1998 in literature

• 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. • 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. • 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. ==New books==

Fiction • Turki al-Hamad – Adama (first volume in Atyaf al-Aziqah al-Mahjurah (Phantoms of the Deserted Alley) trilogy) • Tariq Ali – The Book of Saladin • Aaron Allston • Iron Fist • Wraith Squadron • Hanan al-Shaykh – I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops (أكنس الشمس عن السطوح) • Martin Amis – Heavy Water and Other Stories (most stories previously published) • Beryl Bainbridge – Master Georgie • Iain M. Banks – Inversions • Alessandro Barbero – Romanzo russo. Fiutando i futuri supplizi (translated 2010 as The Anonymous Novel. Sensing the Future Torments) • Julian Barnes – England, England • Greg Bear • Dinosaur Summer • Foundation and Chaos • Raymond Benson – The Facts of Death • Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny – Psychoshop • Robert Bloch – Flowers from the Moon and Other Lunacies • Roberto Bolaño – The Savage Detectives (Los Detectives Salvajes) • William Boyd – Armadillo • Giannina Braschi – Yo-Yo Boing! • Anne Carson – Autobiography of Red (verse novel) • Driss Chraïbi – Muhammad • Mary Higgins Clark – All Through the Night • Tom Clancy – Rainbow Six • Paulo Coelho – Veronika Decides to Die • Michael Connelly – Blood Work • Bernard Cornwell – ''Sharpe's Triumph'' • Patricia Cornwell – Point of Origin • Douglas Coupland – Girlfriend in a Coma • Ann C. Crispin – Rebel Dawn • Michael Cunningham – The Hours • Nelson DeMille – Plum Island • August Derleth • The Final Adventures of Solar Pons • ''In Lovecraft's Shadow'' • Peter Dickinson – The Kin • Allan W. Eckert – ''Return to Hawk's Hill'' • Bret Easton Ellis – Glamorama • Giles Foden – The Last King of Scotland • Diana Gabaldon – Hellfire • Neil Gaiman – Smoke and Mirrors (mainly reprints) • Andrew Greeley – ''A Midwinter's Tale'' • John Grisham – The Street Lawyer • Wolf Haas – Komm, süßer Tod (Come, Sweet Death) • Margaret Peterson Haddix - Among the Hidden • Ha Jin (哈金) – Waiting • Tomson Highway – Kiss of the Fur Queen • Nick Hornby – About a Boy • Michel Houellebecq – Atomised (Les Particules élémentaires) • Marek S. Huberath – Gniazdo światów (Nest of Worlds) • John Irving – A Widow for One Year • K. W. Jeter • The Mandalorian Armor • Slave Ship • Wayne Johnston – The Colony of Unrequited Dreams • Stephen King – Bag of Bones • Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible • Dean R. Koontz – Seize the Night • Joe R. Lansdale • Rumble Tumble • The Boar • Alain Mabanckou – Bleu-Blanc-Rouge • Patrick McCabe – Breakfast on Pluto • Ian McEwan – Amsterdam • Roy MacLaren – African Exploits • Steve Martin – Pure Drivel • Carol Matas – Greater Than Angels • China Miéville – King Rat • Alice Munro – The Love of a Good Woman • Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹) – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル, Nejimakidori Kuronikuru) • Cees Nooteboom – ''All Souls' Day (Allerzielen)'' • Sigrid Nunez – Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury • Tim O'Brien – Tomcat in Love • Orhan Pamuk – My Name Is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı) • Tom Perrotta – Election • Terry Pratchett • Carpe Jugulum • The Last Continent • Fahmida Riaz – Godavari • David Adams Richards – The Bay of Love and Sorrows • José Luis Rodríguez Pittí – Crónica de invisibles • Philip Roth – I Married a Communist • Margit Sandemo – Ensam i världen (Alone in the World) • Michael Slade – Shrink (also Primal Scream) • Alexander McCall Smith – ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' • Michael Stackpole – I, Jedi • Danielle Steel • The Klone and I • The Long Road Home • Mirror Image • Thomas Sullivan – The Martyring • Andrew Vachss – Safe House • Connie Willis – To Say Nothing of the Dog • A. N. Wilson – Dream Children • Tom Wolfe – A Man in Full • Timothy Zahn – Vision of the Future Children and young people • David Almond – Skellig • Melvin Burgess – Junk • Denise Fleming – Mama Cat Has Three Kittens • Gayle Greeno (with Michael Gilbert) – Sunderlies Seeking • Tanya Huff – Summon the Keeper • Diana Wynne Jones – Dark Lord of Derkholm • Dick King-Smith – The Crowstarver • Julius Lester – Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story • J. Patrick Lewis (with Gary Kelley) – BoshBlobberBosh: Runcible Poems for Edward Lear • J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets • Louis Sachar – Holes • Robert Swindells – Abomination • Judy Waite – Mouse, Look Out! • Douglas Wood – Rabbit and the Moon Drama • Edward Albee – The Play About the Baby • Parv Bancil – Made in England (full-length version) • Marina Carr – By the Bog of Cats • Michael Frayn – Copenhagen • David Hare – The Blue Room • Ted Hughes (translator) – Phèdre • Elfriede Jelinek – Ein Sportstück (A Sports Piece) • Bryony Lavery – Frozen • Terrence McNally – Corpus Christi • Sol B River • The White Witch of Rose Hall • River Plays 1 (published) • Shelagh Stephenson – An Experiment with an Air Pump • Marius von Mayenburg – Fireface (Feuergesicht) • Tennessee Williams (died 1983) – Not About Nightingales (first performance; written 1938) Poetry • Seamus Heaney • Beowulf (translation) • Opened Ground: Poems 1966–1996 • Ted Hughes – Birthday Letters • Dejan Stojanović – Krugovanje: 1978–1987 (Circling; 2nd edition) 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 • 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) • 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) • 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) • 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) • October 22 – Eric Ambler, English spy novelist (born 1909) • October 28 – Ted Hughes, English poet and Poet Laureate (born 1930) • November 3 – Bob Kane (Robert Kahn), American comics artist and writer (born 1915) • November 8 – Rumer Godden, English novelist (born 1907) • November 17 – Alexandru Talex, Romanian journalist, critic and biographer (born 1909) • December 16 – William Gaddis, American novelist (born 1922) ==Awards==

• Nobel Prize for Literature: José Saramago • Europe Theatre Prize: Luca Ronconi • Camões Prize: Antonio Candido 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 France • Prix Décembre: Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules élémentaires • Prix Goncourt: Paule Constant, '''' • Prix Médicis French: '''' • Prix Médicis International: '''' – Jonathan Coe United Kingdom • Booker Prize: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam • Carnegie Medal for children's literature: David Almond, Skellig • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More • Cholmondeley Award: Roger McGough, Robert Minhinnick, Anne Ridler, Ken Smith • Eric Gregory Award: Mark Goodwin, Joanne Limburg, Patrick McGuinness, Kona Macphee, Esther Morgan, Christiania Whitehead, Frances Williams • Orange Prize for Fiction: Carol Shields, ''Larry's Party'' • Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Les Murray • Whitbread Best Book Award: Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters 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==