1999 in literature

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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
• 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
• 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,
• Prix Goncourt: Jean Echenoz,
• Prix Décembre: Claude Askolovitch,
• Prix Médicis French: Michel Del Castillo,
• Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: Christian Oster,
• Prix Médicis International: Bjorn Larsson,

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
• Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Fritz Stern
• 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