1993 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1993.

Events

September 24 – Former president and writer Zviad Gamsakhurdia returns to Georgia to establish a government in exile in the city of Zugdidi.
November 17 – Annie Proulx wins the National Book Award in the United States for her novel The Shipping News.
unknown dates
- Indrani Aikath Gyaltsen's novel Cranes' Morning appears in India, but proves to be plagiarized from Elizabeth Goudge's The Rosemary Tree (1956); its author will commit suicide in 1994.^[1]
- Professor Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time becomes the longest-running book on The Sunday Times UK bestseller list.
- Reality television contest Million's Poet (شاعر المليون) is launched in the United Arab Emirates.
- Todur Zanet's translation of Jean Racine's Bajazet is produced by Moldova 1, a seminal moment in the development of Gagauz-language theatre.^[2]
- The Guodian Chu Slips, including the oldest known version of Laozi's Tao Te Ching, a chapter from the Book of Rites, content from the Book of Documents and the previously lost Xing Zi Ming Chu, written on bamboo and dated before 300 BCE (later Warring States period), are found in a tomb near Guodian, Jingmen (Hubei province of China).^[3]

New books

Poetry

Leonard Cohen – Stranger Music
Paul Durcan – A Snail in My Prime: New and Selected Poems
Dejan Stojanović – Krugovanje: 1978–1987 (Circling: 1978–1987)^[7]

Non-fiction

Martin Amis – Visiting Mrs Nabokov: And Other Excursions
Karen Armstrong – A History of God
Khursheed Kamal Aziz – The Murder of History in Pakistan: A critique of history textbooks used in Pakistan
Malcolm Bradbury – The Modern British Novel
Richard Dawkins – Viruses of the Mind
Shobha De and Khushwant Singh – Uncertain Liaisons
Alain Erlande-Brandenburg – Cathedrals and Castles: Building in the Middle Ages
Alexandre Farnoux – Cnossos : L'archéologie d'un rêve
Zlata Filipović – Zlata's Diary
Bob Flowerdew – The Organic Gardener
Tamala Krishna Goswami – Happiness is a Science – Aditi's Vow
Linda Holmen, Mary Santella-Johnson and Bill Watterson – Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes^[8]
Laënnec Hurbon – Voodoo: Truth and Fantasy
Linda Johns – Sharing a Robin's Life^[9]
Susanna Kaysen – Girl, Interrupted
Leon M. Lederman and Dick Teresi – The God Particle
James Lees-Milne – People and Places: Country House Donors and the National Trust
Michel Maffesoli – The Contemplation of the World
Jean Marigny – Vampires: The World of the Undead
Scott McCloud – Understanding Comics^[10]
Ram Swarup – Hindu View of Christianity and Islam
Miranda Seymour – Ottoline Morrell: Life on the Grand Scale
Howard Stern – Private Parts
Walter Stewart – Too Big to Fail
Margaret Thatcher – The Downing Street Years
Gordon S. Wood – The Radicalism of the American Revolution

Births

July 3 - Hayeon Lim, South Korean author
July 5 - Leah Johnson, American author
August 1 - Tomi Adeyemi, Nigerian–American novelist
August 26 - Nancy Yi Fan, Chinese American author
December 22 - Leema Dhar, Indian poet and novelist
unknown date - Idza Luhumyo, Kenyan short story writer

Deaths

January 6 – Ștefan Baciu, Romanian and Brazilian poet, novelist and literary promoter (born 1918)
January 18 – Eleanor Hibbert (Jean Plaidy, etc.), English historical novelist (born 1906)^[11]
January 22 – Kōbō Abe (安部公房), Japanese novelist and playwright (born 1924)
January 29 – Gustav Hasford, American marine, novelist, journalist, poet and book thief (born 1947)
January 30 – Dorothy Miles, Welsh poet (born 1931)
February 5 – William Pène du Bois, American author and illustrator (born 1916)
March 1 – Ronald McCuaig, Australian poet, journalist, and children's author (born 1908)
March 9 – C. Northcote Parkinson, English naval historian and critic of business methods (born 1909)^[12]
March 10 – Dan Simonescu, Romanian literary historian and bibliographer (born 1902)
March 13 – Claire Huchet Bishop, Swiss children's author (born 1898)^[13]
March 16 – Natália Correia, Portuguese writer, poet and social activist (b. 1923)^[14]
March 22 – Samiha Ayverdi, Turkish writer and Sufi mystic (b. 1905)
April 15
- Leslie Charteris, Anglo-American thriller writer (born 1907)
- Robert Westall, English novelist and children's writer (born 1929)
April 23 – Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet (born 1914)
May 6 – Dorothy B. Hughes, American crime writer and critic (born 1904)
June 19 – Sir William Golding, English novelist and poet (born 1911)^[15]
July 10 – Ruth Krauss, American children's author and poet (born 1901)
August 28 – E. P. Thompson, English political historian (born 1924)
September – Leonte Răutu, Bessarabian-born Romanian propagandist and censor (born 1910)
September 7 – Eugen Barbu, Romanian novelist, playwright and journalist (born 1924)
September 16 – Oodgeroo Noonuccal, aboriginal Australian poet (born 1920)
November 1 – Maeve Brennan, Irish short story writer and journalist (born 1917)^[16]
November 22 – Anthony Burgess, English novelist (born 1917)^[17]
December 4 – Margaret Landon, American historical novelist (born 1903)
December 28 – William L. Shirer, American journalist and historian (born 1904)
December 31 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgian dissident, scientist and writer (possible suicide, born 1913)^[18]
Unknown date – Parijat (Bishnu Kumari Waiba), Nepalese novelist and poet (born 1937)