – ''[[List of Little Miss characters|Little Miss]]'' (first 13 books in the ''[[List of Little Miss characters|Little Miss]]'' series of 21)
*[[Florence Parry Heide]] – ''Treehorn's Treasure''<ref name=Stein />
*[[Harold Lamb]] (with [[George Barr (artist)|George Barr]] and [[Alicia Austin]]) – ''[[Durandal (novel)|Durandal]]''
*[[Michael de Larrabeiti]] – ''[[The Borribles Go for Broke]]''
*[[Janet Lunn]] – ''[[The Root Cellar]]''
*[[Patricia Lynch]] – ''The Turf-Cutter's Donkey''
*[[Michelle Magorian]] – ''[[Goodnight Mister Tom]]''<ref>Hahn 2015, p. 236</ref>
*[[C. L. Moore]] (with [[Alicia Austin]]) - ''[[Scarlet Dream]]''
*[[Uri Orlev]] – ''[[The Island on Bird Street]] (האי ברחוב הציפורים)''
*[[Ruth Park]] – ''The Muddle-Headed Wombat is Very Bad''
*[[Bill Peet]] – ''[[Encore for Eleanor]]''
*[[Alvin Schwartz (children's author)|Alvin Schwartz]] – ''[[Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark]]''
*[[Maurice Sendak]] – ''[[Outside Over There]]''<ref>Hahn 2015, pp. 526-527</ref>
*[[Jan Wahl]] – ''The Cucumber Princess''<ref>{{cite journal |title=Literature for Children |journal=The Reading Teacher |date=1982 |volume=35 |issue=8 |pages=972–976 |jstor=20198135 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20198135 |access-date=12 January 2022 |issn=0034-0561}}</ref>
*[[Robert Westall]] – ''[[The Scarecrows]]''<ref>Hahn 2015, p. 620</ref>

===Drama===
*[[Samuel Beckett]] – ''[[Rockaby]]''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gussow |first1=Mel |title=STAGE: WORLD PREMIERE OF SAMUEL BECKETT'S 'ROCKABY' AT STATE U. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/12/theater/stage-world-premiere-of-samuel-beckett-s-rockaby-at-state-u.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=12 January 2022 |date=12 April 1981}}</ref>
*[[Edward Bond]] – ''Restoration''
*[[Tankred Dorst]] – ''Merlin oder das wüste Land''
*[[John Krizanc]] – ''[[Tamara (play)|Tamara]]''
*[[Larry Shue]] – ''[[The Nerd (play)|The Nerd]]''
*[[Barney Simon]] – ''[[Woza Albert!]]''
*[[Botho Strauß]] – ''[[Kalldewey, Farce]]''
*[[Patrick Süskind]] – ''[[Der Kontrabaß]]''
*[[Peter Whelan (playwright)|Peter Whelan]] – ''[[The Accrington Pals (play)|The Accrington Pals]]''
*[[Tennessee Williams]] – ''[[The Notebook of Trigorin]]''

===Poetry===
{{Main|1981 in poetry}}
*[[L. Sprague de Camp]] – ''[[Heroes and Hobgoblins]]''
*[[Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi]] – ''Rang-o-Noor'' (The Colour and the Light)
*[[Norman Nicholson]] – ''Sea to the West''
*[[Sylvia Plath]] (posthumous) – ''Collected Poems'', edited by [[Ted Hughes]]
*[[Kathleen Raine]] – ''Collected Poems, 1935–1980''
*[[Richard L. Tierney]] – ''[[Collected Poems (Richard L. Tierney)|Collected Poems]]''

===Non-fiction===
*[[Maya Angelou]] – ''[[The Heart of a Woman]]''
*[[Colin Robert Chase]] – ''The Dating of Beowulf''
*[[Mary Chesnut]] – ''[[Mary Chesnut's Civil War]]''
*[[Hugo Brandt Corstius]] – ''[[Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde]]''
*[[Daniel Dennett]] – ''[[Brainstorms]]: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology''
*[[Nancy Dorian]] – ''Language Death: The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic Dialect''
*[[Timothy Findley]] – ''Famous Last Words''
*[[Stephen Jay Gould]] – ''[[The Mismeasure of Man]]''
*[[Dumas Malone]] – ''[[Jefferson and His Time|The Sage of Monticello]]''
*[[V. S. Naipaul]] – ''[[Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey]]''
*[[Giovanni Pettinato]] – ''The Archives of [[Ebla]]: An Empire Inscribed in Clay''<ref>{{cite book|author=Howard Frederic Vos|title=Genesis and Archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udXYAAAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Academic Books|isbn=978-0-310-33901-4|page=113}}</ref>
*[[Anne Scott-James]] – ''The [[Cottage Garden]]''
*[[Viktor Suvorov]] – ''[[The Liberators (Suvorov)|The Liberators]]''

==Births==
*[[Jan 4]] – [[Sarah Crossan]], Irish young-adult writer
*[[April 7]] – [[Lili Wilkinson]], Australian young-adult writer
*[[May 19]] – [[Kiera Cass]], American young-adult writer
*[[May 20]] – [[Ottessa Moshfegh]], American novelist
*[[June 10]] – [[Juno Dawson]], born James Dawson, English young-adult LGBT writer
*[[July 10]] – [[Karen Russell]], American novelist
*[[July 27]] – [[Dan Jones (writer)|Dan Jones]], British historian and TV presenter
*[[September 30]] – [[Cecelia Ahern]], Irish novelist
*[[October 3]] – [[Leïla Slimani]], Franco-Moroccan novelist<ref>{{cite news |first=Alexandra |last= Schwartzbrod |url=http://next.liberation.fr/livres/2014/09/29/leila-slimani-madame-bovary-x_1111174 |title=Leïla Slimani. "Madame Bovary X" |newspaper=Liberation |language=fr |date=29 September 2014 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref>
*[[October 12]] – [[NoViolet Bulawayo]] (Elizabeth Zandile Tshele), Zimbabwe-born novelist<ref>{{cite web|url=https://zimbabwemonitor.com/2019/08/16/noviolet-bulawayo-real-name-elizabeth-zandile-tshele-1981/|title=NoViolet Bulawayo [real name Elizabeth Zandile Tshele] (1981 -)|website=Zimbabwe Monitor|access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref>
*[[October 31]] – [[Irina Denezhkina]], Russian writer
*[[December 11]] – [[Hamish Blake]], Australian comedian, actor and author 
*[[December 13]] – [[Mathis Bailey]], American-Canadian novelist and fiction writer
*''unknown dates''
**[[Amy Sackville]], English novelist<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/orange-2010-AS-still-point|title= The Still Point by Amy Sackville|work= Orange Prize for Fiction|year= 2010|access-date= 27 November 2010|archive-date= 10 April 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100410143144/http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/show/feature/orange-2010-AS-still-point|url-status= dead}}</ref>
**[[Sunjeev Sahota]], English novelist<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/sunjeev-sahota/6145|title=Sunjeev Sahota|website=Picador|access-date=30 December 2020}}</ref>
**[[Saud Alsanousi]], Kuwaiti novelist
**[[Olesya Mamchich]], Ukrainian poet and children's writer<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-26 |title=UKRAIŃSKIE POETKI O WOJNIE |url=https://magazynwizje.pl/aktualnik/ukrainskie-poetki-o-wojnie/ |access-date=2022-04-30 |website=Wizje |language=pl}}</ref>

==Deaths==
*[[January 5]] – [[Lanza del Vasto]], Italian-born philosopher, poet and activist (born [[1901 in literature|1901]])<ref>{{cite news |last=Galiana |first=Ismael |date=1 July 1981 |title=Murió en Murcia el poeta y pacifista Lanza del Vasto: Apóstol de la no violencia |trans-title=The poet and pacifist Lanza del Vasto died in Murcia: Apostle of nonviolence |work=[[ABC (newspaper)|ABC]] |location=Madrid |page=24 |language=es |url=http://hemeroteca.abc.es/cgi-bin/pagina.pdf?fn=exec;command=stamp;path=H:%5Ccran%5Cdata%5Cprensa_pages%5CMadrid%5CABC%5C1981%5C198101%5C19810107%5C81E07-032.xml;id=0001341288 }}</ref>
*[[January 6]] – [[A. J. Cronin]], Scottish novelist (born [[1896 in literature|1896]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/10/obituaries/aj-cronin-author-of-citadel-and-keys-of-the-kingdom-dies.html|title=A. J. Cronin, author of 'Citadel' and 'Keys of the Kingdom', dies|date=10 January 1981|website=The New York Times|first=Herbert|last=Mitgang|access-date=22 May 2021}}</ref>
*[[January 7]] – [[John Pascal]], American playwright, screenwriter, author and journalist (born [[1932 in literature|1932]])<ref>{{cite book|title=The New York Times Biographical Service|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuA1AQAAIAAJ|year=1981|publisher=New York Times & Arno Press|page=99}}</ref>
*[[January 23]] – [[Lobsang Rampa|Lobsang Rampa (Cyril Henry Hoskin)]], English author (born [[1910 in literature|1910]])
*[[February 3]] – [[Normand Poirier]], American newspaper editor, journalist and essayist (born [[1928 in literature|1928]])<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/04/obituaries/normand-poirier.html "Normand Poirier."] ''[[New York Times]]''. February 4, 1981</ref>
*[[February 17]] – [[David Garnett]], English novelist (born [[1892 in literature|1892]])<ref>{{cite book|first=Alan|last= Palmer|author2=Alan Warwick Palmer|author3=Veronica Palmer|title=Who's who in Bloomsbury|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W21nAAAAMAAJ|year=1987|publisher=Harvester Press|isbn=978-0-7108-0312-2|page=67}}</ref>
*[[February 23]] – [[Nan Shepherd]], Scottish novelist and poet (born [[1893 in literature|1893]])
*[[March 7]] – [[Bosley Crowther]], American film critic (born [[1905 in literature|1905]])<ref>{{cite news|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|title=Bosley Crowther, 27 Years a Critic of Film for Times, is Dead at 75|date=March 8, 1981|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/08/obituaries/bosley-crowther-27-years-a-critic-of-films-for-times-is-dead-at-75.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=19 March 2016}}</ref>
*[[March 14]] – [[Eleanor Perry]], American screenwriter and author (born [[1914 in literature|1914]])<ref>{{cite book|first=John A.|last= Willis|title=Screen World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r9xkAAAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Crown Publishers|isbn=978-0-517-54740-3|page=237}}</ref>
*[[March 20]] – [[Pedro García Cabrera]], Spanish poet (born [[1905 in literature|1905]])
*[[March 29]] – [[Clive Sansom]], English-born Tasmanian poet and playwright (born [[1910 in literature|1910]])
*[[March 31]] – [[Enid Bagnold]], English writer and playwright (born [[1889 in literature|1889]])
*[[April 1]] – [[Dennis Feltham Jones|D. F. Jones]], English science fiction writer (born [[1918 in literature|1918]])
*[[April 13]] – [[Gwyn Thomas (novelist)|Gwyn Thomas]], Welsh novelist and broadcaster (born [[1913 in literature|1913]])
*[[April 23]] – [[Josep Pla]], Catalan Spanish journalist and writer (born [[1897 in literature|1897]])<ref>{{cite book|first=Josep Miquel|last= Sobrer|title=Catalonia, a Self-portrait|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TU9F4xq2GzsC&pg=PA157|year=1992|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-28883-5|pages=157}}</ref>
*[[April 26]] – [[Robert Garioch]], Scottish poet (born [[1909 in literature|1909]])
*[[May 8]] – [[Uri Zvi Grinberg]], Israeli poet writing in Hebrew and Yiddish (born [[1896 in literature|1896]])<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE7DB1738F933A25756C0A967948260 | work=The New York Times | title=Uri Zvi Greenberg, 83; Hebrew and Yiddish Poet | date=10 May 1981}}</ref>
*[[May 9]] – [[Nelson Algren]], American novelist (born [[1909 in literature|1909]])
*[[May 18]] – [[William Saroyan]], American novelist and dramatist (born [[1908 in literature|1908]])<ref>{{cite book|first=Leo|last= Hamalian|title=William Saroyan: The Man and the Writer Remembered|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mu1gEq5Zqq8C&pg=PA233|year=1987|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press|isbn=978-0-8386-3308-3|pages=233}}</ref>
*[[May 23]] – [[Rayner Heppenstall]], English writer and poet (born [[1911 in literature|1911]])
*[[May 30]] – [[Gwendolyn B. Bennett]], African-American writer and artist (born [[1902 in literature|1902]])
*[[June 15]] – [[Philip Toynbee]], English novelist and journalist (born [[1916 in literature|1916]])
*[[June 17]] – [[Zerna Sharp]], American writer and educator (born [[1889 in literature|1889]])<ref>{{cite book|first=Frederik|last= Ohles|author2=Shirley G. Ohles|author3=Shirley M. Ohles|author4=John G. Ramsay|title=Biographical Dictionary of Modern American Educators|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBj5-zHEMvoC&pg=PA290|year=1997|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-29133-3|pages=290}}</ref>
*[[June 18]] – [[Pamela Hansford Johnson]], English poet, novelist, playwright, literary and social critic (born [[1912 in literature|1912]])<ref>{{Cite book|last=David|first=Deirdre|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/980257624|title=Pamela Hansford Johnson : a writing life|date=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-184328-0|location=Oxford|oclc=980257624}}</ref> 
*[[August 15]] – [[Carol Ryrie Brink]], American author (born [[1895 in literature|1895]])<ref>{{cite book|first1=Bernice E.|last1=Cullinan|first2=Diane Goetz|last2=Person|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature|location=New York|publisher=Continuum|year=2005|page=112|isbn=978-0-82641-778-7}}</ref>
*[[September 3]] – [[Alec Waugh]], English novelist (born [[1898 in literature|1898]])
*[[September 7]] – [[Christy Brown]], Irish writer and painter (born [[1932 in literature|1932]])<ref>{{cite news |last=Peterkin |first=Tom |title=Christy Brown 'neglected by ex-prostitute wife' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1568455/Christy-Brown-neglected-by-ex-prostitute-wife.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=6 November 2007 |location=London|date=6 November 2007}}</ref>
*[[September 12]] – [[Eugenio Montale]], Italian poet (born [[1896 in literature|1896]])
*[[October 20]] – [[Mary Coyle Chase]], American playwright (born [[1906 in literature|1906]])<ref>{{cite book|first=Alice M. |last=Robinson|author2=Vera Mowry Roberts|author3=Milly S. Barranger|title=Notable Women in the American Theatre: A Biographical Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LJMYAAAAIAAJ|year=1989|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-27217-2|page=126}}</ref>
*[[October 25]] – [[Cynthia Harnett]], English children's writer (born [[1893 in literature|1893]])
*[[October 30]] – [[Denys Rhodes]], English novelist (born [[1919 in literature|1919]])
*[[November 6]] – [[Digby George Gerahty]], English novelist (born [[1898 in literature|1898]])
*[[November 30]] – [[Charles Eric Maine]], English science fiction writer (born [[1921 in literature|1921]])
*[[December 9]] – [[C. P. Taylor]], Scottish playwright (born [[1929 in literature|1929]])
*[[December 26]] – [[Amber Reeves]], New Zealand-born English scholar, feminist and novelist (born [[1887 in literature|1887]])

==Awards==
*[[Nobel Prize for Literature]]: [[Elias Canetti]]

===Australia===
*[[The Australian/Vogel Literary Award]]: [[Chris Matthews (writer)|Chris Matthews]], ''Al Jazzar''; [[Tim Winton]], ''[[An Open Swimmer]]''
*[[Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry]]: [[Alan Gould]], ''Astral Sea''
*[[Miles Franklin Award]]: [[Peter Carey (novelist)|Peter Carey]], ''[[Bliss (novel)|Bliss]]''

===Canada===
*See [[1981 Governor General's Awards]] for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

===France===
*[[Prix Goncourt]]: [[Lucien Bodard]], ''Anne Marie''
*[[Prix Médicis]] French: [[François-Olivier Rousseau]], ''L'Enfant d'Édouard''
*[[Prix Médicis]] International: [[David Shahar]], ''Le Jour de la comtesse''

===Spain===
*[[Miguel de Cervantes Prize]]: [[Octavio Paz]]

===United Kingdom===
*[[Booker Prize]]: [[Salman Rushdie]], ''[[Midnight's Children]]''<ref>{{cite web |title=Who is Salman Rushdie? The writer who emerged from hiding |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-62523259 |website=BBC News |access-date=12 August 2022 |date=12 August 2022}}</ref>
*[[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Robert Westall]], ''[[The Scarecrows]]''<ref>Hahn 2015, p. 660</ref>
*[[Cholmondeley Award]]: [[Roy Fisher]], [[Robert Garioch]], [[Charles Boyle (poet)|Charles Boyle]]
*[[Eric Gregory Award]]: [[Alan Jenkins (poet)|Alan Jenkins]], [[Simon Rae]], [[Marion Lomax]], [[Philip Gross]], [[Kathleen Jamie]], [[Mark Abley]], [[Roger Crowley]], [[Ian Gregson (poet)|Ian Gregson]]
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction: [[Salman Rushdie]], ''[[Midnight's Children]]'', and [[Paul Theroux]], ''[[The Mosquito Coast (novel)|The Mosquito Coast]]''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for biography: [[Victoria Glendinning]], ''[[Edith Sitwell]]: Unicorn Among Lions ''
*[[Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry]]: [[D. J. Enright]]
*[[1981 Whitbread Awards|Whitbread Best Book Award]]: [[William Boyd (writer)|William Boyd]], ''[[A Good Man in Africa]]''

===United States===
*[[Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize]]: [[Kathy Calloway]], ''Heart of the Garfish''
*[[American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals#Belles lettres, criticism, essays|American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres]]: [[Malcolm Cowley]]
*[[Dos Passos Prize]]: [[Gilbert Sorrentino]]
*[[Nebula Award]]: [[Gene Wolfe]], ''[[The Claw of the Conciliator]]''
*[[Newbery Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Katherine Paterson]], ''[[Jacob Have I Loved]]''<ref>Hahn 2015, p. 657</ref>
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]: [[Beth Henley]], ''[[Crimes of the Heart]]''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]]: [[John Kennedy Toole]] – ''[[A Confederacy of Dunces]]''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]]: [[James Schuyler]]: ''The Morning of the Poem''

===Elsewhere===
*[[Hugo Award for Best Novel]]: ''[[The Snow Queen]]'' by [[Joan D. Vinge]]
*[[Premio Nadal]]: [[Carmen Gómez Ojea]], ''Cantiga de aguero''
{{Portal|1980s|Literature}}

==Notes==
* {{cite book |last1=Hahn |first1=Daniel |title=The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=9780198715542 |edition=Second}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Year in literature article categories}}