This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kevin Rector (talk | contribs) at 13:28, 23 July 2004 (→New Books). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 13:28, 23 July 2004 by Kevin Rector (talk | contribs) (→New Books)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)See also: 1979 in literature, other events of 1980, 1981 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
- Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer (published 1979), reaches #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
- Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie is published. In 2001, the book would be named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.
New Books
- Company - Samuel Beckett
- The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum
- A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
- Cosmos - Carl Sagan
- The Covenant - James A. Michener
- The Cradle Will Fall - Mary Higgins Clark
- Crossroads Marseilles 1940 - Mary Jayne Gold
- The Devil's Alternative - Frederick Forsyth
- The Fifth Horseman - Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre
- Firestarter - Stephen King
- The Girl in a Swing - Richard Adams
- In Loon Lake - E. L. Doctorow
- The Invasion of Canada - Pierre Berton
- The Iron Wolf and Other Stories - Richard Adams
- Joshua Then and Now - Mordecai Richler
- The Key to Rebecca - Ken Follett
- The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
- Princess Daisy - Judith Krantz
- Rage of Angels - Sidney Sheldon
- Random Winds - Belva Plain
- A Ring of Endless Light - Madeleine L'Engle
- Smiley's People - John le Carré
- Song of the Wild - Allan W. Eckert
- The Third Wave - Alvin Toffler
- Thy Neighbor's Wife - Gay Talese
Births
Deaths
- January 3 - Joy Adamson, conservationist and author of Born Free (killed by a servant in northern Kenya).
- June 7 - Henry Miller, writer
- December 2 - Romain Gary, writer
- December 8 - John Lennon, musician, author
- December 31 - Marshall McLuhan (author)
Awards
- Booker Prize: William Golding, Rites of Passage
- See 1980 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
- Nebula Award: Gregory Benford, Timescape
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Joan Blos, A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal
- Nobel Prize for Literature: Czeslaw Milosz
- Prix Goncourt: Yves Navarre, Le Jardin d'acclimatation
- Prix Médicis French: Jean-Luc Benoziglio, Cabinet-portrait who refused the prize, thus it was given to Jean Lahougue's Comptine des Height
- Prix Médicis International: André Brink, Une saison blanche et sèche
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Lanford Wilson, Talley's Folly
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Norman Mailer, The Executioner's Song
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Donald Justice, Selected Poems
- Whitbread Best Book Award: David Lodge, How Far Can You Go?