1983 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1983.

Events

April – The Russian samizdat poet Irina Ratushinskaya is sentenced to imprisonment in a labor camp for dissident activity. While there she continues to write poetry clandestinely.^[1]
June 2 – The Francophone Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor becomes the first black African writer elected as a member of the Académie française.
July – Barbara Cartland, who reaches the age of 82, writes 23 romantic novels this year.
November – Bruce Bethke's short story "Cyberpunk", written in 1980, is published in Amazing Stories magazine in the United States, giving a name to the science fiction subgenre of cyberpunk.
unknown date – Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published, as the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris creation "The Saint", which started in 1928. (An attempt to revive the series in 1997 is unsuccessful.)

New books

Poetry

Paul Durcan – Jumping the Train Tracks with Angela
Grace Nichols – I is a long-memoried woman

Non-fiction

Benedict Anderson – Imagined Communities
Pascal Bruckner – The Tears of the White Man
L. Sprague de Camp – The Fringe of the Unknown
L. Sprague de Camp, Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin – Dark Valley Destiny
Tom Dardis – Harold Lloyd: The Man on the Clock
Joan Didion – Salvador
Terry Eagleton – Literary Theory: An Introduction
Anthony Grey – The Prime Minister Was a Spy
Susan Oliver – Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey
Renée Richards – Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story
Ann Rule – Lust Killer
Colin Thubron – Among the Russians
A. N. Wilson – The Life of John Milton: A Biography

Births

November 17 – Christopher Paolini, American fantasy novelist^[4]
December 6 – Jason Reynolds, African American children's novelist and poet^[5]
unknown date – Sarah Howe, Hong Kong-born poet writing in English^[6]

Deaths

January 5 – Chapman Grant, American historian and publisher (born 1887)
January 18 – Colin Watson, English crime fiction writer (born 1920)
February 14 – Brita von Horn, Swedish theater director, dramatist and novelist (born 1886)
February 18 – Robert Payne, English author, poet and biographer (born 1911)
February 25 – Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams III), American playwright (born 1911)
March 3 – Hergé (Georges Prosper Remi), Belgian comics creator (born 1907)
March 15 – Dame Rebecca West, British writer (born 1892)
April 12 – Desmond Bagley, English novelist (complications from stroke, born 1923)
May 4 – Shūji Terayama (寺山修司), Japanese poet, dramatist, and film director (cirrhosis, born 1935)
May 21 – Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol, Egyptian poet (born 1940)
May 26 – Jack Hilton, British writer (born 1900)
June 19 – Vilmundur Gylfason, Icelandic historian, poet and politician (suicide, born 1948)
June 27 – Alden Nowlan, Canadian poet, novelist and playwright (born 1933)
July 27 – Gladys Mitchell, English crime fiction writer (born 1901)
August 12 – Mikey Smith, Jamaican dub poet (stoned to death; born 1954)
August 18 – Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, German-born British art historian (born 1902)
September 15 – Beverley Nichols, English writer and playwright (born 1898)
September 16 – Roy Andries De Groot, English-born American food writer (born 1910)
November 30 – Richard Llewellyn, British novelist (heart attack, born 1906)
December 5 – John Robinson, English religious writer and bishop (born 1919)
December 13 – Mary Renault, British novelist (born 1905)
December 27 – Wilson Starbuck, American playwright and author (born 1897)