2001 in literature

• February 15 – The author Michael Crichton signs a new deal with HarperCollins Publishers that reportedly earns him $40 million for two books. • April 1 – The BookCrossing scheme for leaving books for strangers to find is launched. • April 13 – The film version of Helen Fielding's 1996 novel ''Bridget Jones's Diary'' has uncredited cameo roles as themselves for Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes and Jeffrey Archer, at a literary party. • July 19 – The English popular novelist and politician Jeffrey Archer, having been found guilty of perjury in a libel trial, is sentenced to imprisonment. • September 19 – Amiri Baraka reads his poem "Somebody Blew Up America?" at a poetry festival in New Jersey, eight days after the September 11 attacks. • November 4 – Film premiere of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, first in the commercially successful Harry Potter'' film series based on the novels of J. K. Rowling. • December 10 – The live-action film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson, opens in London. Its appearance has a strong impact on readership of the trilogy. ==New books==

Fiction • Niccolò Ammaniti – Io non ho paura • Hiromu Arakawa – Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, manga series, begins publication) • Tahar Ben Jelloun – Cette aveuglante absence de lumière (This Blinding Absence of Light) • Raymond Benson – Never Dream of Dying • Dennis Bock – The Ash Garden • Ben Bova – The Precipice • Geraldine Brooks – Year of Wonders • Lois McMaster Bujold – The Curse of Chalion • Javier Cercas – Soldiers of Salamis (Soldados de Salamina) • Joseph Connolly – S.O.S. • Bernard Cornwell • ''Sharpe's Trafalgar'' • Gallows Thief • Douglas Coupland – All Families Are Psychotic • Achmat Dangor – Bitter Fruit • Helen Dunmore – The Siege • Umberto Eco – Baudolino • James Ellroy – The Cold Six Thousand • Leif Enger – Peace Like a River • Sebastian Faulks – On Green Dolphin Street • Ken Follett – Jackdaws • Leon Forrest – Meteor in the Madhouse • Jonathan Franzen – The Corrections • Rodrigo Fresán – Mantra • Diana Gabaldon – The Fiery Cross • Neil Gaiman – American Gods • Kate Grenville – The Idea of Perfection • John Grisham • A Painted House • Skipping Christmas • Abdulrazak Gurnah – By the Sea • Margaret Peterson Haddix – Among the Impostors • Joanne Harris – Five Quarters of the Orange • Vigdis Hjorth – Om bare (If only) • Nick Hornby – How to Be Good • Silas House – ''Clay's Quilt'' • Nancy Huston – Dolce Agonia • John Irving – The Fourth Hand • Fleur Jaeggy – Proleterka • P. D. James – Death in Holy Orders • Greg Keyes • Edge of Victory: Conquest • Edge of Victory: Rebirth • Stephen King • Black House • Dreamcatcher • Christian Kracht – 1979 • Hanif Kureishi – ''Gabriel's Gift'' • Joe R. Lansdale – Captains Outrageous • John le Carré – The Constant Gardener • Ursula K. Le Guin – The Birthday of the World, and Other Stories • Pedro Lemebel – Tengo miedo torero (My Tender Matador) • Mario Vargas Llosa – The Feast of the Goat (La fiesta del chivo) • David Lodge – Thinks ... • James Luceno – Cloak of Deception • Ian McEwan – Atonement • Andreï Makine – ''Music of a Life (La Musique d'une vie)'' • Juliet Marillier – Child of the Prophecy • Yann Martel – Life of Pi • Alice Munro – Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (short stories) • V S Naipaul – Half a Life • R. K. Narayan – Under the Banyan Tree • Joyce Carol Oates – Middle Age: A Romance • Chuck Palahniuk – Choke • Noni Power – Crawling at Night • Terry Pratchett • The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents • Thief of Time • The Last Hero • Sven Regener – Herr Lehmann • Kathy Reichs – Fatal Voyage • Alain Robbe-Grillet – La Reprise • Jean-Christophe Rufin – Rouge Brésil • Salman Rushdie – Fury • Richard Russo – Empire Falls • W. G. Sebald – Austerlitz • Nava Semel – And the Rat Laughed (ואת צחוק של עכברוש) • Olga Slavnikova – Bessmertniy (The Immortal) • Danielle Steel – Leap of Faith • Antonio Tabucchi – ''It's Getting Later All the Time'' • Amy Tan – ''The Bonesetter's Daughter'' • Timothy Taylor – Stanley Park • Anne Tyler – Back When We Were Grownups • Jane Urquhart – The Stone Carvers • Andrew Vachss – Pain Management • Tim Winton – Dirt Music • Carlos Ruiz Zafón – La sombra del viento (The Shadow of the Wind; first in El cementerio de los libros olvidados (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books) series) • Juli Zeh – Eagles and Angels Children and young people • David Almond – Secret Heart • Malorie Blackman – Noughts and Crosses (first in the Noughts and Crosses series of five books) • Ann Brashare – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants • Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (first in the eponymous series of eight books) • Eva Ibbotson – Journey to the River Sea • Brian Jacques – Castaways of the Flying Dutchman • David Klass – ''You Don't Know Me'' • Hilary McKay – ''Saffy's Angel'' • Patricia McKissack – ''Goin' Someplace Special'' • Michael Morpurgo • More Muck and Magic • Out of the Ashes • Toro! Toro! • Lesléa Newman – Cats, Cats, Cats! • Linda Sue Park – A Single Shard • Philip Reeve – Mortal Engines (November 16) • J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire • Lemony Snicket • The Ersatz Elevator • The Vile Village • Jan Bondeson – Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear • Dionne Brand – A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging • Edwin Bryant – The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture • Joan Didion – Political Fictions • Eamon Duffy – The Voices of Morebath. Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village • Barbara Ehrenreich – Nickel and Dimed • Koenraad Elst – The Saffron Swastika • Mem Fox – Reading Magic • Antonia Fraser – Marie Antoinette: The Journey • Dorothy Gallagher – How I Came Into My Inheritance and Other True Stories • Stephen Hawking – The Universe in a Nutshell • Laura Hillenbrand – Seabiscuit: An American Legend • Christopher Hitchens – The Trial of Henry Kissinger • Gary Lachman – Turn Off Your Mind • Lawrence Lessig – The Future of Ideas • Normand Lester – Le Livre noir du Canada Anglais (The Black Book of English Canada) • Steven Levy – Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government—Saving Privacy in the Digital Age • Margaret MacMillan – Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War • Michael Moore – Stupid White Men • Mumtaz Mufti – Ali Pur Ka Aeeli • Pavel Polian – Against Their Will... A History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR • E. Hoffmann Price – Book of the Dead • Eric Schlosser – Fast Food Nation • Miranda Seymour – Mary Shelley • Andrew Solomon – The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression • Ben Thompson - Ways of Hearing • Türkmenbaşy – Ruhnama (The Book of the Soul, first part) • Ivan Vladislavic – The Restless Supermarket • Frans de Waal – The Ape and the Sushi Master • Benjamin Woolley – ''The Queen's Conjuror: The Science and Magic of Dr. Dee'' ==Deaths==

• January 5 – G. E. M. Anscombe, English analytic philosopher (died 2001) • January 8 – Catherine Storr, English children's writer (born 1913) • January 11 – Lorna Sage, English scholar (born 1943) • January 31 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-born American science fiction writer (born 1923) • February 7 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and aviator (born 1906) • February 14 • Alan Ross, Indian-born English poet and editor (born 1922) • Richard Laymon, American horror fiction writer (born 1947) • March 1 – Mahmud Arif, Saudi Arabian poet (born 1909) • March 12 – Robert Ludlum, American novelist (born 1927) • May 11 – Douglas Adams, English writer, humorist and dramatist (born 1952) • May 13 • Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (born 1939) • R. K. Narayan, Indian novelist writing in English (born 1906) • June 1 – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (born 1920) • June 27 – Tove Jansson, Finnish children's author writing in Swedish (born 1914) • July 3 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author, screenwriter and essayist (born 1931) • July 18 – James Hatfield, American author (born 1958) • July 31 – Poul Anderson, American fantasy and sci-fi author (born 1926) • August 6 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (born 1912) • August 20 – Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and science fiction writer (born 1915) • November 10 – Ken Kesey, American author (born 1935) • November 25 – David Gascoyne, English surrealist poet (born 1916) • December 21 – Dick Schaap, American journalist and author (born 1934) • December 14 – W. G. Sebald, German novelist and academic (born 1944) ==Awards==

• Nobel Prize for Literature: V.S. Naipaul Australia • Miles Franklin Award: Frank Moorhouse, Dark Palace Canada • Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Richard B. Wright – Clara Callan • See 2001 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. • Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Taras Grescoe – Sacré Blues France • Prix Décembre: Chloé Delaume, '''' • Prix Femina: Marie Ndiaye, '''' • Prix Goncourt: Jean-Christophe Rufin, '''' • Prix Médicis French: Edwy Plenel, '''' • Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: '''' • Prix Médicis International: Antonio Skarmeta, '''' United Kingdom • Booker Prize: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang • Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Sid Smith, Something Like a House • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes: Volume 3 – Fighting for Britain 1937–1946 • Caine Prize for African Writing: Helon Habila, "Love Poems" • Cholmondeley Award: Ian Duhig, Paul Durcan, Kathleen Jamie, Grace Nichols • Eric Gregory Award: Leontia Flynn, Thomas Warner, Tishani Doshi, Patrick Mackie, Kathryn Gray, Sally Read • Griffin Poetry Prize: Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours and Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh, translation of Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan • Hugo Award: J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire • Samuel Johnson Prize: Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich • Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Michael Longley • Orange Prize for Fiction: Kate Grenville, The Idea of Perfection • Whitbread Best Book Award: Patrick Neate, Twelve Bar Blues United States • Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize awarded to Gabriel Gudding for A Defense of Poetry • Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, Frederick Morgan • Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, “Circus Fire, 1944” • Bollingen Prize for Poetry, Louise Glück • Brittingham Prize in Poetry, Robin Behn, Horizon Note • Compton Crook Award: Syne Mitchell, ''Murphy's Gambit'' • Frost Medal: Sonia Sanchez • Hugo Award: J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire • Newbery Medal for children's literature: Richard Peck, A Year Down Yonder • National Book Award for Fiction: to The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen • National Book Critics Circle Award: to Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald • PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: to Philip Roth for The Human Stain • Pulitzer Prize for Drama: David Auburn, Proof • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay • Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Stephen Dunn, Different Hours • Wallace Stevens Award: John Ashbery • Whiting Awards: :Fiction: Emily Carter, Matthew Klam, Akhil Sharma, Samrat Upadhyay, John Wray :Nonfiction: Judy Blunt, Kathleen Finneran :Plays: Brighde Mullins :Poetry: Joel Brouwer, Jason Sommer Other • Camões Prize: Eugénio de Andrade • Europe Theatre Prize: Lev Dodin, Michel Piccoli • Finlandia Prize: Hannu Raittila, Canal Grande • Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Jürgen Habermas • International Dublin Literary Award: Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief • Premio Nadal: Fernando Marías, El Niño de los Coroneles • Premio Strega: Domenico Starnone, Via Gemito • Premio de Novela Ciudad de Torrevieja (first award): Javier Reverte, La Noche Detenida • Premio Antón Losada Diéguez (category Creación literaria): Xurxo Borrazás, Na maleta • SAARC Literary Award: Ganesh Narayandas Devy, Shamsur Rahman • Viareggio Prize: Niccolò Ammaniti, Io non ho paura, Michele Ranchetti, Verbale, and Giorgio Pestelli, Canti del destino ==References==