# 1998 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1998.

## Events

* March 5 – Tennessee Williams' 1938 play Not About Nightingales receives its stage première in London, in a collaboration between the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and Corin and Vanessa Redgrave's Moving Theatre.
* October
** The death of the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom Ted Hughes leaves a gap of several months before a successor, Andrew Motion, is designated the following spring.
** Kinoko Nasu (奈須きのこ) launches the Kara no Kyōkai series, with five chapters released online.
* November 18 – Alice McDermott wins the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy.
* December – The Strand Magazine title is revived in the United States.

## New books
### Fiction

* Turki al-Hamad – Adama (first volume in Atyaf al-Aziqah al-Mahjurah (Phantoms of the Deserted Alley) trilogy)
* Tariq Ali – The Book of Saladin
* Aaron Allston
** Iron Fist
** Wraith Squadron
* Hanan al-Shaykh – I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops (أكنس الشمس عن السطوح)
* Martin Amis – Heavy Water and Other Stories (most stories previously published)
* Beryl Bainbridge – Master Georgie
* Iain M. Banks – Inversions
* Alessandro Barbero – Romanzo russo. Fiutando i futuri supplizi (translated 2010 as The Anonymous Novel. Sensing the Future Torments)
* Julian Barnes – England, England
* Greg Bear
** Dinosaur Summer
** Foundation and Chaos
* Raymond Benson – The Facts of Death
* Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny – Psychoshop
* Robert Bloch – Flowers from the Moon and Other Lunacies
* Roberto Bolaño – The Savage Detectives (Los Detectives Salvajes)
* Xurxo Borrazás – Contos malvados
* William Boyd – Armadillo
* Giannina Braschi – Yo-Yo Boing!
* Anne Carson – Autobiography of Red (verse novel)
* Driss Chraïbi – Muhammad
* Mary Higgins Clark – All Through the Night
* Tom Clancy – Rainbow Six
* Paulo Coelho – Veronika Decides to Die
* Michael Connelly – Blood Work
* Bernard Cornwell – Sharpe's Triumph
* Patricia Cornwell – Point of Origin
* Douglas Coupland – Girlfriend in a Coma
* Ann C. Crispin – Rebel Dawn
* Michael Cunningham – The Hours
* Nelson DeMille – Plum Island
* August Derleth
** The Final Adventures of Solar Pons
** In Lovecraft's Shadow
* Peter Dickinson – The Kin
* Allan W. Eckert – Return to Hawk's Hill
* Bret Easton Ellis – Glamorama
* Giles Foden – The Last King of Scotland
* Diana Gabaldon – Hellfire
* Neil Gaiman – Smoke and Mirrors (mainly reprints)
* Andrew Greeley – A Midwinter's Tale
* John Grisham – The Street Lawyer
* Wolf Haas – Komm, süßer Tod (Come, Sweet Death)
* Margaret Peterson Haddix - Among the Hidden
* Ha Jin (哈金) – Waiting
* Tomson Highway – Kiss of the Fur Queen
* Nick Hornby – About a Boy
* Michel Houellebecq – Atomised (Les Particules élémentaires)
* Marek S. Huberath – Gniazdo światów (Nest of Worlds)
* John Irving – A Widow for One Year
* K. W. Jeter
** The Mandalorian Armor
** Slave Ship
* Wayne Johnston – The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
* Stephen King – Bag of Bones
* Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible
* Dean R. Koontz – Seize the Night
* Joe R. Lansdale
** Rumble Tumble
** The Boar
* Alain Mabanckou – Bleu-Blanc-Rouge
* Patrick McCabe – Breakfast on Pluto
* Ian McEwan – Amsterdam
* Roy MacLaren – African Exploits
* Steve Martin – Pure Drivel
* Carol Matas – Greater Than Angels
* China Miéville – King Rat
* Alice Munro – The Love of a Good Woman
* Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹) – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル, Nejimakidori Kuronikuru)
* Cees Nooteboom – All Souls' Day (Allerzielen)
* Sigrid Nunez – Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury
* Tim O'Brien – Tomcat in Love
* Orhan Pamuk – My Name Is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı)
* Tom Perrotta – Election
* Terry Pratchett
** Carpe Jugulum
** The Last Continent
* Fahmida Riaz – Godavari
* David Adams Richards – The Bay of Love and Sorrows
* José Luis Rodríguez Pittí – Crónica de invisibles
* Philip Roth – I Married a Communist
* Margit Sandemo – Ensam i världen (Alone in the World)
* Michael Slade – Shrink (also Primal Scream)
* Alexander McCall Smith – The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
* Michael Stackpole – I, Jedi
* Danielle Steel
** The Klone and I
** The Long Road Home
** Mirror Image
* Thomas Sullivan – The Martyring
* Andrew Vachss – Safe House
* Connie Willis – To Say Nothing of the Dog
* A. N. Wilson – Dream Children
* Tom Wolfe – A Man in Full
* Timothy Zahn – Vision of the Future

### Children and young people

* David Almond – Skellig
* Melvin Burgess – Junk
* Denise Fleming – Mama Cat Has Three Kittens
* Gayle Greeno (with Michael Gilbert) – Sunderlies Seeking
* Tanya Huff – Summon the Keeper
* Diana Wynne Jones – Dark Lord of Derkholm
* Dick King-Smith – The Crowstarver
* Julius Lester – Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story
* J. Patrick Lewis (with Gary Kelley) – BoshBlobberBosh: Runcible Poems for Edward Lear
* J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
* Louis Sachar – Holes
* Robert Swindells – Abomination
* Judy Waite – Mouse, Look Out!
* Douglas Wood – Rabbit and the Moon

### Drama

* Edward Albee – The Play About the Baby
* Parv Bancil – Made in England (full-length version)
* Marina Carr – By the Bog of Cats
* Michael Frayn – Copenhagen
* David Hare – The Blue Room
* Ted Hughes (translator) – Phèdre
* Elfriede Jelinek – Ein Sportstück (A Sports Piece)
* Terrence McNally – Corpus Christi
* Sol B River
** The White Witch of Rose Hall
** River Plays 1 (published)
* Shelagh Stephenson – An Experiment with an Air Pump
* Marius von Mayenburg – Fireface (Feuergesicht)
* Tennessee Williams (died 1983) – Not About Nightingales (first performance; written 1938)

### Poetry

* Seamus Heaney
** Beowulf (translation)
** Opened Ground: Poems 1966–1996
* Ted Hughes – Birthday Letters
* Dejan Stojanović – Krugovanje: 1978–1987 (Circling; 2nd edition)

### Non-fiction

* Charlotte Allen – The Human Christ: The Search For The Historical Jesus
* Andrea Ashworth – Once in a House on Fire
* Antony Beevor – Stalingrad
* Harold Bloom – Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human
* Bill Bryson – Notes from a Big Country
* Peter Cannon (editor) – Lovecraft Remembered
* Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd – Dear Friend and Gardener
* Corinne Debaine-Francfort – La redécouverte de la Chine ancienne
* Amanda Foreman – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
* John Fowles – Wormholes – Essays and Occasional Writings
* Jonathan Freedland – Bring Home the Revolution
* Sita Ram Goel – Vindicated by Time
* Simon Heffer – Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell
* Adam Hochschild – King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa
* A. P. J. Abdul Kalam – India 2020
* Ryszard Kapuściński – Heban (Ebony, translated as The Shadow of the Sun)
* B. B. Lal – India 1947–1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization
* Martin Lee and Marcia Miller – The Mega-fun Multiplication Facts Activity Book
* Eric Liu – The Accidental Asian
* Alan I. Marcus – Building Western Civilization: From the Advent of Writing to the Age of Steam
* Thylias Moss – Tale of a Sky-Blue Dress
* Inga Muscio – Cunt: A Declaration of Independence
* V. S. Naipaul – Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples
* Gilles Perrault (ed.) – Le Livre noir du capitalisme (The Black Book of Capitalism)
* John Pilger – Hidden Agendas
* Michael Poole – Romancing Mary Jane
* Arun Shourie – Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud
* Marilee Strong – A Bright Red Scream
* University of Arizona – Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni
* Adam Zagajewski – Another Beauty

## Births

* March 7 – Amanda Gorman, American poet and activist
* May 15 – Mohammed El-Kurd, Palestinian writer and poet
* December 16 – Chloe Gong, Chinese-born New Zealand author
* unknown dates
** K-Ming Chang – Taiwanese-American novelist and poet
** Moses MacKenzie – British novelist

## Deaths

* January 2 – Frank Muir, English comedy writer and broadcaster (born 1920)
* January 11 – John Wells, English satirist (born 1936)
* January 18 – Monica Edwards, English children's novelist (born 1912)
* January 23 – John Forbes, Australian poet (heart attack, born 1950)
* January 27 – Geoffrey Trease, English children's historical novelist (born 1909)
* February 7 – Lawrence Sanders, American novelist and short story writer (born 1920)
* February 15 – Martha Gellhorn, American journalist (suicide, born 1908)
* February 17 – Ernst Jünger, German novelist and war memoirist (born 1895)
* February 27 – Alice Rivaz, Swiss writer (born 1901)
* March 15 – Dr. Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and writer on child care (born 1903)
* April 11 – Francis Durbridge, English playwright (born 1912)
* April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914)
* April 27
** Anne Desclos (Pauline Réage), French journalist and novelist (born 1907)
** Carlos Castaneda, Mexican-born American anthropologist and author (born 1925)
* May 9 – Nat Perrin, American comedy writer (born 1905)
* May 11 — Willy Corsari, Dutch author of detective fiction (born 1897)
* June 10
** Joan Adeney Easdale, English poet (born 1913)
** Hammond Innes, English novelist (born 1913)
* June 11 – Dame Catherine Cookson, English novelist (born 1906)
* July 1 – Martin Seymour-Smith, English biographer (born 1928)
* July 5 – Johnny Speight, English comedy writer (born 1920)
* July 9 – Ian Wallace (John Wallace Pritchard), American science fiction author (born 1912)
* July 14 – Miroslav Holub, Czech poet (born 1923)
* July 23
** John Hopkins, English film and television writer (born 1931)
** Manuel Mejía Vallejo, Colombian novelist (born 1923)
* August 16 – Dorothy West, American novelist and short story writer (born 1907)
* August 22 – Grace Paley, American writer (born 1922)
* September 28 – Eric Malling, Canadian journalist (born 1946)
* October 15 – Iain Crichton Smith, Scottish writer (born 1928)
* October 22 – Eric Ambler, English spy novelist (born 1909)
* October 28 – Ted Hughes, English poet and Poet Laureate (born 1930)
* November 3 – Bob Kane (Robert Kahn), American comics artist and writer (born 1915)
* November 8 – Rumer Godden, English novelist (born 1907)
* November 17 – Alexandru Talex, Romanian journalist, critic and biographer (born 1909)
* December 16 – William Gaddis, American novelist (born 1922)

## Awards

* Nobel Prize for Literature: José Saramago
* Europe Theatre Prize: Luca Ronconi
* Camões Prize: Antonio Candido

### Australia

* The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jennifer Kremmer, Pegasus in the Suburbs
* C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Coral Hull, Broken Land
* Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: No awards this year
* Mary Gilmore Prize: Emma Lew, The Wild Reply
* Miles Franklin Award: Peter Carey, Jack Maggs

### Canada

* Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award: Talya Rubin
* See 1998 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists.
* Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Alice Munro: The Love of a Good Woman
* Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Charlotte Gray: Mrs. King

### France

* Prix Décembre: Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules élémentaires
* Prix Goncourt: Paule Constant, Confidence pour confidence
* Prix Médicis French: Le Loup mongol
* Prix Médicis International: The House of Sleep – Jonathan Coe

### United Kingdom

* Booker Prize: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam
* Carnegie Medal for children's literature: David Almond, Skellig
* James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie
* James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More
* Cholmondeley Award: Roger McGough, Robert Minhinnick, Anne Ridler, Ken Smith
* Eric Gregory Award: Mark Goodwin, Joanne Limburg, Patrick McGuinness, Kona Macphee, Esther Morgan, Christiania Whitehead, Frances Williams
* Orange Prize for Fiction: Carol Shields, Larry's Party
* Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Les Murray
* Whitbread Best Book Award: Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters

### United States

* Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Shara McCallum, The Water Between Us
* Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: X.J. Kennedy
* American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Horton Foote
* American Book Award Before Columbus Foundation: Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, and (separately) Allison Hedge Coke, Dog Road Woman
* Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Sherod Santos, "Elegy for My Sister", and (separately) Neil Azevedo, "Caspar Hauser Songs"
* Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: Frank Bidart, Desire
* Compton Crook Award: Katie Waitman, The Merro Tree
* Hugo Award for Best Novel: Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
* Frost Medal: Stanley Kunitz
* Nebula Award: Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
* Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust
* PEN American Center's PEN Open Book Award: Giannina Braschi, Yo-Yo Boing!
* Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive
* Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Philip Roth, American Pastoral
* Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Charles Wright, Black Zodiac
* Wallace Stevens Award: A. R. Ammons
* Whiting Awards:
    Fiction: Michael Byers, Ralph Lombreglia (fiction/nonfiction)
    Non-fiction: D. J. Waldie, Anthony Walton
    Plays: W. David Hancock
    Poetry: Nancy Eimers, Daniel Hall, James Kimbrell, Charles Harper Webb, Greg Williamson

### Elsewhere

* International Dublin Literary Award: Herta Muller, The Land of Green Plums
* Premio Nadal: Lucía Etxebarria, Beatriz y los cuerpos celestes