1981 in literature
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The year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time
• John Gardner successfully revives the James Bond novel series originated by Ian Fleming with Licence Renewed (not counting a faux biography of Bond and a pair of film novelizations, the first original Bond novel since 1968's Colonel Sun). The revived Bond book series would run uninterrupted until 2002.

New books

• Kingsley Amis - The Golden Age of Science Fiction
• Martin Amis - Other People: A Mystery Story
• René Barjavel - Une rose au paradis
• Samuel Beckett - Ill Seen Ill Said
• Pierre Berton - Flames Across the Border
• William Boyd - A Good Man in Africa
• Peter Carey - Bliss
• Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
• David Case - The Third Grave
• James Clavell - Noble House
• L. Sprague de Camp - The Hand of Zei
• L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp - Footprints on Sand
• Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Eagle and Sharpe's Gold
• Samuel R. Delany - Distant Star
• Régine Deforges - La Bicyclette Bleue (The Blue Bicycle)
• Joan Finnegan - Giants of the Ottawa Valley
• Cynthia Freeman - No Time for Tears
• John Gardner - Licence Renewed
• Charles L. Grant - Tales from the Nightside
• Alasdair Gray - Lanark
• Jan Guillou - Ondskan
• Thomas Harris - Red Dragon
• Frank Herbert - God Emperor of Dune
• Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp - The Flame Knife
• John Irving - Hotel New Hampshire
• Alan Judd - A Breed of Heroes
• Ismail Kadare - Dosja J (The File on H)
• Stephen King - Cujo
• Colleen McCullough - An Indecent Obsession
• Elliot S! Maggin - Miracle Monday
• Naguib Mahfouz - Arabian Nights and Days
• Toni Morrison - Tar Baby
• Robert B. Parker
  • A Savage Place
  • Early Autumn
• Terry Pratchett - Strata
• Alain Robbe-Grillet - Djinn
• Harold Robbins - Goodbye, Janette
• Lawrence Sanders - The Third Deadly Sin
• Martin Cruz Smith - Gorky Park
• Jack Vance - The Book of Dreams
• Gore Vidal - Creation
• Joseph Wambaugh - The Glitter Dome
• Kit Williams - Masquerade
• Gene Wolfe
  • The Claw of the Conciliator
  • The Sword of the Lictor
• Roger Zelazny
  • The Changing Land
  • Madwand

New drama

• John Krizanc - Tamara
• Larry Shue - The Nerd

Poetry

Main article: 1981 in poetry

• L. Sprague de Camp - Heroes and Hobgoblins
• Norman Nicholson - Sea to the West
• Richard L. Tierney - Collected Poems

Non-fiction

• Maya Angelou - The Heart of a Woman
• Hugo Brandt Corstius - Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde
• Timothy Findley - Famous Last Words (book)
• Stephen Jay Gould - The Mismeasure of Man
• Ian Smith - The Great Betrayal
• Viktor Suvorov - The Liberators

Births

Deaths

• January 9 - A. J. Cronin, novelist
• March 7 - Bosley Crowther, film critic
• March 20 - Pedro García Cabrera, poet
• April 26 - Robert Garioch, poet (b. 1909)
• May 9 - Nelson Algren, novelist
• May 18 - William Saroyan, novelist and dramatist
• June 15 - Philip Toynbee, novelist and journalist
• September 3 - Alec Waugh, novelist
• September 12 - Eugenio Montale, poet

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti
• Hugo Award for Best Novel: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge

Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Chris Matthews (writer), Al Jazzar; Tim Winton, An Open Swimmer
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Alan Gould, Astral Sea

Canada

• See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Goncourt: Lucien Bodard, Anne Marie
• Prix Médicis French: François-Olivier Rousseau, L'Enfant d'Édouard
• Prix Médicis International: David Shahar, Le Jour de la comtesse

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children
• Cholmondeley Award: Roy Fisher, Robert Garioch, Charles Boyle
• Eric Gregory Award: Alan Jenkins, Simon Rae, Marion Lomax, Philip Gross, Kathleen Jamie, Mark Abley, Roger Crowley, Ian Gregson
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children, and Paul Theroux, The Mosquito Coast
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Victoria Glendinning, Edith Sitwell: Unicorn Among Lions
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: D. J. Enright
• Whitbread Best Book Award: William Boyd, A Good Man in Africa

United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kathy Calloway, Heart of the Garfish
• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres: Malcolm Cowley
• Dos Passos Prize: Gilbert Sorrentino
• Nebula Award: Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Beth Henley, Crimes of the Heart
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Schuyler: The Morning of the Poem

Elsewhere

• Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero