See also: 2000 in literature, other events of 2001, 2002 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
- February 15 - Author Michael Crichton signed a new two book deal with HarperCollins Publishers reportedly earning $40 million for the two books.
- July 20 - London: After being found guilty of two counts of perjury and two of perverting the course of justice, a shackled Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare is taken to Belmarsh jail in a van, seated next to a convicted knife murderer.
New books
Births
Deaths
- January 31 - Gordon R. Dickson, science fiction writer
- February 7 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author, aviator
- February 14 - Alan Ross,78, poet and editor
- March 12 - Robert Ludlum, author
- May 11 - Douglas Adams, author (heart attack) (b. 1952)
- May 13 - R.K. Narayan, 94, Indian novelist
- June 1 - Hank Ketcham, 81, cartoonist, creator of Dennis the Menace
- June 27 - Tove Jansson, children's author
- July 3 - Mordecai Richler
- August 1 - Poul Anderson - fantasy / sci-fi author
- August 6 - Jorge Amado, 88, Brazilian writer
- August 20 - Fred Hoyle, Astronomer and science fiction writer
- November 10 - Ken Kesey, 66, author.
Awards
- Booker Prize: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang
- Finlandia Prize: Hannu Raittila Canal Grande
- Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Richard B. Wright - Clara Callan
- See 2001 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
- Griffin Poetry Prize: Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours and Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh, translation of Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan
- Hugo Award: J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- IMPAC Award: Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Richard Peck, A Year Down Yonder
- Nobel Prize for Literature: V.S. Naipaul
- Orange Prize for Fiction: Kate Grenville Picador, The Idea of Perfection
- Prix Décembre: Chloé Delaume, Le Cri du sablier
- Prix Femina: Marie Ndiaye, Rosie Carpe
- Prix Goncourt: Jean-Christophe Rufin, Rouge Brésil
- Prix Médicis French: Edwy Plenel, Secrets de jeunesse
- Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: Le Loup mongol
- Prix Médicis International: Antonio Skarmeta, La noce du poète
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: David Auburn, Proof
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Stephen Dunn, Different Hours
- Samuel Johnson Prize: Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich
- Viareggio Prize: Nicolò Ammaniti, Io non ho paura, Michele Ranchetti, Verbale, and Giorgio Pestelli, Canti del destino
