See also: 1998 in literature, other events of 1999, 2000 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
- June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized. He does not continue with his next book, On Writing, until July.
New books
Births
Deaths
- February 8 - Iris Murdoch, writer, aged 79
- February 22 - William Bronk, poet, aged 80 (or 81?)
- February 24 - Andre Dubus, writer
- March 4 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer, aged 77
- May 10 - Shel Silverstein, children's poet, aged 68
- July 2 - Mario Puzo, writer (The Godfather), aged 78
- July 16 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., publisher, son of John F. Kennedy, aged 38 (airplane crash)
- October 3 - Heinz G. Konsalik, writer, aged 78
- October 19 - Nathalie Sarraute, Russian born Francophone lawyer and writer
- December 8 - Rupert Hart-Davis, editor, publisher
- December 12 - Joseph Heller, American novelist (Catch-22), aged 76
Awards
- Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
- Finlandia Prize: * 1999 Kristina Carlson, Maan ääreen
- Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Bonnie Burnard: A Good House
- See 1999 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
- Hugo Award for Best Novel: Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog
- IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain
- Nebula Award: Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Louis Sachar, Holes
- Nobel Prize for Literature: Günter Grass
- Orange Prize for Fiction: Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood
- Prix Femina: Maryline Desbiolles, Anchise
- Prix Goncourt: Jean Echenoz, Je m'en vais
- Prix Décembre: Claude Askolovitch, Voyage au bout de la France: Le Front National tel qu'il est
- Prix Médicis French: Michel Del Castillo, Colette, une certaine France
- Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: Christian Oster, Mon grand appartement
- Prix Médicis International: Bjorn Larsson, Le capitaine et les ręves
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Margaret Edson, Wit
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Michael Cunningham, The Hours
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mark Strand, Blizzard of One
- Samuel Johnson Prize: Antony Beevor, Stalingrad
- Viareggio Prize: Ernesto Franco, Vite senza fine
- Whitbread Best Book Award: Seamus Heaney, Beowulf
