# 2013 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2013.

## Events

* 21 January – An annual Orwell Day is instituted.
* 26 January – Fleeing Islamist insurgents set fire to library buildings in Timbuktu containing manuscripts, mostly in Arabic, dating back to 1204.
* 7 March – World Book Day becomes a UNESCO-designated event marked in more than 100 countries.
* April – J. K. Rowling publishes a detective novel, The Cuckoo's Calling, under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, with the U.K. publisher Sphere Books. The author's identity is revealed by the media in July.
* 23 April – World Book Night.
* 28 April – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Simon Stephens' stage adaptation of a novel by Mark Haddon, wins a record seven awards at the 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards in London.
* 1 July – Publisher Penguin Random House is created by a merger.
* 3 September – The new Library of Birmingham, the largest public library in the U.K., is opened by Malala Yousafzai. Its public spaces are integrated with those of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
* October – Jo Nesbø reveals himself as Tom Johansen, author of three forthcoming novels.
* 28 November – Three unpublished works by J. D. Salinger (died 2010), including "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls", are leaked onto the internet.

### Anniversaries

* 11 February
** 50th anniversary of the death of Sylvia Plath in 1963
** 200th anniversary of the birth of Harriet Jacobs in 1813
* 28 January – 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice in 1813
* 5 May – 200th anniversary of the birth of Søren Kierkegaard in 1813
* 2 June – 100th anniversary of the birth of Barbara Pym
* 29 June – 400th anniversary of the burning of the Globe Theatre during a production of Shakespeare and Fletcher's Henry VIII in 1613
* 2 August – 25th anniversary of the death of US short story writer Raymond Carver
* 7 November – 100th anniversary of the birth of Albert Camus
* 22 November – 50th anniversary of the death of Aldous Huxley

## New books
### Fiction

* Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Americanah
* José Eduardo Agualusa – A General Theory of Oblivion (Teoria Geral do Esquecimento)
* Jacob M. Appel – The Biology of Luck
* Dan Brown – Inferno
* Adam Christopher – The Burning Dark
* J. M. Coetzee – The Childhood of Jesus
* Troy Denning – Crucible
* Doug Dorst – S.
* Richard Flanagan – The Narrow Road to the Deep North
* Aminatta Forna – The Hired Man
* Frederick Forsyth – The Kill List
* Neil Gaiman – The Ocean at the End of the Lane
* Elizabeth Graver – The End of the Point
* David G. Hartwell (ed.) – Year's best SF 18
* Neamat Imam – The Black Coat
* Reinhard Jirgl – Nichts von euch auf Erden
* Stephen King – Doctor Sleep
* Rachel Kushner – The Flamethrowers
* Pierre Lemaitre – Au revoir là-haut (The Great Swindle)
* Eimear McBride – A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
* Alex Miller – Coal Creek
* Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹) – Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年, Tsukuru to, kare no junrei no toshi)
* Adam Nevill – House of Small Shadows
* Nnedi Okorafor – Kabu-Kabu: Stories
* Chuck Palahniuk – Doomed
* Rick Riordan – The House of Hades
* Veronica Roth – Allegiant
* J. K. Rowling (as Robert Galbraith) – The Cuckoo's Calling
* Ahmed Saadawi – Frankenstein in Baghdad (فرانكشتاين في بغداد)
* M. G. Sanchez – The Escape Artist: a Gibraltarian novel
* John Scalzi – The Human Division
* Sjón – Moonstone – The Boy Who Never Was (Mánasteinn – drengurinn sem aldrei var til)
* Robert Stone – Death of the Black-Haired Girl
* Donna Tartt – The Goldfinch
* Zlatko Topčić – Dagmar
* Peter Watts – Beyond the Rift (collected stories)
* Tim Winton – Eyrie

### Children's and young people

* David Almond – Mouse Bird Snake Wolf
* John Barrowman and Carole Barrowman - "Bone Quill"
* Anthony Horowitz – Russian Roulette
* Patricia MacLachlan – Cat Talk
* Rainbow Rowell
** Eleanor & Park
** Fangirl
* Maggie Stiefvater – The Dream Thieves (second book in The Raven Cycle)

### Drama

* Annie Baker – The Flick
* Elfriede Jelinek – Die Schutzbefohlenen
* Lucy Kirkwood – Chimerica
* Stefano Massini – The Lehman Trilogy
* Edward Petherbridge and Kathryn Hunter – My Perfect Mind

### Non-fiction

* Saroo Brierley – A Long Way Home
* Kate Christensen – Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites
* Pat Conroy – The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son
* Jared Diamond – The World Until Yesterday
* Craig Dworkin – No Medium
* Peter Freeman – The Wallpapered Manse
* Malcolm Gladwell – David and Goliath
* Ben Goldacre – Bad Pharma
* Temple Grandin – The Autistic Brain
* Gary Greenberg – The Book of Woe
* Wil Haygood – The Butler: A Witness to History
* Michael Kimmel – Angry White Men
* Mark Levin – The Liberty Amendments
* Peter H. Maguire – Thai Stick
* Diane Muldrow – Everything I Need To Know I Learned From A Little Golden Book
* Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse – The Neanderthals Rediscovered
* Thomas Piketty – Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Le Capital au XXIe siècle)
* Lisa Randall – Higgs Discovery
* Sheryl Sandberg – Lean In
* Nina Stibbe – Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life
* Jeff VanderMeer – The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

## Deaths

* 2 January
** Alexei Rudeanu, Romanian writer (born 1939)
** Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and writer (born 1944)
* 7 January – Maruša Krese, Slovene poet, writer and journalist (born 1947)
* 10 January – Evan S. Connell, American novelist, poet and short story writer (born 1924)
* 11 January – Robert Kee, English writer, journalist and broadcaster (born 1919)
* 18 January – Jacques Sadoul, French novelist, book editor and non-fiction writer (born 1934)
* 20 January
** Yemi Ajibade, Nigerian playwright and actor (born 1929)
** Dolores Prida, Cuban-American journalist and playwright (born 1943)
** Toyo Shibata (柴田トヨ), Japanese poet (born 1911)
* 24 January – Richard G. Stern, American novelist and educator (born 1928)
* 2 February – Sirajul Haq Memon, Pakistani author, journalist and scholar in Sindhi (born 1933)
* 3 February – Robert Anthony Welch, Irish author and academic (born 1947)
* 4 February – Margaret Frazer (Gail Lynn Brown), American historical novelist (born 1946)
* 5 February – Leda Mileva, Bulgarian writer, translator, and diplomat (born 1920)
* 7 February
** Niki Marangou, Cypriot writer and painter (born 1948)
** Jonathan Rendall, English author (born 1964)
* 8 February – Alan Sharp, Scottish-American screenwriter and author (born 1934)
* 10 February – W. Watts Biggers, American novelist (born 1927)
* 12 February – Barnaby Conrad, American author (born 1922)
* 13 February – Oswald LeWinter, Austrian-born American writer (born 1931)
* 14 February
** Glenn Boyer, American author (born 1924)
** Mary Brave Bird, American Lakota writer and activist (born 1954)
** Friedrich Neznansky, Russian writer (born 1932)
* 17 February
** William Bridges, American author and business consultant (born 1933)
** Manoranjan Das, Indian playwright (born 1923)
** Debbie Ford, American motivational author (born 1955)
* 23 February
** Maurice Rosy, Belgian comics writer (born 1927)
** Sylvia Smith, English writer (born 1945)
* 24 February – Mahmoud Salem, Egyptian author (born 1931)
* 26 February
** Jan Howard Finder, American science fiction writer (born 1939)
** Stéphane Hessel, German-born French author and diplomat (born 1917)
* 27 February
** Molly Lefebure, English writer (born 1919)
** Imants Ziedonis, Latvian poet (born 1933)
* 10 March – Robert Chrisman, American poet, scholar, and critic, co-founder of The Black Scholar (born 1937)
* 1 April – Kildare Dobbs, Canadian author (born 1923)
* 11 April – Adam Galos, Polish historian (born 1924)
* 13 April – Nick Pollotta, American science fiction author (born 1954)
* 20 April
** Jocasta Innes, China-born English non-fiction writer (born 1934)
** E. L. Konigsburg, American children's novelist and illustrator (born 1930)
* 22 April – Clément Marchand, Canadian poet and journalist (born 1912)
* 1 May – Gregory Rogers, Australian children's author and illustrator (born 1957)
* 12 May – Per Maurseth, Norwegian historian (born 1932)
* 23 May – William Demby, American author (born 1922)
* 26 May – Jack Vance, American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer (born 1916)
* 6 June – Tom Sharpe, English comic novelist (born 1928)
* 9 June – Iain Banks, Scottish novelist (born 1954)
* 23 June – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (born 1926)
* 12 July – Elaine Morgan, Welsh writer on anthropology (born 1920)
* 2 September – Frederik Pohl, American science fiction writer (born 1919)
* 18 September – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-born German literary critic (born 1920)
* 21 September – Kofi Awoonor, Ghanaian poet (shot dead, born 1935)
* 23 September
** Christopher Koch, Australian novelist (born 1932)
** Álvaro Mutis, Colombian poet, novelist and essayist (born 1923)
** Luciano Vincenzoni, Italian screenwriter (born 1926)
* 1 October – Tom Clancy, American thriller writer (born 1947)
* 25 November – Joel Lane, English author, poet, and critic (born 1963)
* 11 December – Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author (born 1929)

## Awards

* Akutagawa Prize (Early): Kaori Fujino for Tsume to Me (爪と目) "Nails and Eyes"
* Caine Prize for African Writing: Tope Folarin, "Miracle"
* Camões Prize: Mia Couto
* Danuta Gleed Literary Award: (announced 11 June 2013)
* David Cohen Prize: Hilary Mantel
* Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Main award, C. E. Gatchalian; honours of distinction, Anand Mahadevan, Barry Webster
* Dylan Thomas Prize: Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins
* European Book Prize: Eduardo Mendoza, An Englishman in Madrid, and Arnaud Leparmentier, The French, gravediggers of the euro
* German Book Prize: Terézia Mora, Das Ungeheuer
* Goldsmiths Prize: A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
* Gordon Burn Prize: Pig Iron by Ben Myers
* Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
* Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: Quand les guêpes se taisent by Stéphanie Pelletier
* Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française: Plonger by Christophe Ono-dit-Biot
* Hugo Award for Best Novel: John Scalzi for Redshirts
* International Dublin Literary Award: City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
* International Prize for Arabic Fiction: The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi
* Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2013 Lambda Literary Awards
* Man Booker Prize: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
* Miles Franklin Award: Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser
* National Biography Award (5 August): The Two Frank Thrings by Peter Fitzpatrick
* National Book Award for Fiction: The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
* National Book Critics Circle Award: to Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
* Nobel Prize in Literature: Alice Munro
* PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
* Premio Planeta de Novela: El cielo ha vuelto by Clara Sánchez
* Premio Strega: Resistere non serve a niente by Walter Siti
* Pritzker Military Library Literature Award: to Tim O'Brien
* Prix Goncourt: Au revoir là-haut by Pierre Lemaitre
* Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
* Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds
* Russian Booker Prize: Возвращение в Панджруд (Return to Panjrud) by Andrei Volos
* SAARC Literary Award: Suman Pokhrel, Abhay K, Daya Dissanayake, Farheen Chaudhary, Abdul Khaliq Rashid
* Samuel Johnson Prize: (announced November 2013) The Pike by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
* Scotiabank Giller Prize: Lynn Coady, Hellgoing
* Whiting Awards: Fiction: Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams (fiction/nonfiction), Amanda Coplin, Jennifer duBois, C.E. Morgan, Stephanie Powell Watts; Nonfiction: Morgan Meis, Clifford Thompson; Plays: Virginia Grise; Poetry: Ishion Hutchinson, Rowan Ricardo Phillips
* Women's Prize for Fiction: May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes
* Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: W.S. Merwin