1998 in literature

Last updated November 21, 2025

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1998.

Events

March 5 – Tennessee Williams' 1938 play Not About Nightingales receives its stage première in London, in a collaboration between the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and Corin and Vanessa Redgrave's Moving Theatre.^[1]
October
- The death of the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom Ted Hughes leaves a gap of several months before a successor, Andrew Motion, is designated the following spring.^[2]
- Kinoko Nasu (奈須きのこ) launches the Kara no Kyōkai series, with five chapters released online.
November 18 – Alice McDermott wins the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy .
December – The Strand Magazine title is revived in the United States.^[3]

New books

Poetry

Seamus Heaney
- Beowulf (translation)
- Opened Ground: Poems 1966–1996
Ted Hughes – Birthday Letters
Dejan Stojanović – Krugovanje: 1978–1987 (Circling; 2nd edition)^[10]

Non-fiction

Charlotte Allen – The Human Christ: The Search For The Historical Jesus
Andrea Ashworth – Once in a House on Fire
Antony Beevor – Stalingrad
Harold Bloom – Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human
Bill Bryson – Notes from a Big Country
Peter Cannon (editor) – Lovecraft Remembered
Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd – Dear Friend and Gardener
Corinne Debaine-Francfort – La redécouverte de la Chine ancienne
Amanda Foreman – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
John Fowles – Wormholes – Essays and Occasional Writings
Jonathan Freedland – Bring Home the Revolution
Sita Ram Goel – Vindicated by Time
Simon Heffer – Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell
Adam Hochschild – King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam – India 2020
Ryszard Kapuściński – Heban (Ebony, translated as The Shadow of the Sun )
B. B. Lal – India 1947–1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization
Martin Lee and Marcia Miller – The Mega-fun Multiplication Facts Activity Book
Eric Liu – The Accidental Asian
Alan I. Marcus – Building Western Civilization: From the Advent of Writing to the Age of Steam
Thylias Moss – Tale of a Sky-Blue Dress
Inga Muscio – Cunt: A Declaration of Independence
V. S. Naipaul – Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples
Gilles Perrault (ed.) – Le Livre noir du capitalisme (The Black Book of Capitalism)
John Pilger – Hidden Agendas
Michael Poole – Romancing Mary Jane ^[11]
Arun Shourie – Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud
Marilee Strong – A Bright Red Scream
University of Arizona – Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni
Adam Zagajewski – Another Beauty

Births

March 7 – Amanda Gorman, American poet and activist
May 15 – Mohammed El-Kurd, Palestinian writer and poet
December 16 – Chloe Gong, Chinese-born New Zealand author
unknown dates
- K-Ming Chang – Taiwanese-American novelist and poet
- Moses MacKenzie – British novelist

Deaths

January 2 – Frank Muir, English comedy writer and broadcaster (born 1920)
January 11 – John Wells, English satirist (born 1936)
January 18 – Monica Edwards, English children's novelist (born 1912)
January 23 – John Forbes, Australian poet (heart attack, born 1950)
January 27 – Geoffrey Trease, English children's historical novelist (born 1909)
February 7 – Lawrence Sanders, American novelist and short story writer (born 1920)
February 15 – Martha Gellhorn, American journalist (suicide, born 1908)
February 17 – Ernst Jünger, German novelist and war memoirist (born 1895)
February 27 – Alice Rivaz, Swiss writer (born 1901)
March 15 – Dr. Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and writer on child care (born 1903)
April 11 – Francis Durbridge, English playwright (born 1912)
April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914)
April 27
- Anne Desclos (Pauline Réage), French journalist and novelist (born 1907)^[12]
- Carlos Castaneda, Mexican-born American anthropologist and author (born 1925)
May 9 – Nat Perrin, American comedy writer (born 1905)
May 11 — Willy Corsari, Dutch author of detective fiction (born 1897)^[13]
June 10
- Joan Adeney Easdale, English poet (born 1913)
- Hammond Innes, English novelist (born 1913)
June 11 – Dame Catherine Cookson, English novelist (born 1906)
July 1 – Martin Seymour-Smith, English biographer (born 1928)
July 5 – Johnny Speight, English comedy writer (born 1920)
July 9 – Ian Wallace (John Wallace Pritchard), American science fiction author (born 1912)
July 14 – Miroslav Holub, Czech poet (born 1923)
July 23
- John Hopkins, English film and television writer (born 1931)
- Manuel Mejía Vallejo, Colombian novelist (born 1923)^[14]
August 16 – Dorothy West, American novelist and short story writer (born 1907)
August 22 – Grace Paley, American writer (born 1922)
September 28 – Eric Malling, Canadian journalist (born 1946)
October 15 – Iain Crichton Smith, Scottish writer (born 1928)^[15]
October 22 – Eric Ambler, English spy novelist (born 1909)
October 28 – Ted Hughes, English poet and Poet Laureate (born 1930)^[16]
November 3 – Bob Kane (Robert Kahn), American comics artist and writer (born 1915)
November 8 – Rumer Godden, English novelist (born 1907)^[17]
November 17 – Alexandru Talex, Romanian journalist, critic and biographer (born 1909)
December 16 – William Gaddis, American novelist (born 1922)

Awards

Australia

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jennifer Kremmer, Pegasus in the Suburbs
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Coral Hull, Broken Land
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: No awards this year
Mary Gilmore Prize: Emma Lew, The Wild Reply
Miles Franklin Award: Peter Carey, Jack Maggs

Canada

Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award: Talya Rubin
See 1998 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists.
Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Alice Munro: The Love of a Good Woman
Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Charlotte Gray: Mrs. King ^[18]

France

Prix Décembre: Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules élémentaires
Prix Goncourt: Paule Constant, Confidence pour confidence
Prix Médicis French: Le Loup mongol
Prix Médicis International: The House of Sleep – Jonathan Coe

United States

Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Shara McCallum, The Water Between Us
Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: X.J. Kennedy
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Horton Foote
American Book Award Before Columbus Foundation: Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, and (separately) Allison Hedge Coke, Dog Road Woman
Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Sherod Santos, "Elegy for My Sister", and (separately) Neil Azevedo, "Caspar Hauser Songs"
Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: Frank Bidart, Desire
Compton Crook Award: Katie Waitman, The Merro Tree
Hugo Award for Best Novel: Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
Frost Medal: Stanley Kunitz
Nebula Award: Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust
PEN American Center's PEN Open Book Award: Giannina Braschi, Yo-Yo Boing!
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Philip Roth, American Pastoral
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Charles Wright, Black Zodiac
Wallace Stevens Award: A. R. Ammons
Whiting Awards:

Fiction: Michael Byers, Ralph Lombreglia (fiction/nonfiction)

Non-fiction: D. J. Waldie, Anthony Walton

Plays: W. David Hancock

Poetry: Nancy Eimers, Daniel Hall, James Kimbrell, Charles Harper Webb, Greg Williamson

Elsewhere

Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Martin Walser
International Dublin Literary Award: Herta Muller, The Land of Green Plums
Premio Nadal: Lucía Etxebarria, Beatriz y los cuerpos celestes

References

↑ "Alley Theatre's Nightingales Closes July 3; Next Stop Broadway?". Playbill . 1998-06-23. Archived from the original on 2013-01-31. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
↑ Andrew Motion (20 May 1999). "The insider's story". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
↑ Willis, Chris. "The Story of The Strand". Strandmag.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
↑ Sänger, Florian (2009). Literatur und Film im Feld narrativer Theorien: Analysemöglichkeiten von Literaturverfilmungen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Erzählposition und Fakalisierung am Beispiel Wolf Haas "Komm süßer Tod". Aachen: Verlag Shaker. ISBN 978-3-8322-8659-0.
↑ Kakatuni, Michiko (16 October 1998). "'The Poisonwood Bible': A Family a Heart of Darkness". New York Times . Retrieved 18 January 2021.
↑ Brennan, Geraldine (2 October 2010). "My Name is Mina by David Almond | Book review". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
↑ Jones, Diana Wynne (1998). The Dark Lord of Derkholme. Gollancz. OCLC 745958627.
↑ "Digested read: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". The Guardian. 25 August 1998. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
↑ "He Didn't Do It". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
↑ Web page titled Krugovanje, Dejan Stojanović at the Internet Archive
↑ Verduyn, Christl; Staebler, Edna (2009). Must Write: Edna Staebler's Diaries. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 270. ISBN 9781554588114.
↑ Flower, John (17 January 2013). Historical Dictionary of French Literature. Scarecrow Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-0-8108-7945-4.
↑ van Boven, Erica (2003). "Schrijven als Beroep. Willy Corsari (1897-1998). Een broodschrijfster met literaire passie" [Writing as a Profession. Willy Corsari (1897-1998). A bread writer with a literary passion]. Jaarboek voor Vrouwengeschiedenis (in Dutch). 23: 184.
↑ "Author Mejia Vallejo Dies at 75". AP News. 24 July 1998. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
↑ "Iain Crichton Smith | Scottish writer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
↑ Susan Bassnett (2009). Ted Hughes. Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-7463-1003-8.
↑ Chisholm, Anne (2004). "Godden, (Margaret) Rumer (1907–1998)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71256 . Retrieved 11 December 2012.(Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)(subscription required)
↑ Faculty of Arts, 1998, Edna Staebler Award Archived 2014-06-06 at Archive-It , Wilfrid Laurier University, previous winners, Charlotte Gray, Retrieved 11/24/2012

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[1] "Alley Theatre's Nightingales Closes July 3; Next Stop Broadway?". Playbill . 1998-06-23. Archived from the original on 2013-01-31. Retrieved 2013-05-19.

[2] Andrew Motion (20 May 1999). "The insider's story". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2021.

[3] Willis, Chris. "The Story of The Strand". Strandmag.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2014.

[4] Sänger, Florian (2009). Literatur und Film im Feld narrativer Theorien: Analysemöglichkeiten von Literaturverfilmungen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Erzählposition und Fakalisierung am Beispiel Wolf Haas "Komm süßer Tod". Aachen: Verlag Shaker. ISBN 978-3-8322-8659-0.

[5] Kakatuni, Michiko (16 October 1998). "'The Poisonwood Bible': A Family a Heart of Darkness". New York Times . Retrieved 18 January 2021.

[6] Brennan, Geraldine (2 October 2010). "My Name is Mina by David Almond | Book review". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2018.

[7] Jones, Diana Wynne (1998). The Dark Lord of Derkholme. Gollancz. OCLC 745958627.

[8] "Digested read: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". The Guardian. 25 August 1998. Retrieved 19 August 2018.

[9] "He Didn't Do It". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 19 August 2018.

[10] Web page titled Krugovanje, Dejan Stojanović at the Internet Archive

[11] Verduyn, Christl; Staebler, Edna (2009). Must Write: Edna Staebler's Diaries. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 270. ISBN 9781554588114.

[12] Flower, John (17 January 2013). Historical Dictionary of French Literature. Scarecrow Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-0-8108-7945-4.

[13] van Boven, Erica (2003). "Schrijven als Beroep. Willy Corsari (1897-1998). Een broodschrijfster met literaire passie" [Writing as a Profession. Willy Corsari (1897-1998). A bread writer with a literary passion]. Jaarboek voor Vrouwengeschiedenis (in Dutch). 23: 184.

[14] "Author Mejia Vallejo Dies at 75". AP News. 24 July 1998. Retrieved 12 January 2021.

[15] "Iain Crichton Smith | Scottish writer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 August 2018.

[16] Susan Bassnett (2009). Ted Hughes. Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-7463-1003-8.

[17] Chisholm, Anne (2004). "Godden, (Margaret) Rumer (1907–1998)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71256 . Retrieved 11 December 2012.(Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)(subscription required)

[18] Faculty of Arts, 1998, Edna Staebler Award Archived 2014-06-06 at Archive-It , Wilfrid Laurier University, previous winners, Charlotte Gray, Retrieved 11/24/2012

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