1977 in literature

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Last updated April 11, 2024

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1977.

Events

February 20 – An episode of Doctor on the Go , co-written by Douglas Adams and Graham Chapman, marks the beginning of Adams' career as a writer for BBC radio.^[1]
March 4 – Andrés Caicedo commits suicide by overdose, aged 25, about a month after the publication of his novel ¡Que viva la música! ("Let Music Live!", translated as Liveforever) in his hometown of Cali, Colombia.^[2]
April 27 – Héctor Germán Oesterheld, Argentine comic book writer born 1919), is kidnapped by the military authorities; he is believed to have died in detention a few months later.^[3]
July 11 – The English magazine Gay News is found guilty of blasphemous libel for publishing a homoerotic poem, "The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name" by James Kirkup, in a case ( Whitehouse v Lemon ) at the Old Bailey in London, on behalf of Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers and Listeners Association. John Mortimer appears for the defence. It is the first such prosecution since 1921 and will be the last before the offense is abolished in 2008.^[4]^[5]
September 15 – Christopher Tolkien, with Guy Gavriel Kay, completes and publishes his late father's work, The Silmarillion .
Fall – Philosophy and Literature appears as an academic journal founded at Johns Hopkins University. It explores connections between literary and philosophical studies, presenting ideas on the aesthetics of literature, critical theory, and the philosophical interpretation of literature.
October – Norman Mailer punches Gore Vidal in the face at a New York City party.^[6]
December – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and Ngugi wa Mirii are detained in Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Kenya, six weeks after the première of their political Kikuyu language play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) at the open-air Kamiriithu Community Education and Cultural Centre. While imprisoned, Ngũgĩ will write the first modern novel in Kikuyu, Devil on the Cross (Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ), on prison-issue toilet paper.

New books

Births

February 21 – Jonathan Safran Foer, American novelist
March 4 – Dan Wells, American horror and science fiction author
May 2 – Alessandro D'Avenia, Italian writer^[24]
August 24 – John Green, American author and YouTube vlogger^[25]
October 16 – Laura Wade, English playwright
September 5 – Tena Štivičić, Croatian playwright
September 15 – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian novelist
November 12 – Richelle Mead, American young-adult novelist

Deaths

January 14 – Anaïs Nin, French-Cuban erotic novelist and diarist (born 1903)^[26]
January 18 – Carl Zuckmayer, German playwright (born 1896)^[27]
January 26 – William Glynne-Jones, Welsh novelist and children's writer (born 1907)
February 19 – Anthony Crosland, British author and politician (born 1918)^[28]
February 27 – John Dickson Carr, American crime novelist (born 1906)^[29]
March 4
- Andrés Caicedo, Colombian novelist and cinéaste (suicide, born 1951)^[2]
- Mihai Gafița, Romanian editor, literary historian and children's novelist (killed in earthquake, born 1923)
- Alexandru Ivasiuc, Romanian novelist (killed in earthquake, born 1933)
March 15 – Hubert Aquin, French Canadian novelist, essayist and political activist (suicide, born 1929))
April 7 – Jim Thompson, American fiction writer (born 1906)
April 11 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (born 1900)^[30]
May 9 – James Jones, American novelist (heart failure, born 1921)
July 2 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian/American novelist (born 1899)
July 15 – Konstantin Fedin, Russian writer (born 1892)
July 20 – Friedrich Georg Jünger, German writer (born 1898)
August 13 – Henry Williamson, English naturalist and novelist (born 1895)^[31]
August 20 – Gurbaksh Singh, Punjabi novelist (born 1914)^[32]
August 26 – H. A. Rey, German-born American children's writer and illustrator (born 1898)
September 4 – E. F. Schumacher, German-born economist (born 1911)
September 12 – Robert Lowell, American poet (heart attack, born 1917)^[33]
October 27 – James M. Cain, American novelist and newspaperman (born 1892)
November 10 – Dennis Wheatley, English occult novelist (born 1897)
November 30
- Miloš Crnjanski, Serbian poet and novelist (born 1893)
- Terence Rattigan, English dramatist (bone cancer, born 1911)
December 9 – Clarice Lispector, Brazilian novelist (ovarian cancer, born 1920)
December 22 – Frank Thiess, German novelist (born 1890)

Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature: Vicente Aleixandre

Canada

1977 Governor General's Awards

France

Prix Goncourt: Didier Decoin, John l'enfer^[34]
Prix Médicis French: Michel Butel, L'Autre Amour^[34]
Prix Médicis International: Héctor Bianciotti, Le Traité des saisons – Argentina ^[34]

Spain

Premio Miguel de Cervantes: Alejo Carpentier

United Kingdom

Booker Prize: Paul Mark Scott, Staying On
Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Gene Kemp, The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler
Eric Gregory Award: Tony Flynn, Michael Vince, David Cooke, Douglas Marshall, Melissa Murray
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: George Painter, Chateaubriand: Volume 1 – The Longed-For Tempests
Knighthood for services to the theatre: Peter Hall ^[35]
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Norman Nicholson
Whitbread Best Book Award: Beryl Bainbridge, Injury Time

United States

American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for the Novel, Saul Bellow
Nebula Award: Frederik Pohl, Gateway
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science: Gerard K. O'Neill, The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Michael Cristofer, The Shadow Box
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: no award given
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Merrill, Divine Comedies
Pulitzer Prize for History: David M. Potter: The Impending Crisis, 1841-1861 (Completed and edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher).
Pulitzer Prize for Biography: John E. Mack: A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence

Rest of the World

Miles Franklin Award: Ruth Park, Swords and Crowns and Rings
Premio Nadal: José Asenjo Sedano, Conversación sobre la guerra
Viareggio Prize: Davide Lajolo, Veder l'erba dalla parte delle radici

Notes

Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. ISBN 9780198715542.

References

↑ Douglas McCall (12 November 2013). Monty Python: A Chronology, 1969-2012, 2d ed. McFarland. pp. 55–. ISBN 978-0-7864-7811-8.
1 2 El Valle del Cauca. Fundación Grupo 80. 1983. p. 178.
↑ M. Elizabeth Ginway; J. Andrew Brown; J. Brown (5 December 2012). Latin American Science Fiction: Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-137-28122-7.
↑ "11 July 1977: Gay paper guilty of blasphemy". BBC News . Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
↑ Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (England and Wales).
↑ United States Commission on Civil Rights (1978). Battered Women: Issues of Public Policy : a Consultation Sponsored by the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Commission on Civil Rights. p. 427.
↑ Richard D. Mullen (1992). On Philip K. Dick: 40 Articles from Science-fiction Studies. SF-TH Incorporated. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-9633169-0-5.
↑ Ellen Pifer; Professor of English and Comparative Literature Ellen Pifer (1986). Critical Essays on John Fowles. G.K. Hall. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8161-8759-1.
↑ Watts, Edward; Carlson, David J., eds. (2012). John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. p. 296. ISBN 9781611484205.
↑ Smith, Dai (2004-06-19). "Alun Richards (obituary)". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
↑ Hahn 2015, pp. 2-3
↑ Hahn 2015, pp. 2-3
↑ Hahn 2015, p. 3
↑ Hahn 2015, p. 3
↑ Hahn 2015, p. 88
↑ Die Kaapse bibliotekaris: The Cape librarian. Library Service. 1979. p. 6.
↑ "My favourite book as a kid: Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones". the Guardian. 8 April 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
↑ Hahn 2015, p. 546
↑ Hahn 2015, p. 14
↑ "Programmes | Newsnight | Review | Abigail's Party". BBC News. 2002-07-25. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
↑ Directory of Playwrights, Directors, Designers. John Offord. 1983. p. 87.
↑ John Leonard (December 1, 1977). "Books of the Times". The New York Times.
↑ Parsons, Nicholas (1985). The Book of Literary Lists. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-99171-2.
↑ "D'Avenia Alessandro - Biografie scrittori, poeti, artisti - Wuz.it". www.wuz.it. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
↑ Braun, Eric (2015-01-01). John Green: Star Author, Vlogbrother, and Nerdfighter. Lerner Publications. p. 40. ISBN 9781467772617.
↑ Anaïs Nin (1994). Conversations with Anaïs Nin. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-87805-719-1.
↑ Ian Herbert (1981). Who's who in the Theatre: A Biographical Record of the Contemporary Stage. Gale Research Company. p. 749. ISBN 978-0-8103-0235-8.
↑ Great Britain. Diplomatic Service Administration Office (1994). The Diplomatic Service List. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 83.
↑ Winks; Robin W. Winks (1998). Mystery and Suspense Writers: The Literature of Crime, Detection, and Espionage. Scribner's Sons. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-684-80519-1.
↑ Gale Cengage (2002). Modern French Poets. Gale Group. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-7876-5252-4.
↑ Anne Williamson (1995). Henry Williamson: Tarka and the Last Romantic. Alan Sutton. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-7509-0639-5.
↑ The Sikh Review. Sikh Cultural Centre. 1977. p. 2.
↑ Robert Lowell (1988). Robert Lowell, Interviews and Memoirs. University of Michigan Press. p. 11. ISBN 0-472-10089-0.
1 2 3 France. French Embassy, Press and Information Division. 1977. p. 8.
↑ "BBC Arts - BBC Arts - Sir Peter Hall, 1930 - 2017". BBC. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

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[1] Douglas McCall (12 November 2013). Monty Python: A Chronology, 1969-2012, 2d ed. McFarland. pp. 55–. ISBN 978-0-7864-7811-8.

[Caicedo-2] 1 2 El Valle del Cauca. Fundación Grupo 80. 1983. p. 178.

[3] M. Elizabeth Ginway; J. Andrew Brown; J. Brown (5 December 2012). Latin American Science Fiction: Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-137-28122-7.

[4] "11 July 1977: Gay paper guilty of blasphemy". BBC News . Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2013-06-29.

[5] Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (England and Wales).

[6] United States Commission on Civil Rights (1978). Battered Women: Issues of Public Policy : a Consultation Sponsored by the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Commission on Civil Rights. p. 427.

[7] Richard D. Mullen (1992). On Philip K. Dick: 40 Articles from Science-fiction Studies. SF-TH Incorporated. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-9633169-0-5.

[8] Ellen Pifer; Professor of English and Comparative Literature Ellen Pifer (1986). Critical Essays on John Fowles. G.K. Hall. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8161-8759-1.

[9] Watts, Edward; Carlson, David J., eds. (2012). John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. p. 296. ISBN 9781611484205.

[10] Smith, Dai (2004-06-19). "Alun Richards (obituary)". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 2013-06-29.

[11] Hahn 2015, pp. 2-3

[12] Hahn 2015, pp. 2-3

[13] Hahn 2015, p. 3

[14] Hahn 2015, p. 3

[15] Hahn 2015, p. 88

[16] Die Kaapse bibliotekaris: The Cape librarian. Library Service. 1979. p. 6.

[17] "My favourite book as a kid: Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones". the Guardian. 8 April 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

[18] Hahn 2015, p. 546

[19] Hahn 2015, p. 14

[20] "Programmes | Newsnight | Review | Abigail's Party". BBC News. 2002-07-25. Retrieved 2012-06-29.

[21] Directory of Playwrights, Directors, Designers. John Offord. 1983. p. 87.

[22] John Leonard (December 1, 1977). "Books of the Times". The New York Times.

[23] Parsons, Nicholas (1985). The Book of Literary Lists. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-99171-2.

[24] "D'Avenia Alessandro - Biografie scrittori, poeti, artisti - Wuz.it". www.wuz.it. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.

[25] Braun, Eric (2015-01-01). John Green: Star Author, Vlogbrother, and Nerdfighter. Lerner Publications. p. 40. ISBN 9781467772617.

[26] Anaïs Nin (1994). Conversations with Anaïs Nin. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-87805-719-1.

[27] Ian Herbert (1981). Who's who in the Theatre: A Biographical Record of the Contemporary Stage. Gale Research Company. p. 749. ISBN 978-0-8103-0235-8.

[Office1994-28] Great Britain. Diplomatic Service Administration Office (1994). The Diplomatic Service List. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 83.

[29] Winks; Robin W. Winks (1998). Mystery and Suspense Writers: The Literature of Crime, Detection, and Espionage. Scribner's Sons. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-684-80519-1.

[30] Gale Cengage (2002). Modern French Poets. Gale Group. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-7876-5252-4.

[31] Anne Williamson (1995). Henry Williamson: Tarka and the Last Romantic. Alan Sutton. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-7509-0639-5.

[32] The Sikh Review. Sikh Cultural Centre. 1977. p. 2.

[33] Robert Lowell (1988). Robert Lowell, Interviews and Memoirs. University of Michigan Press. p. 11. ISBN 0-472-10089-0.

[France-34] 1 2 3 France. French Embassy, Press and Information Division. 1977. p. 8.

[35] "BBC Arts - BBC Arts - Sir Peter Hall, 1930 - 2017". BBC. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

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1977 in literature

Contents

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction