1991 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1991.

Events

February – Sisters Vanessa Redgrave (Olga) and Lynn Redgrave (Masha) make their first and only joint appearance on stage, with niece Jemma Redgrave as Irina, in the title rôles of Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Queen's Theatre, London.
July 11 – Hitoshi Igarashi (born 1947), Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie's 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, is stabbed to death at the University of Tsukuba during The Satanic Verses controversy, in accordance with a fatwa against those involved in circulating the book.^[1]
October – Irvine Welsh's first published fiction, the short story "The First Day of the Edinburgh Festival", appears in New Writing Scotland. It is later incorporated into Trainspotting.^[2]
November 4 – An archaeological expedition is launched, eventually resulting in the discovery of a mass grave and identification of the body of the novelist Alain-Fournier, 77 years after his death as Lieutenant Henri-Alban Fournier in World War I. His bones are interred at Saint-Remy-la-Calonne.^[3]

New books

Poetry

Non-fiction

Dionne Brand – No Burden to Carry: Narratives of Black Working Women in Ontario
Marjorie Chibnall – Empress Matilda
Henry Steele Commager – Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples
Jung Chang (張戎) – Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Françoise Dunand – Mummies: A Voyage Through Eternity
Koenraad Elst – Ayodhya and after: issues before Hindu society
Dave Foreman – Confessions of an Eco-Warrior
Robert Hart – Forest Gardening: Rediscovering Nature and Community in a Post-Industrial Age
Albert Hourani – A History of the Arab Peoples
Anne Hugon – The Exploration of Africa: From Cairo to the Cape
Pauline Kael – Movie Love
Alan Macfarlane – The Diary of Ralph Josselin, 1616–1683
Madonna – Sex
Robert K. Massie – Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War
Taslima Nasrin – Jabo na keno? jabo
P.J. O'Rourke – Parliament of Whores
Thomas Pakenham – The Scramble for Africa
William Pokhlyobkin – A History of Vodka
John Richardson – A Life of Picasso
Simon Schama – Dead Certainties
Art Spiegelman – Maus: A Survivor's Tale (II: And Here My Troubles Began) (graphic biography/autobiography)
Georges Tate – L'Orient des Croisades
Marie Wadden – Nitassinan: The Innu Struggle to Reclaim Their Homeland^[6]
Naomi Wolf – The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
Zhang Chengzhi – History of the Soul

Births

January 23 – Jonahmae Panen Pacala (known as Jonaxx), Filipino Wattpad author
April 1 – Kat Zhang, American young-adult and middle-grade fiction writer
April 20 – Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, Dutch novelist and poet
unknown dates
- Gabriel Bergmoser, Australian author, playwright and screenwriter
- Chibundu Onuzo, Nigerian novelist
- Sally Rooney, Irish fiction writer

Deaths

January 22 – Robert Choquette, Canadian novelist and poet (born 1905)
January 23 – Northrop Frye, Canadian literary critic (born 1912)^[7]
January 29 – Yasushi Inoue, Japanese novelist (born 1907)
February 1 – Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar, Saudi Arabian writer, journalist and poet (born 1916)
February 16 – Muhammad Sa'id al-Amudi, Saudi Arabian journalist, literary critic and official (born 1905) ^[8]
February 24 – John Daly, American journalist and game show host (born 1914)
March 2 – Mary Howard (Mary Mussi), English romance novelist (born 1907)
March 14 – Margery Sharp, English novelist and children's writer (born 1905)^[9]
March 22 – Paul Engle, American poet and novelist (born 1908)
April 3 – Graham Greene, English novelist (born 1904)^[10]
April 4 – Max Frisch, Swiss playwright and novelist (born 1911)^[11]
April 5 – Eve Garnett, English children's writer and illustrator (born 1900)
April 12 – James Schuyler, American poet (born 1923)
April 15 – Dante Milano, Brazilian modernist poet (born 1899)
May 3 – Jerzy Kosinski, Polish-American novelist (born 1933; suicide)^[12]
May 31 – Angus Wilson, English novelist (born 1913)^[13]
June 24 – Sumner Locke Elliott, Australian-American author and playwright (born 1917)
July 5 – Howard Nemerov, American poet (born 1920)^[14]
July 24 – Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born Jewish-American novelist (born 1902)^[15]
August 1 – Yusuf Idris, Egyptian writer (born 1927)
August 13 – John Sommerfield, English communist writer (born 1908)
August 17 – Terence Kilmartin, Irish journalist and translator (born 1922)
September 4
- Peggy Ramsay, British theatrical agent (born 1908)
- Tom Tryon, American actor and writer (born 1926)^[16]
September 24 – Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), American children's writer (born 1904)^[17]
September 27 – Roy Fuller, English poet (born 1912)
October 7 – Natalia Ginzburg, Italian writer (born 1916)
October 11 – Steven "Jesse" Bernstein, American performance poet (born 1950; suicide)^[18]
October 12 – Arkady Strugatsky, Russian science fiction writer (born 1925)^[19]
October 16 – Leon Levițchi, Romanian translator (born 1918)
October 27 – George Barker, English poet (born 1913)
November 29 – Frank Yerby, African American historical novelist (born 1916)^[20]
December 5 – Jack Trevor Story, English novelist (born 1917)
December 11 – Artur Lundkvist, Swedish author (born 1906)^[21]
December 27 – Hervé Guibert, French writer and photographer (born 1955)^[22]
Unknown date – Gogu Rădulescu, Romanian communist politician, journalist, and patron of the arts (born 1914)

Awards

Australia

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Andrew McGahan, Praise
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Jennifer Maiden, The Winter Baby
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Jennifer Maiden, The Winter Baby
Mary Gilmore Prize: Jean Kent, Verandahs
Miles Franklin Award: David Malouf, The Great World

Canada

See 1991 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
The Edna Staebler Award is established to honor the best literary work of creative non-fiction by a Canadian author who had published their first or second writing within the preceding year. ^[23]
Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Susan Mayse, Ginger ^[24]
Arthur Ellis Award for Best True Crime: Susan Mayse, Ginger ^[25]