1999 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1999.

Events

May 1 – Andrew Motion is appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom for ten years.^[1]
June 19 – Stephen King is hit by a van while taking a walk. He is hospitalized for three weeks and only resumes writing his next book, On Writing, in July.^[2]
September 7 – Black Diamond, designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, is inaugurated as an extension to the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen.^[3]
unknown date – Persephone Books is founded in Bloomsbury, London, by Nicola Beauman, to reprint mid-20th century fiction and non-fiction, mainly by women.^[4]

New books

Poetry

Iona Opie – Here Comes Mother Goose
Dejan Stojanović – Sunce sebe gleda (The Sun Watches Itself)^[18]

Non-fiction

Thomas Berry – The Great Work: Our Way into the Future
David Cairns – Berlioz: Volume 2, Servitude and Greatness 1832–1869
Wayson Choy – Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood
The Dalai Lama – Ancient Wisdom, Modern World
Samuel R. Delany – Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
Laurence des Cars – Les Préraphaélites : Un modernisme à l'anglaise
Freeman Dyson – The Sun, the Genome and the Internet
Koenraad Elst – Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate
John Steele Gordon – The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 1653–2000
Brian Greene – The Elegant Universe
Deborah Harkness – John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature
Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster – The Century
S.T. Joshi – Sixty Years of Arkham House
Winona LaDuke – All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life
Bruce Lincoln – Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship
Jamie Oliver – The Naked Chef
W. G. Sebald – Luftkrieg und Literatur (Air War and Literature, translated as On the Natural History of Destruction)
David Southwell – Conspiracy Theories
Dejan Stojanović – Razgovori (Conversations)^[19]
Jean-Pierre Vernant – L'univers, les dieux, les hommes^[20]

Births

October 13 – Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Nigerian–British author and columnist
December 22 – Ameer Idreis, Canadian writer

Deaths

January 11 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish novelist and poet (born 1897)^[21]
January 16 – Dadie Rylands (George Rylands), English Shakespearean scholar (born 1902)
February 8 – Iris Murdoch, Irish-born novelist and philosopher (born 1919)^[22]
February 20 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (suicide, born 1971)^[23]
February 22 – William Bronk, American poet (born 1918)^[24]
February 24 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist and autobiographer (born 1936)^[25]
March 4
- Del Close, American actor, writer, and teacher (born 1934)^[26]
- Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (born 1921)
March 5 – John Figueroa, Jamaican poet (born 1920)^[27]
March 8 – Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine author (born 1914)^[28]
March 13
- Lee Falk, American cartoonist, writer, theater director, and producer (born 1911)^[29]
- Garson Kanin, American playwright and screenwriter (born 1912)^[30]
March 28 – Jim Turner, American editor (born 1945)
April 13 – Knut Hauge, Norwegian novelist, dramatist and children's writer (born 1911)^[31]
May 8 – Soeman Hs, Indonesian novelist (born 1904)
May 10 – Shel Silverstein, American children's poet (born 1930)^[32]
May 27 – Alice Adams, short story writer and novelist (born 1926)
June 14 – J. F. Powers, American writer (born 1917)
July 2 – Mario Puzo, American writer (born 1920)^[33]
July 14 – Maria Banuș, Romanian poet and translator (born 1914)
September 25 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American writer (born 1930)^[34]
October 3 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German novelist (born 1921)
October 19
- Penelope Mortimer, Welsh-born English novelist and biographer (born 1918)^[35]

- Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-born French writer and lawyer (born 1900)^[36]
- E. J. Scovell, English poet (born 1907)^[37]
November 11 – Jacobo Timerman, Soviet-born Argentinian journalist and publisher (born 1923)
November 18 – Paul Bowles, American novelist (born 1910)^[38]
December 2 – Matt Cohen, Canadian novelist (born 1942)^[39]
December 8 – Rupert Hart-Davis, English editor and publisher (born 1907)^[40]
December 12 – Joseph Heller, American novelist (born 1923)^[41]

Awards

Australia

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Hsu-Ming Teo, Love and Vertigo
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Gig Ryan, Pure and Applied
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Lee Cataldi, Race Against Time
Miles Franklin Award: Murray Bail, Eucalyptus

Canada

Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Bonnie Burnard, A Good House
See 1999 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Michael Poole, Romancing Mary Jane

France

Prix Femina: Maryline Desbiolles, Anchise
Prix Goncourt: Jean Echenoz, Je m'en vais
Prix Décembre: Claude Askolovitch, Voyage au bout de la France: Le Front National tel qu'il est
Prix Médicis French: Michel Del Castillo, Colette, une certaine France
Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: Christian Oster, Mon grand appartement
Prix Médicis International: Björn Larsson, Le capitaine et les rêves