2019 in literature

Events

• February 2 – The family of the U.S. fiction writer J. D. Salinger confirm in an interview published in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian that he left a large unpublished body of work on his death in 2010, which they are preparing for publication.
• April 11–13 – Trinity College Dublin holds a three-day symposium on Finnegans Wake, marking the 80th anniversary its publication.
• May 10 – Simon Armitage is appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in succession to Carol Ann Duffy.
• July 15 – Iris Murdoch's birthday centenary is marked in Ireland with a postage stamp based on a portrait of her. Dublin City Council unveils a plaque at Blessington Street Park, located temporarily due to renovations at her nearby birthplace, 59 Blessington Street. In the U.K., The Times Literary Supplement has her on its cover.

  New books

Fiction

• André Alexis – Days by Moonlight
• Margaret Atwood – The Testaments
• Leigh Bardugo – Ninth House
• Kevin Barry – Night Boat to Tangier
• Simon Beckett – The Scent of Death
• Rowan Hisayo Buchanan – Starling Days
• Candice Carty-Williams – Queenie
• Ted Chiang – '
• Ta-Nehisi Coates – The Water Dancer
• Lindsey Davis – A Capitol Death
• Lucy Ellmann – Ducks, Newburyport
• Bernardine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti – Little Boy
• Alice Hoffman – The World That We Knew
• Michel Houellebecq – Serotonin
• Luke Jennings – '
• John Lanchester – The Wall
• John le Carré – Agent Running in the Field
• Deborah Levy – The Man Who Saw Everything
• Valeria Luiselli – Lost Children Archive
• Ian McDonald –
• Ian McEwan – Machines Like Me
• Chigozie Obioma – An Orchestra of Minorities
• Joseph O'Connor – Shadowplay
• Téa Obreht – Inland
• Ann Patchett – The Dutch House
• Max Porter – Lanny
• Salman Rushdie – Quichotte
• Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again
• Zlatko Topčić – 28 June 1914
• Christos Tsiolkas – Damascus
• Ocean Vuong – On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
• Ian Williams – Reproduction
• Jeanette Winterson – Frankissstein: A Love Story

  Children and young people

• Malorie Blackman – Crossfire
• Nathan Bryon – Look Up
• Jerry Craft – New Kid
• Jenny Downham – Furious Thing
• Connie Glynn – The Lost Princess
• Judith Kerr – The Curse of the School Rabbit
• Amélie Wen Zhao – Blood Heir

  Poetry

• Paul Farley – The Mizzy

  Drama

• S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack – Counting and Cracking

  Non-fiction

• Marek Jan Chodakiewicz – About the Civilization of Death
• Cristina Fernández de Kirchner – Sinceramente
• Emma Smith – This is Shakespeare

  Biography and memoirs

• Laura Cumming – On Chapel Sands: my mother and other missing persons
• Jack Fairweather – The Volunteer: One Man's Mission to Lead an Underground Army Inside Auschwitz and Stop the Holocaust
• Adam Nicolson – The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and their Year of Marvels
• D. J. Taylor – Lost Girls: Love, War and Literature, 1939–1951

  Deaths

• January 1
• *Ludwig W. Adamec, Austrian-born American historian noted for his work on Afghanistan and the Middle East, 94
• *Katie Flynn, British writer of popular historical and romantic fiction, 82
• *Perry Deane Young, American playwright and historian, 77
• January 2
• *Samuel Rayan, Indian theologian, 98
• *Jerzy Turonek, Polish-Belarusian historian, 89
• *Tommy Watz, Norwegian translator from Italian and recipient of the 2013 Bastian Prize for his translation of Alberto Moravia's Gli indifferenti, 60
• January 3
• *Dibyendu Palit, Indian writer of Bengali poems, novels and short stories, 79
• *Pinaki Thakur, Indian poet who wrote in Bengali, 59
• January 4 – John Burningham, English writer of children's literature, 82
• January 5
• *Emil Brumaru, Romanian writer and poet, 80
• *Aisha Lemu, British-born Nigerian Islamic scholar, 79
• January 6 – Bea Vianen, Surinamese writer and admirer of V. S. Naipaul, 83
• January 7
• *Helmut Berding, German historian, 88
• *Aline Kiner, French novelist, 59
• *Theodore K. Rabb, American historian noted for his work on the early modern period of European history, 81
• *A. G. Rigg, British medievalist, 81
• January 8 – Pierre Barillet, French playwright, 95
• January 9
• *Conxita Julià, Spanish Catalan poet, 98
• *Thierry Séchan, French novelist, 69
• January 12
• *A. Brian Deer, Canadian Kahnawake Mohawk librarian noted for developing the Brian Deer Classification System, 74
• *Javier de Hoz, Spanish philologist and academic noted for his work on Paleohispanic languages, historical linguistics, ancient Celtic languages, history of writing, preclassical Greek literature, Greek epigraphy and ancient Greek theatre, 78
• *Linda Kelly, English Romantic historian noted for portraying Thomas Chatterton, Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Thomas Moore, 82
• January 13
• *Miguel Civil, Spanish sumerologist, 92
• *Francine du Plessix Gray, Polish-born American writer and literary critic, 88
• January 15 – Bai Hua, Chinese novelist, playwright and poet, 88
• January 16 – Mirjam Pressler, German novelist and translator from Hebrew, English, Dutch and Afrikaans, 78
• January 17
• *Michael Hardcastle, British writer of children's literature, 85
• *Mary Oliver, American poet and 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry recipient, 83
• *Sam Savage, American novelist, 78
• January 18 – Brian Stowell, the first recorded full-length Manx novelist, translator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland into Manx and 2008 Reih Bleeaney Vanannan recipient, 82
• January 19
• *Atin Bandyopadhyay, Bangladeshi writer of Bengali literature, 85
• *Thomas Habinek, American classical scholar noted for his work on Latin literature and Roman cultural history, 65
• *Henry Horwitz, American historian noted for his work on late seventeenth-century English politics, 80
• *Barthélémy Kotchy, Ivorian writer, 84
• January 20
• *Ian Dewhirst, British historian, 82
• *Ronald Hayman, British biographer of Pinter, Beckett, Stoppard, Nietzsche, Kafka, Grass, Proust and Thomas Mann, 86
• *Norman Itzkowitz, American translator, historian of the Ottoman Empire and purveyor of psychoanalysis, 87
• January 21
• *Padraic Fiacc, Irish poet and member of Aosdána, 94
• *Roman Kudlyk, Ukrainian poet and literary critic, 77
• January 22
• *Leonard Dinnerstein, American historian, 84
• *Éric Holder, French novelist, 58
• *Jean-Maurice Rouquette, French historian noted for his work on ancient and Romanesque Provence, 87
• January 23 – Diana Athill, British literary editor and novelist, 101
• February 1 – Andrew McGahan, Australian novelist, 52
• February 9 – Farhad Ebrahimi, Iranian poet and writer, 83
• February 14 – Andrea Levy, English novelist, 62
• February 25 – Nikhil Sen, Bangladeshi dramatist, 87
• March 1 – Peter van Gestel, Dutch writer, 81
• March 4 – Les Carlyon, Australian writer and newspaper editor, 76
• March 10 – Pius Adesanmi, Nigerian-born Canadian professor, writer, literary critic, satirist, and columnist, 47
• March 15 – Rudi Krausmann, Austrian-born Australian playwright and poet, 85
• April 1 – Vonda N. McIntyre, American science fiction writer, 70
• April 29 – Les Murray, Australian poet, anthologist and critic, 80
• May 14 - Daniel Vidart, Uruguayan anthropologist, writer, historian, and essayist, 98
• May 19 – John Millett, Australian poet, reviewer and poetry editor, 98
• May 22 – Judith Kerr, English writer and illustrator
• June 1 – Christobel Mattingley, Australian author of books for children and adults, 87
• June 8 – Milan Asadurov, Bulgarian science fiction writer
• July 7 – Steve Cannon, American novelist, playwright, and arts impresario, 84
• July 13 – Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Australian poet, author and champion of Indigenous writers, 62
• July 17 – Andrea Camilleri, Italian novelist and playwright, 93
• July 18 – Luciano De Crescenzo, Italian writer and director, 90
• July 21 – Ann Moyal, Australian historian,
• July 22 – Brigitte Kronauer, German novelist, 78
• August 5 – Toni Morrison, American novelist, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature and 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 88
• September 1 – Barbara Probst Solomon, American author
• September 11 – Anne Rivers Siddons, American novelist, and, 83
• September 13 – György Konrád, Hungarian novelist and political dissident, President of PEN International, 86
• September 16- Steve Dalachinsky, American poet, 72,
• September 23
• *Al Alvarez, English writer and poetry editor, 90
• *Elaine Feinstein, English poet, 88
• October 6 – Ciaran Carson, Irish poet, 70
• October 12 – Alison Prince, English children's writer and biographer, 88
• October 14 – Harold Bloom, American literary critic and writer, 89
• October 30 – Beatrice Faust, Australian author and women's activist, 80
• November 5 – Ernest J. Gaines, American author, 86
• November 7 – Nabanita Dev Sen, Indian writer and academic, 79,
• November 24 – Clive James, Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster and writer, 80,
• December 29 – Alasdair Gray, Scottish author and visual artist, 85
• December 30 – Sonny Mehta, Indian-born British and American publishing executive, 76,

  Awards

• Akutagawa Prize:
• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award:
• Baillie Gifford Prize: Hallie Rubenhold,
• Booker Prize: Margaret Atwood for The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other
• Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year: The Dirt Hole and its Variations by Charles L Dobbins.
• Caine Prize for African Writing: Lesley Nneka Arimah, "Skinned"
• Camões Prize: Chico Buarque
• Carnegie Medal: Elizabeth Acevedo for The Poet X
• Costa Book Awards: Jack Fairweather, The Volunteer
• Danuta Gleed Literary Award: Carrianne Leung, That Time I Loved You
• David Cohen Prize: Edna O'Brien
• Desmond Elliott Prize: Claire Adam for Golden Child
• Folio Prize: Raymond Antrobus, The Perseverance
• German Book Prize: Saša Stanišić, Herkunft
• Goldsmiths Prize: Lucy Ellmann, Ducks, Newburyport
• Gordon Burn Prize: David Keenan for For the Good Times
• Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: Joan Thomas, Five Wives
• Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: Céline Huyghebaert, Le drap blanc
• Governor General's Awards, other categories: See 2019 Governor General's Awards
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française:
• Hugo Award for Best Novel:
• International Booker Prize:
• International Dublin Literary Award:
• International Prize for Arabic Fiction:
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction:
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography:
• Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award:
• Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 31st Lambda Literary Awards.
• Legion of Honour, Chevalier: Michel Houellebecq
• Miguel de Cervantes Prize:
• Miles Franklin Award: Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip
• National Biography Award:
• National Book Award for Fiction:
• National Book Critics Circle Award:
• Nike Award:
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Peter Handke
• Olof Palme Prize: John le Carré
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction:
• PEN Center USA 2018 Fiction Award:
• Premio Planeta de Novela:
• Premio Strega:
• Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing:
• Prix Goncourt:
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction:
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry:
• Queen's Birthday Honours
• RBC Taylor Prize: Kate Harris, Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Roads
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize:
• Russian Booker Prize:
• SAARC Literary Award:
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Ian Williams, Reproduction
• Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings:
• Walter Scott Prize:
• Whiting Awards:
• Women's Prize for Fiction: Tayari Jones for An American Marriage
• W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction:
• Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Agi Mishol