1979 in literature
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See also: 1978 in literature, other events of 1979, 1980 in literature, list of years in literature.
Contents |
Events
- Sophie's Choice by William Styron is published.
- A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul is published.
New books
- A Bend in the River - V. S. Naipaul
- Beyond Reason - Margaret Trudeau
- Collected Poems - Kingsley Amis
- The Dead Zone - Stephen King
- The Executioner's Song - Norman Mailer
- The Fight for Manod - Raymond Williams
- Ghost Story - Peter Straub
- The Ghost Writer - Philip Roth
- Jailbird - Kurt Vonnegut
- Kane and Abel - Jeffrey Archer
- Kindred - Octavia Butler
- The Last Enchantment - Howard Fast
- Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There - Philip P. Hallie
- Lion of Ireland: The Legend of Brian Boru - Morgan Llywelyn
- The Matarese Circle - Robert Ludlum
- Memories of Another Day - Harold Robbins
- Montmartre - Philippe Jullian
- Overload - Arthur Hailey
- The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge - Jean-François Lyotard
- The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe
- Smiley's People - John le Carré
- Sophie's Choice - William Styron
- The Tree - John Fowles
- White House Years - Henry Kissinger
- Year of the French - Thomas Flanagan
Births
Deaths
- March 26 - Jean Stafford, short story writer and novelist
- May 14 - Jean Rhys, novelist
- June 7 - Forrest Carter, author
- July 29 - Herbert Marcuse, philosopher
- December 19 - Donald Creighton, historian
Awards
- Booker Prize: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore
- See 1979 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
- Nebula Award: Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains of Paradise
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game
- Odysseus Elytis won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1979.
- Prix Goncourt: Antonine Maillet, Pélagie la Charette
- Prix Médicis French: Claude Durand, La Nuit zoologique
- Prix Médicis International:
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Sam Shepard, Buried Child
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Cheever - The Stories of John Cheever
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Penn Warren: Now and Then
- Viareggio Prize: Giorgio Manganelli, Centuria