2007 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2007.

Events

• January 1 – Post- och Inrikes Tidningar (Sweden), the world's oldest surviving newspaper (begun in 1645 as Ordinari Post Tijdender), starts publishing online only. ^[1]
• March 5 – A car bomb explodes on Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, the city's historic center of bookselling. ^[2]
• April 1 – The first in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney is released in book form in New York. ^[3]
• April 26 – Polly Stenham's play That Face , written when she was 19, opens at the Royal Court Theatre in London, UK. ^[4]
• July 21 – The final book in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , sells over 11 million copies in its first 24 hours, becoming the fastest selling book in history. ^[5]
• November 2 – The Tomi Ungerer Museum opens in Strasbourg. ^[6]
• November 19 – The first Kindle e-book reader is released. ^[7]
• December 5 – The first European Book Prize is awarded to Guy Verhofstadt for United States of Europe.^{[ citation needed ]}
• December 11 – Terry Pratchett informs fans online that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease. ^[8]

New books

Fiction

• André Aciman – Call Me by Your Name
• Gilbert Adair – A Mysterious Affair of Style
• Alan Bennett – The Uncommon Reader
• Bob Burg and John D. Mann – The Go-Giver
• Michael Chabon – The Yiddish Policemen's Union
• Brock Clarke – An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England ^[9]
• Bernard Cornwell – Sword Song
• Don DeLillo – Falling Man ^[10]
• Junot Díaz – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ^[11]
• Steve Erickson – Zeroville ^[12]
• Joshua Ferris – Then We Came to the End
• Ge Fei (格非) – 山河入梦 (Shanhe Rumeng) ^[13]
• Helon Habila – Measuring Time ^[14]
• Mohsin Hamid – The Reluctant Fundamentalist ^[15]
• Han Kang – The Vegetarian (채식주의자, Chaesikjuuija)
• Elizabeth Hay – Late Nights on Air
• Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Hiromi Itō (伊藤 比呂美) – The Thorn-Puller: New Tales of the Sugamo Jizō (とげ抜き 新巣鴨地蔵縁起, Toge-nuki: Shin Sugamo Jizō engi)
• Denis Johnson – Tree of Smoke
• Panos Karnezis – The Birthday Party
• Andrus Kivirähk – Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu (The Man Who Spoke "Snakish")
• Jesse Lee Kercheval – The Alice Stories
• Torsten Krol – Callisto ^[16]
• Min Jin Lee – Free Food for Millionaires
• Ian McEwan – On Chesil Beach ^[17]
• Elizabeth McKenzie – MacGregor Tells the World
• Angela Makholwa – Red Ink
• Michael Ondaatje – Divisadero
• Tito Perdue – Fields of Asphodel
• Bahaa Taher – Sunset Oasis (واحة الغروب)
• Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (Bieguni)
• Zlatko Topčić – Safet Sušić
• Graham Swift – Tomorrow
• M. G. Vassanji – The Assassin's Song
• David Wong – John Dies at the End
• Kirby Wright – Moloka'i Nui Ahina, Summers on the Lonely Isle ^[18]
• Corrina Wycoff – O Street
• Juli Zeh – Dark Matter

Genre fiction

• Joe Abercrombie – Before They Are Hanged (March 15, second of The First Law series)
• Christopher Barzak – One For Sorrow (August 28)
• Jim Butcher – White Night (April 3, Harry Dresden No. 9)
• Michael Chabon – The Yiddish Policemen's Union (May 1)
• Hal Duncan – Ink (February 2, second in The Book of All Hours series)
• Warren Ellis – Crooked Little Vein (July 24)
• Steven Erikson – Reaper's Gale (April 24, seventh in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series)
• Justin Evans – A Good and Happy Child (May 22)
• William Gibson – Spook Country (August 7)
• Ed Greenwood – Dark Lord (September, first in the Falconfar series)
• Tanith Lee – Piratica III: The Family Sea (third in The Piratica Series)
• Scott Lynch – Red Seas Under Red Skies (July 31, second in the Gentleman Bastard series)
• Richard K. Morgan – Th1rte3n (June 26)
• Ian McDonald – Brasyl (May 1)
• Chuck Palahniuk – Rant: An Oral History of Buster Casey (May 1)
• Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child – The Wheel of Darkness
• Risa – Battle of Demons (華鬼, Hana Oni, first print (book) publication, July 31)
• Lucius Shepard – Softspoken (April 15)
• Jeffrey Thomas – Deadstock (February 27)
• J. R. R. Tolkien (died 1973; with Christopher Tolkien and Alan Lee) – The Children of Húrin
• Catherynne M. Valente – The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice (October 30, second in the Orphan's Tales series)

Children and young people

• David Almond – My Dad's a Birdman ^[19]
• Sherman Alexie – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ^[20]
• Robin Brande – Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature
• Libba Bray – The Sweet Far Thing ^[21]
• Suzanne Collins – Gregor and the Code of Claw (fifth and final Underland Chronicles )
• Catherine Drury – Ivan's Appeal
• Joseph Epstein, etc. – Literary Genius: 25 Classic Writers Who Define English and American Literature
• Charlie Higson
  • Double or Die (third in the Young Bond series)
  • Hurricane Gold (fourth in the Young Bond series)
• Dianne Hofmeyr – Eye of the Moon
• Nick Hornby – Slam
• D. J. MacHale – The Pilgrims of Rayne
• Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (first in the eponymous series of six books for reluctant readers)
• Stephenie Meyer – Eclipse ^[22]
• China Miéville – Un Lun Dun
• Robert Muchamore
  • The Fall (seventh in the CHERUB series)
  • Mad Dogs (eighth in the CHERUB series)
• Jenny Nimmo – Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf
• Garth Nix – Lady Friday (fifth book in The Keys to the Kingdom series)
• Janet Nolan – A Father's Day Thank You
• Iona Opie – Mother Goose's Little Treasures
• Jerry Pinkney (adapted from Brothers Grimm) – Little Red Riding Hood
• J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (final book in the Harry Potter series) ^[23]
• Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
• Hikaru Sugii (杉井 光) – Heaven's Memo Pad
• Laura Wiess – Such A Pretty Girl
• N. D. Wilson – 100 Cupboards (first book in the 100 Cupboards series)

Drama

• Hassan Abdulrazzak – Baghdad Wedding
• Bola Agbaje – Gone Too Far!
• Jacob M. Appel – The Mistress of Wholesome
• Sebastian Barry – The Pride of Parnell Street
• Jon Fosse – I Am the Wind
• Melissa James Gibson – Current Nobody
• Lee Hall – The Pitmen Painters
• David Henry Hwang – Yellow Face
• Tracy Letts – August: Osage County
• Caleb Lewis – Dogfall
• Tarell Alvin McCraney – The Brothers Size
• Hannah Moscovitch – East of Berlin
• Brendan O'Carroll – For the Love of Mrs. Brown
• Mark O'Rowe – Terminus
• Aaron Sorkin – The Farnsworth Invention
• Nick Stafford (stage adaptation) – War Horse
• Polly Stenham – That Face

Poetry

Main article: 2007 in poetry

• Dejan Stojanović – Ples vremena (Dance of Time) ^[24]

Non-fiction

• Peter Ackroyd – Thames: Sacred River
• Xurxo Borrazás – Arte e parte
• Andrea Cagan – Peace Is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat
• Umberto Eco – On Ugliness
• Wayne Federman, Marshall Terrill and Jackie Maravich – Maravich : The Definitive Biography of Pistol Pete Maravich
• David Halberstam – The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War
• Ian Halperin – Hollywood Undercover
• Christopher Hitchens – God is not Great ^[25]
• A. J. Jacobs – The Year of Living Biblically
• Linda and Terry Jamison – Separated at Earth
• Naomi Klein – The Shock Doctrine
• Arthur Kroeger – Hard Passage: A Mennonite Family's Long Journey from Russia to Canada
• Anthony Lewis – Freedom for the Thought That We Hate
• Lupa – A Field Guide to Otherkin
• John Matteson – Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father
• Daisuke Miyao – Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom
• Haruki Murakami – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること, Hashiru Koto ni Tsuite Kataru Toki ni Boku no Kataru Koto)
• Ram Oren – ha-Shevu?ah (released in English in 2009 as Gertruda's Oath )
• Jessica Riskin – Genesis Redux ^[26]
• Bruce Serafin – Stardust ^[27]
• Kathy Stevens – Where the Blind Horse Sings ^[28]
• Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș – Lupta vieții unui octogenar (An Octogenarian's Lifelong Combat; posthumous)

Deaths

• January 11 – Robert Anton Wilson, American author and conspiracy researcher (born 1932) ^[29]
• January 19 – Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist (born 1954; murdered) ^[30]
• January 23 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist (born 1932) ^[31]
• January 27 – Herbert Reinecker, German novelist, dramatist and screenwriter (born 1914) ^[32]
• January 30 – Sidney Sheldon, American writer (born 1917) ^[33]
• February 22 – Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author, painter, and art collector (born 1918) ^[34]
• March 2 – Henri Troyat, French writer and historian (born 1911) ^[35]
• February 16 – Sheridan Morley, English critic and biographer (born 1941)
• March 30 – Michael Dibdin, British crime writer (born 1947) ^[36]
• April 1 – Driss Chraïbi, Moroccan author (born 1926) ^[37]
• April 3 – Marion Eames, Welsh novelist writing mainly in Welsh (born 1921) ^[38]
• April 11 – Kurt Vonnegut, American satirical novelist (born 1922) ^[39]
• April 23 – David Halberstam, American journalist and historian (born 1934| road accident) ^[40]
• May 8 – Philip R. Craig, American author and poet (born 1933)
• May 17 – Lloyd Alexander, American author (born 1924) ^[41]
• June 3 – Suzanne Robert, French Canadian novelist (born 1948)
• June 21 – Douglas Hill, Canadian science fiction author and reviewer (born 1935|injuries resulting from car accident) ^[42]
• June 27 – Dragutin Tadijanović, Croatian poet (born 1905)
• July 31 – Margaret Avison, Canadian poet (born 1918) ^[43]
• August 3 – John Gardner, British author of James Bond continuation novels (born 1926) ^[44]
• September 3 – Mária Szepes, Hungarian novelist and screenwriter (born 1908)^{[ citation needed ]}
• September 4 – Zenia Larsson, Polish-Swedish writer and sculptor of Jewish descent (born 1922)
• September 6 – Madeleine L'Engle, American novelist (born 1918) ^[45]
• September 16 – Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney, Jr.), American fantasy and historical novelist (born 1948) ^[46]
• October 19 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch author, sculptor and painter (born 1925) ^[47]
• October 22 – Ève Curie, French author, daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie (born 1904) ^[48]
• November 10 – Norman Mailer, American novelist, journalist and playwright (born 1923) ^[49]
• November 12 – Ira Levin, American novelist, dramatist and songwriter (born 1929) ^[50]
• November 19 – Magda Szabó, Hungarian novelist, dramatist and essayist (born 1917) ^[51]
• November 27 – Jane Rule, Canadian novelist (born 1931) ^[52]
• November 28 – Elly Beinhorn, German pilot and author (born 1907) ^[53]
• December 22 – Julien Gracq, French novelist, critic and poet (born 1910) ^[54]
• December 27 – Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (born 1920) ^[55]

Awards

• Nobel Prize in Literature: Doris Lessing

Australia

• ALS Gold Medal: Alexis Wright, Carpentaria
• Miles Franklin Award: Alexis Wright, Carpentaria
• Patrick White Award: David Rowbotham

Canada

• Canada Reads : Heather O'Neill, Lullabies for Little Criminals , Le Combat des livres : Denis Thériault, L'Iguane
• Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Michael V. Smith
• Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Linden MacIntyre, Causeway ^[56]
• Governor General's Awards: Multiple categories; see 2007 Governor General's Awards
• Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction: Anna Porter, Kasztner's Train: The True Story of Rezso Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air

Europe

• Camões Prize: António Lobo Antunes
• Europe Theatre Prize: Robert Lepage and Peter Zadek
• European Book Prize: Guy Verhofstadt, United States of Europe
• Prix Goncourt: Gilles Leroy, Alabama Song ^[57]

Sweden

• Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award: Banco del Libro ^[58]

United Kingdom

• Caine Prize for African Writing: Monica Arac de Nyeko,"Jambula Tree"
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Meg Rosoff, Just in Case ^[59]
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Rosalind Belben, Our Horses in Egypt
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Rosemary Hill, God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain
• Man Booker Prize: Anne Enright, The Gathering
• Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction: to Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

United States

• Newbery Award for children's literature: Susan Patron, The Higher Power Of Lucky
• Compton Crook Award: Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon
• Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2007 Lambda Literary Awards.
• National Book Award for Fiction: to Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
• National Book Critics Circle Award: to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: to Everyman by Philip Roth
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: to The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Whiting Awards: Fiction: Ben Fountain, Brad Kessler, Dalia Sofer; Nonfiction: Carlo Rotella, Peter Trachtenberg, Jack Turner; Plays: Sheila Callaghan, Tarell Alvin McCraney; Poetry: Paul Guest, Cate Marvin

Other

• SAARC Literary Award: Mahasveta Devi

See also

• List of literary awards
• List of poetry awards
• 2007 in Australian literature
• 2007 in comics

Notes

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

References

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