# 1999 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1999.

## Events

* May 1 – Andrew Motion is appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom for ten years.
* June 19 – Stephen King is hit by a van while taking a walk. He is hospitalized for three weeks and only resumes writing his next book, On Writing, in July.
* September 7 – Black Diamond, designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, is inaugurated as an extension to the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen.
* unknown date – Persephone Books is founded in Bloomsbury, London, by Nicola Beauman, to reprint mid-20th century fiction and non-fiction, mainly by women.

## New books
### Fiction

* Isabel Allende – Daughter of Fortune (Hija de la fortuna)
* Aaron Allston
** Solo Command
** Starfighters of Adumar
* Laurie Halse Anderson – Speak
* Max Barry – Syrup
* Greg Bear – Darwin's Radio
* Raymond Benson
** High Time to Kill
** The World Is Not Enough
* Maeve Binchy – Tara Road
* Luther Blissett (pseudonym) – Q
* François Bloemhof – Klipgooi
* Xurxo Borrazás – O desintegrista
* Ben Bova – Return to Mars
* Terry Brooks – Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
* Thomas Brussig – Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee
* Bonnie Burnard – A Good House
* Stephen Chbosky – The Perks of Being a Wallflower
* Tracy Chevalier – Girl with a Pearl Earring
* J. M. Coetzee – Disgrace
* Matt Cohen – Elizabeth and After
* Bernard Cornwell
** Sharpe's Fortress
** Stonehenge: A Novel of 2000 BC
* Douglas Coupland – Miss Wyoming
* Robert Crais – L.A. Requiem
* Michael Crichton – Timeline
* August Derleth (editor) – New Horizons
* Marc Dugain – La Chambre des Officiers (The Officers' Ward)
* Frederic S. Durbin – Dragonfly
* Bret Easton Ellis – Glamorama
* Per Olov Enquist – The Visit of the Royal Physician (Livläkarens besök)
* Steve Erickson – The Sea Came in at Midnight
* Sebastian Faulks – Charlotte Gray
* Helen Fielding – The Edge of Reason
* Amanda Filipacchi – Vapor
* Anna Gavalda – Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part
* John Grisham – The Testament
* Ha Jin (哈金) – Waiting
* Joanne Harris – Chocolat
* Thomas Harris – Hannibal
* Ernest Hemingway – True at First Light
* Carl Hiaasen – Sick Puppy
* Stewart Home – Cunt
* Michel Houellebecq – Atomised
* Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye – Soul Harvest
* K. W. Jeter – Hard Merchandise
* Lisa Jewell – Ralph's Party
* Stephen King:
** The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
** Hearts in Atlantis
* László Krasznahorkai – War and War
* Jhumpa Lahiri – Interpreter of Maladies (short stories)
* Joe R. Lansdale
** Veil's Visit: a Taste of Hap and Leonard
** Freezer Burn
* John le Carré – Single & Single
* Jonathan Lethem – Motherless Brooklyn
* Ray Loriga – Tokio ya no nos quiere
* Frank McCourt -'Tis
* David Macfarlane – Summer Gone
* Alistair MacLeod – No Great Mischief
* Juliet Marillier – Daughter of the Forest
* Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell – From Hell (graphic novel)
* Jeffrey Moore – Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain
* Erwin Mortier – Marcel
* Chuck Palahniuk
** Invisible Monsters
** Survivor
* Tony Parsons – Man and Boy
* Terry Pratchett – The Fifth Elephant
* Kathy Reichs – Death du Jour
* Matthew Reilly – Temple
* Jennifer Roberson – Lady of Sherwood
* Louis Sachar – Holes
* R. A. Salvatore – Vector Prime
* Margit Sandemo – Skattejakten
* Neal Shusterman – Downsiders
* Susan Sontag – In America
* Ahdaf Soueif – The Map of Love
* Michael Stackpole – Isard's Revenge
* Matthew Stadler – Allan Stein
* Danielle Steel – Irresistible Forces
* Neal Stephenson – Cryptonomicon
* Francine Stock – A Foreign Country
* Peter Straub – Mr. X
* Remy Sylado – Ca Bau Kan (The Courtesan)
* Koushun Takami (高見 広春) – Battle Royale
* Rose Tremain – Music and Silence
* Miloš Urban – Sedmikostelí (The Seven Churches)
* Andrew Vachss – Choice of Evil
* Jane Vandenburgh – The Physics of Sunset
* Vernor Vinge – A Deepness in the Sky
* Jeanette Winterson – The World and Other Places
* Timothy Zahn – The Icarus Hunt
* Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold – Lord Demon

### Children and young people

* David Almond – Kit's Wilderness
* Elizabeth Arnold – Spin of the Sunwheel
* Susan Cooper – King of Shadows
* Julia Donaldson (with Axel Scheffler) – The Gruffalo
* Nick Earls – 48 Shades of Brown
* Mem Fox - Sleepy Bears
* Barbara Diamond Goldin – Journeys With Elijah: Eight Tales of the Prophet
* Gerald Hausman (with Loretta Hausman and Barry Moser) – Dogs of Myth: Tales from Around the World
* Satoshi Kitamura – Me and My Cat?
* Adeline Yen Mah – Chinese Cinderella (autobiography)
* Robert L. Millet (with James C. Christensen) – Parables and other Teaching Stories
* John Nickle – The Ant Bully
* Andre Norton (with Martin H. Greenberg) – Catfantastic V
* Iona Opie – Here Comes Mother Goose
* Jerry Pinkney
** The Little Match Girl
** The Ugly Duckling
* Louise Rennison – Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging
* Faith Ringgold – If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks
* J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
* Lemony Snicket
** The Bad Beginning
** The Reptile Room
* Jacqueline Wilson – The Illustrated Mum
* Simms Taback – Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

### Drama

* Jon Fosse – Dream of Autumn (Draum om hausten)
* David Mamet – Boston Marriage
* Frank McGuinness – Dolly West's Kitchen
* Lars Norén – 7:3
* Mark O'Rowe – Howie the Rookie
* Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt – Hôtel des deux mondes
* Zlatko Topčić – Refugees
* August Wilson – King Hedley II

### Poetry

* Iona Opie – Here Comes Mother Goose
* Dejan Stojanović – Sunce sebe gleda (The Sun Watches Itself)

### Non-fiction

* Thomas Berry – The Great Work: Our Way into the Future
* David Cairns – Berlioz: Volume 2, Servitude and Greatness 1832–1869
* Wayson Choy – Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood
* The Dalai Lama – Ancient Wisdom, Modern World
* Samuel R. Delany – Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
* Laurence des Cars – Les Préraphaélites : Un modernisme à l'anglaise
* Freeman Dyson – The Sun, the Genome and the Internet
* Koenraad Elst – Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate
* Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke – Paracelsus: Essential Readings.
* John Steele Gordon – The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 1653–2000
* Brian Greene – The Elegant Universe
* Deborah Harkness – John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature
* Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster – The Century
* S.T. Joshi – Sixty Years of Arkham House
* Winona LaDuke – All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life
* Bruce Lincoln – Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship
* Jamie Oliver – The Naked Chef
* W. G. Sebald – Luftkrieg und Literatur (Air War and Literature, translated as On the Natural History of Destruction)
* David Southwell – Conspiracy Theories
* Dejan Stojanović – Razgovori (Conversations)
* Jean-Pierre Vernant – L'univers, les dieux, les hommes

## Births

* October 13 – Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Nigerian–British author and columnist
* December 22 – Ameer Idreis, Canadian writer

## Deaths

* January 11 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish novelist and poet (born 1897)
* January 16 – Dadie Rylands (George Rylands), English Shakespearean scholar (born 1902)
* February 8 – Iris Murdoch, Irish-born novelist and philosopher (born 1919)
* February 20 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (suicide, born 1971)
* February 22 – William Bronk, American poet (born 1918)
* February 24 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist and autobiographer (born 1936)
* March 4
** Del Close, American actor, writer, and teacher (born 1934)
** Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (born 1921)
* March 5 – John Figueroa, Jamaican poet (born 1920)
* March 8 – Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine author (born 1914)
* March 13
** Lee Falk, American cartoonist, writer, theater director, and producer (born 1911)
** Garson Kanin, American playwright and screenwriter (born 1912)
* March 28 – Jim Turner, American editor (born 1945)
* April 13 – Knut Hauge, Norwegian novelist, dramatist and children's writer (born 1911)
* May 8 – Soeman Hs, Indonesian novelist (born 1904)
* May 10 – Shel Silverstein, American children's poet (born 1930)
* May 27 – Alice Adams, short story writer and novelist (born 1926)
* June 14 – J. F. Powers, American writer (born 1917)
* July 2 – Mario Puzo, American writer (born 1920)
* July 14 – Maria Banuș, Romanian poet and translator (born 1914)
* September 25 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American writer (born 1930)
* October 3 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German novelist (born 1921)
* October 19
** Penelope Mortimer, Welsh-born English novelist and biographer (born 1918)
** Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-born French writer and lawyer (born 1900)
** E. J. Scovell, English poet (born 1907)
* November 11 – Jacobo Timerman, Soviet-born Argentinian journalist and publisher (born 1923)
* November 18 – Paul Bowles, American novelist (born 1910)
* December 2 – Matt Cohen, Canadian novelist (born 1942)
* December 8 – Rupert Hart-Davis, English editor and publisher (born 1907)
* December 12 – Joseph Heller, American novelist (born 1923)

## Awards

* Nobel Prize for Literature: Günter Grass
* Camões Prize: Sophia de Mello Breyner

### Australia

* The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Hsu-Ming Teo, Love and Vertigo
* C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Gig Ryan, Pure and Applied
* Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Lee Cataldi, Race Against Time
* Miles Franklin Award: Murray Bail, Eucalyptus

### Canada

* 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.
* Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Michael Poole, Romancing Mary Jane

### France

* 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 rêves

### United Kingdom

* Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
* Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Aidan Chambers, Postcards from No Man's Land
* James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Timothy Mo, Renegade, or Halo2
* James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Kathryn Hughes, George Eliot: The Last Victorian
* Cholmondeley Award: Vicki Feaver, Geoffrey Hill, Elma Mitchell, Sheenagh Pugh
* Eric Gregory Award: Ross Cogan, Matthew Hollis, Helen Ivory, Andrew Pidoux, Owen Sheers, Dan Wyke
* Orange Prize for Fiction: Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood
* Samuel Johnson Prize (first award): Antony Beevor, Stalingrad
* Whitbread Best Book Award: Seamus Heaney, Beowulf

### United States

* Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Daisy Fried, She Didn't Mean To Do It
* Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: George Garrett
* Arthur Rense Prize awarded to James McMichael by the American Academy of Arts and Letters
* Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: J. D. McClatchy, "Tattoos"
* Compton Crook Award: James Stoddard, The High House
* Frost Medal: Barbara Guest
* Hugo Award for Best Novel: Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog
* National Book Award for Fiction: to Waiting by Ha Jin
* National Book Critics Circle Award: to Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
* Nebula Award: Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
* Newbery Medal for children's literature: Louis Sachar, Holes
* PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: to The Hours by Michael Cunningham
* Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Margaret Edson, Wit
* Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Michael Cunningham, The Hours
* Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mark Strand, Blizzard of One
* Wallace Stevens Award: Jackson Mac Low
* Whiting Awards:
    Fiction: Ehud Havazelet, Ben Marcus, Yxta Maya Murray, ZZ Packer
    Nonfiction: Gordon Grice, Margaret Talbot
    Plays: Naomi Iizuka
    Poetry: Michael Haskell, Terrance Hayes, Martha Zweig

### Elsewhere

* Finlandia Prize: 1999 Kristina Carlson, Maan ääreen
* International Dublin Literary Award: Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain
* Alfaguara Prize: Manuel Vicent, Son de mar
* Premio Nadal: Gustavo Martín Zarzo, Las historias de Marta y Fernando
* Viareggio Prize: Ernesto Franco, Vite senza fine