See also: 1977 in literature, other events of 1978, 1979 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
New books
Births
Deaths
- January 12 - Robert Harbin, author of many books on origami
- March 1 - Paul Scott, Raj Quartet author
- March 24 - Leigh Brackett, science fiction writer
- April 14 - F. R. Leavis, literary critic
- May 1 - Sylvia Townsend Warner, poet and novelist
- May 12 - Louis Zukofsky, modernist poet
- September 15 - Edmund Crispin, crime writer
- September 28 - Pope John Paul I, author of Illustrissimi under his real name of Albino Luciani
- November 15 - Margaret Mead, anthropologist and author
- date unknown - Walter C. Alvarez, medical author
Awards
- Booker Prize: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea
- See 1978 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
- Nebula Award: Vonda McIntyre, Dreamsnake
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia
- Nobel Prize for Literature: Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Prix Goncourt: Patrick Modiano, Rue des boutiques obscures
- Prix Médicis French: Georges Perec, La vie mode d'emploi
- Prix Médicis International: Alexandre Zinoviev, L’Avenir radieux - Russia
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Donald L. Coburn, The Gin Game
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: James Alan McPherson, Elbow Room
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Howard Nemerov, Collected Poems
- Viareggio Prize: Antonio Altomonte, Dopo il presidente
