1983 in literature

Events

• April – The Russian samizdat poet Irina Ratushinskaya is sentenced to imprisonment in a labor camp for dissident activity. While there she continues to write poetry clandestinely.
• June 2 – The Francophone Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor becomes the first black African writer elected as a member of the Académie française.
• July – Barbara Cartland, who reaches the age of 82, writes 23 romantic novels this year.
• November – Bruce Bethke's short story Cyberpunk, written in 1980, is published in Amazing Stories magazine in the United States and as a novel online, giving a name to the entire science fiction subgenre of cyberpunk.

• Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published, as the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris creation "The Saint", which started in 1928.

  New books

Fiction

• Nelson Algren – The Devil's Stocking
• Isaac Asimov – The Robots of Dawn
• Greg Bear – The Wind from a Burning Woman
• Samuel Beckett – Worstward Ho
• Thomas Berger – The Feud
• Thomas Bernhard – The Loser
• Jorge Luis Borges – Shakespeare's Memory
• Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Mists of Avalon
• Morley Callaghan – A Time for Judas
• Raymond Carver – Cathedral
• Sandra Cisneros – The House on Mango Street
• Hugo Claus – The Sorrow of Belgium
• J. M. Coetzee – Life and Times of Michael K
• Jackie Collins – Hollywood Wives
• Basil Copper – The House of the Wolf
• Bernard Cornwell
• *Sharpe's Sword
• *Sharpe's Enemy
• Bernard and Judy Cornwell – A Crowning Glory
• György Dalos – 1985
• L. Sprague de Camp
• *The Reluctant King
• *The Unbeheaded King
• Jim Dodge – Fup
• Stephen R. Donaldson –
• Nora Ephron – Heartburn
• Ken Follett – On Wings of Eagles
• Ernest J. Gaines – A Gathering of Old Men
• John Gardner – Icebreaker
• Haidar Haidar – Walimah li A'ashab al-Bahr
• Maarten 't Hart – De kroongetuige
• Mark Helprin – Winter's Tale
• Amado V. Hernandez – Luha ng Buwaya
• Susan Hill – The Woman in Black
• Elfriede Jelinek – The Piano Teacher
• Elizabeth Jolley - Woman in a Lamp Shade
• Jo Jung-rae – The Tae Baek Mountains
• Ernst Jünger – Aladdin's Problem
• William Kennedy – Ironweed
• Stephen King – Christine
• Danilo Kiš – The Encyclopedia of the Dead
• Dean R. Koontz – Phantoms
• Louis L'Amour – The Lonesome Gods
• Derek Lambert – The Judas Code
• John le Carré – The Little Drummer Girl
• Mary Mackey – The Last Warrior Queen
• Norman Mailer – Ancient Evenings
• James A. Michener – Poland
• R. K. Narayan – A Tiger for Malgudi
• Robert B. Parker – The Widening Gyre
• Ellis Peters
• *The Sanctuary Sparrow
• *The Devil's Novice
• Tim Powers – The Anubis Gates
• Terry Pratchett – The Colour of Magic
• Satyajit Ray – Shonku Ekai Aksho
• Salman Rushdie – Shame
• Joanna Russ – The Zanzibar Cat
• Danielle Steel – Changes
• Walter Tevis – The Queen's Gambit
• Gore Vidal – Duluth
• Evangeline Walton – The Sword is Forged
• Fay Weldon – The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
• A. N. Wilson – Scandal
• Robert Anton Wilson – Prometheus Rising
• Christa Wolf – Cassandra
• Roger Zelazny – Unicorn Variations

  Children and young people

• Chris Van Allsburg – The Wreck of the Zephyr
• Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont – Beauty and the Beast
• Roald Dahl – The Witches
• Mem Fox – Possum Magic
• Rumer Godden
• *Four Dolls
• *The Valiant Chatti-Maker
• Dick King-Smith – The Sheep-Pig
• Harold Lamb - The Sea of the Ravens
• Astrid Lindgren – The Runaway Sleigh Ride!
• Bill Peet – No Such Things
• Jean Giono – The Man Who Planted Trees

  Drama

• Samuel Beckett – Nacht und Träume
• Ray Cooney – Run for Your Wife
• David Mamet – Glengarry Glen Ross
• Tom Murphy – The Gigli Concert
• Christina Reid – Tea in a China Cup
• Larry Shue – The Foreigner
• Neil Simon – Brighton Beach Memoirs
• Botho Strauß – The Park

  Poetry

• Paul Durcan – Jumping the Train Tracks with Angela
• Grace Nichols – I is a long-memoried woman

  Non-fiction

• Benedict Anderson – Imagined Communities
• Pascal Bruckner – The Tears of the White Man
• L. Sprague de Camp – The Fringe of the Unknown
• L. Sprague de Camp, Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin – Dark Valley Destiny
• Tom Dardis –
• Terry Eagleton – Literary Theory: An Introduction
• Anthony Grey – The Prime Minister Was a Spy
• Shantabai Kamble – Majya Jalmachi Chittarkatha
• Susan Oliver – Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey
• Renée Richards – Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story
• Anna Rosmus – Widerstand und Verfolgung am Beispiel Passau 1933–1945
• Nawal El Saadawi – Mudhakkirâtî fî sijn an-nisâʾ
• Ram Swarup – Understanding Islam through Hadis
• Colin Thubron – Among the Russians
• Julia Urquidi – Lo que Varguitas no dijo
• A. N. Wilson – The Life of John Milton: A Biography

  Births

• July 2 – Tao Lin, Chinese novelist and poet
• November 17 – Christopher Paolini, American fantasy novelist

• Sarah Howe, Hong Kong-born poet writing in English

  Deaths

• January 5 – Chapman Grant, American historian and publisher
• February 14 – Brita von Horn, Swedish theater director, dramatist and novelist
• February 25 – Tennessee Williams, American playwright
• March 3 – Hergé, Belgian comics creator
• April 12 – Desmond Bagley, English novelist )
• May 4 – Shūji Terayama, Japanese poet, dramatist, and film director
• May 21 – Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol, Egyptian poet
• June 19 – Vilmundur Gylfason, Icelandic historian, poet and politician
• June 27 – Alden Nowlan, Canadian poet, novelist and playwright
• August 12 – Mikey Smith, Jamaican dub poet
• September 16 – Roy Andries De Groot, English-born American food writer
• December 5 – John Robinson, English religious writer and bishop

  Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: William Golding

  Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jenny Summerville, Shields Of Trell
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Vivian Smith, Tide Country
• Miles Franklin Award: No award presented

  Canada

• See 1983 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

  France

• Prix Goncourt: Frédérick Tristan, Les Égarés
• Prix Médicis French: Jean Echenoz, Cherokee
• Prix Médicis International: Kenneth White, La Route bleue

  Spain

• Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Rafael Alberti

  United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee -Life and Times of Michael K
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Jan Mark, Handles
• Cholmondeley Award: John Fuller, Craig Raine, Anthony Thwaite
• Eric Gregory Award: Martin Stokes, Hilary Davies, Michael O'Neill, Lisa St Aubin De Teran, Deidre Shanahan
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jonathan Keates, Allegro Postillions
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years
• Newdigate prize: Peter McDonald
• Whitbread Best Book Award: John Fuller, Flying to Nowhere

  United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kate Daniels, The White Wave
• Nebula Award: David Brin, Startide Rising
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Voigt, Dicey's Song
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Marsha Norman, 'Night, Mother
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Alice Walker – The Color Purple
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Galway Kinnell – Selected Poems
• Pulitzer Prize for History: The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790 by Rhys L. Isaac
• Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction: Is There No Place on Earth for Me? by Susan Sheehan

  Elsewhere

• Hugo Award for Best Novel: Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov
• Premio Nadal: Salvador García Aguilar, Regocijo en el hombre