2021 in literature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2021.

New books

Fiction

New adult fiction, sorted by author's last name
Author Title Date of Pub. Ref.
Anuk Arudpragasam A Passage North July 13 [7]
S.A Cosby Razorblade Tears July 6 [8]
Rachel Cusk Second Place May 4 [9]
Claire Fuller Unsettled Ground March 25 [10]
Damon Galgut The Promise May [11]
Lauren Groff Matrix September 7 [12]
Jakob Guanzon Abundance March 2 [13]
Nathan Harris The Sweetness of Water June 15 [14]
Zakiya Dalila Harris The Other Black Girl June 1 [15]
Kazuo Ishiguro Klara and the Sun March 2 [16]
Stephen Graham Jones My Heart Is a Chainsaw August 31 [17]
Caroline Kepnes You Love Me April 6 [18]
Stephen King Billy Summers August 3 [19]
Stephen King Later March 2 [20]
John le Carré Silverview October 12 [21]
Jamie Marina Lau Gunk Baby April 28 [22]
Patricia Lockwood No One Is Talking About This February 16 [23]
Nadifa Mohamed The Fortune Men May 27 [24]
Ewan Morrison How to Survive Everything March 1 [25]
Jason Mott Hell of a Book June 28 [26]
Caleb Azumah Nelson Open Water February 4 [27]
Viet Thanh Nguyen The Committed March 2 [28]
Anna North Outlawed January 5 [29]
Nnedi Okorafor Remote Control January 19 [30]
Helen Oyeyemi Peaces April 6 [31]
Lauren Oyler Fake Accounts February 2 [32]
Lindsay Pereira Gods and Ends March 22 [33]
Richard Powers Bewilderment September 21 [34]
Sally Rooney Beautiful World, Where Are You September 7 [35]
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr La plus secrète mémoire des hommes August 19 [36]
Maggie Shipstead Great Circle May 4 [37]
Michael Farris Smith Nick January 5 [38]
Wole Soyinka Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth September 28 [39]
Francis Spufford Light Perpetual May 18 [40]
Elizabeth Strout Oh William! October 19 [7]
Colson Whitehead Harlem Shuffle September 14 [41]
Joy Williams Harrow September 14 [42]

Children and young adults

New books for children and young adults, sorted by date of publication
Author Title Date of Pub. Ref.
Moa Backe Åstot Himlabrand (translated as Fire From the Sky) January, Sweden [43]
Joanna Ho Eyes That Kiss in the Corners January 5 [44][45]
Bassem Yousef and Catherine R. Daly The Magical Reality of Nadia [46]
Corey R. Tabor Mel Fell February 2 [47]
Carole Boston Weatherford Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre [48]
Rose Szabo What Big Teeth [49]
Philippa Dowding Firefly February 6
Angeline Boulley Firekeeper's Daughter March 16 [50]
Jory John Something's Wrong!: A Bear, a Hare, and Some Underwear March 23 [51][52]
Matt Walsh Johnny the Walrus March 29 [53]
Andrea Wang Watercress March 30 [54]
Micha Archer Wonder Walkers [55]
Roshani Chokshi Aru Shah and the City of Gold April 6 [56]
Charlie Jane Anders Victories Greater Than Death April 13 [57]
Kyle Lukoff Too Bright to See April 20 [58]
Shawn Harris Have You Ever Seen a Flower? May 4 [59]
Dawn Quigley Jo Jo Makoons May 11 [60]
Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You [61]
Adiba Jaigirdar Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating May 25 [62]
Ashley Herring Blake Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea [63]
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Ace of Spades June 1 [64]
Meghan Markle The Bench June 8 [65]
Joy Keller Frankenslime July 13 [66]
Crystal Frasier Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms August 10 [67]
Amber McBride Me (Moth) August 17 [68]
Jordan Ifueko Redemptor August 27 [69]
Michael G. Long Three Lines in a Circle August 31 [70]
Ayana Gray Beasts of Prey September 28 [71]
Benjamin Alire Sáenz Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World October 12 [72]
J. K. Rowling The Christmas Pig
Donna Barba Higuera The Last Cuentista [73]
Naseem Hrab The Sour Cherry Tree October 15
Eoin Colfer The Fowl Twins Get What They Deserve October 19 [74]
Rick Riordan Daughter of the Deep October 26 [75]
Jeff Kinney Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot [76]
Roseanne A. Brown A Psalm of Storms and Silence November 2 [77]
Natasha Bowen Skin of the Sea [78]
Harmony Becker Himawari House November 9 [79]
Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson The 1619 Project: Born on the Water November 16 [80]
Charlotte Sullivan Wild Love, Violet [81]
Mac Barnett What Is Love? December 28 [82]

Poetry

New poetry books, sorted by date of publication
Author Title Date of pub. Ref.
Amanda Gorman The Hill We Climb: Poems March 30, US
Hannah Lowe The Kids September 16, US [10]
Amanda Gorman Call Us What We Carry December 7, US

Drama

Non-fiction

New nonfiction books, sorted by date of publication
Author Title Date of pub. Ref.
Joan Didion Let Me Tell You What I Mean January 26 [84]
Elizabeth Kolbert Under a White Sky February 9 [85]
Heather McGhee The Sum of Us February 9 [86]
Bill Gates How to Avoid a Climate Disaster February 16 [87]
Jordan Peterson Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life March 2 [88]
Julia Galef The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't April 13 [89]
Patrick Radden Keefe Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty April 13 [90]
Sasha Issenberg The Engagement: America's Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage June 1 [91]
Lawrence Wright The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid June 8 [92]
Michael Holding Why We Kneel, How We Rise June 24 [93]
Sam Kean The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science July 13 [94]
Sarah Gristwood The Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous Dynasty September 23 [95]
Sanjay Gupta World War C: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic and How to Prepare for the Next One October 5 [96]
Paul McCartney and Paul Muldoon The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present November 2 [97]
Zoë Playdon The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: The Transgender Trial That Threatened to Upend the British Establishment November 11 [98]
Brené Brown Atlas of the Heart November 30 [99]

Biography and memoirs

New biographies and memoirs, sorted by last name
Author Title Date of pub. Ref.
Blake Bailey Philip Roth: The Biography May 26 [100]
Hunter Biden Beautiful Things April 6 [101]
Brian Broome Punch Me Up to the Gods May 18
Walter Isaacson The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race March 9 [102]
Sinéad O'Connor Rememberings June 1 [103]
Nadia Owusu Aftershocks: A Memoir January 12 [104]
Michelle Zauner Crying in H Mart April 20 [105]
Joshua Prager The Family Roe: An American Story September 14 [106]

Deaths

Deaths sorted by date of death
Individual Background Date of death Age Cause of death Ref.
Mary Catherine Bateson Daughter of Margaret Mead, American author and anthropologist January 2 81 Brain damage [107]
Eric Jerome Dickey American novelist January 3 59 Cancer [108]
Neil Sheehan American journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author January 7 84 Complications from Parkinson's disease [109]
Christopher Little J. K. Rowling's literary agent January 7 79 Cancer [110][111]
Ved Mehta MacArthur Fellow, New Yorker writer, influential mentor,[112] and chronicler of India January 9 87 Complications from Parkinson's disease [113]
Vassilis Alexakis Greek-born French writer and translator January 11 77 [114]
Sharon Kay Penman American historian and novelist January 22 75 Pneumonia [115]
Martha Madrigal Mexican poet January 23 92 COVID-19 [citation needed]
Lars Norén Swedish playwright, novelist and poet January 26 77 COVID-19 [116]
Maria Guarnaschelli American cookbook editor February 6 79 Heart disease [117]
Jean-Claude Carrière French novelist, screenwriter and actor February 8 89 [118]
Lawrence Otis Graham American essayist and cultural critic February 19 59 [119]
Lawrence Ferlinghetti American beat poet, publisher, and co-founder of City Lights Bookstore February 22 101 Interstitial lung disease [120]
Enrique González Rojo, Jr. Mexican writer and philosopher March 5 92 [121]
N. S. Lakshminarayan Bhat Indian poet March 6 84 [122]
Valentin Kurbatov Russian literary critic and writer March 6 81 [123]
Djibril Tamsir Niane Guinean writer and historian March 8 89 COVID-19 [124]
Norton Juster American writer March 8 91 Complication from a stroke [125]
Joan Walsh Anglund American poet and children's book author and illustrator March 9 95 Heart failure [126]
Robert Middlekauff American historian March 10 91 Complication from a stroke [127]
Nawal El Saadawi Egyptian feminist and writer March 21 89 [128]
Adam Zagajewski Polish poet March 21 75 [129]
Morris Dickstein American literary critic and cultural historian March 24 81 Complications from Parkinson's disease [130]
Beverly Cleary Children's book writer March 25 104 [131]
Larry McMurtry American novelist March 25 84 [132]
Giancarlo DiTrapano Founder of Tyrant Books March 30 47 [133][134]
Arthur Kopit American playwright April 2 83 [135]
Denis Donoghue Irish academic and literary critic April 6 92 [136]
Vartan Gregorian Saved the New York Public Library April 15 87 [137]
Anthony Thwaite English poet and editor April 22 90 [138]
Pieter Aspe Belgian writer May 2 68 [139]
Jesús Hilario Tundidor Spanish poet May 2 85 [140]
Lucinda Franks Journalist and memoirist, first women to win a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting May 5 74 [141]
Kentaro Miura Japanese manga artist May 6 54 Acute aortic dissection [142]
Eric Carle American children's book writer and illustrator May 23 91 Kidney failure [143]
Dan Frank Editorial director of Pantheon Books May 24 67 [144]
Friederike Mayröcker Austrian poet and writer June 4 96 [145]
Richard Robinson Turned Scholastic into a major children's book publisher June 5 84 [146]
Janet Malcolm American journalist, biographer, and writer for The New Yorker June 16 86 Lung cancer [147]
Stephen Dunn American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet June 24 82 Complications from Parkinson's disease [148]
Elizabeth Martinez American author who jumpstarted the Chicana movement June 29 95 [149]
Athan Theoharis American historian July 3 84 Pneumonia [150]
Roberto Calasso Italian novelist, critic, scholar, and publisher July 28 80 [151]
Jean Breeze Jamaican dub poet and storyteller August 4 65 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [152]
Donald Kagan American historian August 6 89 [153]
Jill Murphy British children's author and illustrator August 18 72 Cancer [154]
James W. Loewen American sociologist and author August 19 79 Bladder cancer [155]
David Roberts American adventure writer August 20 78 [156]
Russ Kick American writer and editor September 12 52 [157]
Charles W. Mills American philosopher September 20 70 Cancer [158]
Takao Saito Japanese manga artist September 24 84 Pancreatic cancer [159]
Gary Paulsen American author October 13 82 Cardiac arrest [160]
Máire Mhac an tSaoi Irish language scholar and poet October 16 99 [161]
Brendan Kennelly Irish poet October 17 85 [162]
Jerry Pinkney American children's book writer and illustrator October 20 81 Heart attack [163]
Raúl Rivero Cuban poet November 6 75 [164]
Sylvère Lotringer French literary critic and founder of Semiotexte(e) November 8 83 [165]
Jakucho Setouchi Japanese feminist writer November 9 99 Heart failure [166]
Petra Mayer American book editor November 13 46 Pulmonary embolism [167]
Etel Adnan Lebanese-American novelist November 14 96 [168]
Robert Bly American poet, translator, and author November 21 96 Complications of Alzheimer's disease [169]
Almudena Grandes Spanish novelist November 21 94 Cancer [170]
Andrew Vachss American crime writer November 23 79 Coronary artery disease [171]
Marie-Claire Blais Canadian writer November 30 82 [172]
Miroslav Zikmund Czech adventurer, travel writer and film director December 1 102 [173]
Greg Tate American journalist and cultural critic December 7 64 [174]
Anne Rice American author December 12 80 Complications from a stroke [175]
bell hooks American author and feminist December 15 69 Kidney failure [176][177][178]
Madhur Kapila Indian journalist, novelist, art critic, and reviewer of Hindi literature December 19 79 Cardiac arrest [179]
Myrna Manzanares Belizean writer and activist December 21 75 Complications from a stroke [180]
Joan Didion American author and memoirist December 23 87 Complications from Parkinson's disease [181]
Keri Hulme New Zealand writer (The Bone People) and poet December 25 74 Chronic medical issues [182]

Awards

See also

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI