2004 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2004.

January
- The poet Jang Jin-sung, in trouble with the North Korean authorities, defects to South Korea.^[1]^[2]
- The Richard & Judy Book Club is launched on UK daytime television.^[3]
February – Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation.^[4]
February 16 – Edwin Morgan becomes Scotland's first official national poet, the Scots Makar, appointed by the Scottish Parliament.^[5]^[6]
May 23 – Seattle Central Library, designed by Rem Koolhaas, opens to the public.^[7]
June 1 – Controversy surrounds Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (高見広春), when an 11-year-old fan of the story in Sasebo, Nagasaki, murders her classmate, 12-year-old Satomi Mitarai, in a way that mimics a scene from the story.^[8]^[9]
October 14 – Edinburgh becomes UNESCO's first City of Literature.^[10]
October 31 – Denoël in Paris publishes Irène Némirovsky's Suite française, consisting of two novellas, Tempête en juin and Dolce, written and set in 1940–1941, from a sequence left unfinished on the author's death in Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942.
December 18 – The première of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's play Behzti (Dishonour) at England's Birmingham Repertory Theatre is cancelled after violent protests by members of the Sikh community.
unknown dates
- Kansas City Public Library's Community Bookshelf is built.
- The typeface Calibri, designed by Luc(as) de Groot, is introduced.

New books

Films

2046 - inspired by Liu Yichang's "The Drunkard"
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Phantom of the Opera

Deaths

January 3 – Lillian Beckwith, English novelist (born 1916)^[33]
January 4
- Joan Aiken, English novelist and children's writer (born 1924)^[34]
- Jeff Nuttall, English poet, artist and activist (born 1933)^[35]
- Dorota Terakowska, Polish writer and journalist, author of fantasy books for children and young adults (born 1938)^[36]
- John Toland, American author and historian (born 1912)^[37]
January 10
- Alexandra Ripley, American novelist (born 1934)^[38]
- (or January 11) Spalding Gray, American writer and actor (born 1942)^[39]
January 13 – Zeno Vendler, American philosopher and linguist (born 1921)
January 14 – Jack Cady, American fantasy and horror novelist (born 1932)
January 15
- Alex Barris, Canadian actor and writer (born 1922)
- Olivia Goldsmith, American novelist (complications from cosmetic surgery, born 1949)^[40]
January 24 – Abdul Rahman Munif, Arab writer (born 1933)^[41]
January 29
- Janet Frame, New Zealand novelist, poet and short story writer (born 1924)
- M. M. Kaye, Indian-born English novelist (born 1908)
February 2 – Alan Bullock, English historian (born 1914)
February 4 – Hilda Hilst, Brazilian poet, playwright and novelist (born 1930)^[42]
February 5 – Frances Partridge, English diarist (born 1900)^[43]
February 7 – Norman Thelwell, English cartoonist (born 1923)^[44]
February 17 – Bruce Beaver, Australian poet and novelist (born 1928)^[45]
February 27 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (born 1910)^[46]
February 28 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian (born 1914)^[47]
February 29 – Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (born 1915)
March 9 – Albert Mol, Dutch author, actor and dancer (born 1917)
March 27 – Robert Merle, French novelist (born 1908)
March 29 – Peter Ustinov, English actor, dramatist and memoirist (born 1921)^[48]
March 30
- Alistair Cooke, English-born American journalist and broadcaster (born 1908)^[49]
- Michael King OBE, New Zealand historian, author and biographer (born 1945)^[50]
April 19
- Norris McWhirter, English writer and activist (born 1925)^[51]
- John Maynard Smith, English evolutionary biologist and writer (born 1920)
April 25 – Thom Gunn, English poet (born 1929)^[52]
April 26 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American author (born 1928)^[53]
May 2 – Paul Guimard, French writer (born 1921)^[54]
May 12
- Syd Hoff, American author and illustrator (born 1912)^[55]
- Alexander Skutch, American scientific writer and naturalist (born 1904)^[56]
May 31 – Lionel Abrahams, South African novelist, poet and essayist (born 1928)^[57]
July 1 – Peter Barnes, English playwright (born 1931)
July 8 – Paula Danziger, American children's and young adult novelist (born 1945)^[58]
August 8 – Farida Diouri, Moroccan novelist (born 1953)^{[citation needed]}
August 12 – Humayun Azad, Bangladeshi author, poet, scholar and linguist (born 1947)^[59]
August 14 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish writer and Nobel laureate (born 1911)^[60]
August 30 – Mario Levrero, Uruguayan novelist (born 1940)^[61]
September 18 – Norman Cantor, Canadian historian (born 1929)^[62]
September 24 – Françoise Sagan, French novelist (born 1935)^[63]
September 28 – Mulk Raj Anand, Indian novelist in English (born 1905)^[64]
October – Natalya Baranskaya, Russian short-story writer (born 1908)
October 8 – Jacques Derrida, Algerian-born French literary critic (born 1930)^[65]
October 13 – Bernice Rubens, Welsh-born novelist (born 1928)^[66]
October 16
- Vincent Brome, English biographer and novelist (born 1910)^[67]
- Harold Perkin, English social historian (born 1926)
October 20 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (born 1923)^[68]
November 9 – Stieg Larsson, Swedish journalist and crime novelist (heart attack, born 1954)^[69]
November 24 – Arthur Hailey, Canadian novelist (born 1920)^[70]
December 2 – Mona Van Duyn, American poet (born 1921)^[71]
December 8 – Jackson Mac Low, American poet (born 1922)^[72]
December 12 – Phaswane Mpe, South African novelist (born 1970)^[73]
December 13 – Jón frá Pálmholti (Jón Kjartansson), Icelandic writer and journalist (born 1930)^[74]
December 18 – Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (born 1926)^[75]
December 28 – Susan Sontag, American novelist (born 1933)^[76]