1986 in literature

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

The year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

• Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.

New prose fiction

• Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils
• Piers Anthony - Ghost
• Jeffrey Archer - A Matter of Honour
• James Axler - Pilgrimage to Hell and Red Holocaust
• Iain Banks - The Bridge
• Thomas Bernhard - Auslöschung
• Anita Brookner - A Misalliance
• Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead
• Tom Clancy - Red Storm Rising
• James Clavell - Whirlwind
• Jackie Collins - Hollywood Husbands
• Pat Conroy - The Prince of Tides
• Hugh Cook - The Wizards and the Warriors
• Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Regiment
• Bernard & Judy Cornwell (as Susannah Kells) - Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats)
• Marguerite Duras - Blue Eyes, Black Hair
• Richard Ford - The Sportswriter
• John Gardner - Nobody Lives For Ever
• Jacques Godbout - Une histoire américaine
• Peter Handke - Repetition
• Carl Hiaasen - Tourist Season
• Kazuo Ishiguro - An Artist of the Floating World
• Brian Jacques - Redwall
• Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle
• Stephen King - It
• W. P. Kinsella - The Fence Post Chronicles
• Judith Krantz - I'll Take Manhattan
• Louis L'Amour - Last of the Breed
• John le Carré - A Perfect Spy
• Tanith Lee - Dreams of Dark and Light: The Great Short Fiction of Tanith Lee
• Gordon Lish - Dear Mr. Capote
• H. P. Lovecraft - Dagon and Other Macabre Tales corrected edition
• Robert Ludlum - The Bourne Supremacy
• Amin Maalouf - Leo Africanus
• Allan Massie - Augustus
• Robert Munsch - Love You Forever
• Patrick O'Brian - The Reverse of the Medal
• Robert B. Parker - Taming a Sea Horse
• Ellis Peters - The Rose Rent
• Belva Plain - The Golden Cup
• Anthony Powell - The Fisher King
• Terry Pratchett - The Light Fantastic
• Reynolds Price - Kate Vaiden
• James Purdy - In the Hollow of His Hand
• José Saramago - O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis
• Idries Shah - Kara Kush
• Danielle Steel - Wanderlust
• Peter Taylor - A Summons to Memphis
• James Tiptree, Jr. - Tales of the Quintana Roo
• Roger Zelazny - Blood of Amber

New drama

• Caryl Churchill& David Lan - A Mouthful of Birds
• Willy Russell - Shirley Valentine

Poetry

• Kama Sywor Kamanda - Chants de brumes

Non-fiction

• Martin Amis - The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America
• Dionne Brand - Rivers Have Sources, Trees Have Roots: Speaking of Racism
• Richard Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker
• Adrian Edmondson et al. - How to be a Complete Bastard
• Flora Fraser - Beloved Emma
• Mark Mathabane - Kaffir Boy
• Farley Mowat - My Discovery of America
• Marc Reisner - Cadillac Desert
• Richard Rhodes - The Making of the Atomic Bomb
• Mary Wilson - Dreamgirl: My Life As a Supreme

Births

• Caroline Bird, English poet

Deaths

• January 1 - Lord David Cecil, critic and biographer
• January 4 - Christopher Isherwood, novelist
• January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer, founder of Scientology
• February 11 - Frank Herbert, American science fiction author
• March 4 - Elizabeth Smart, Canadian poet and novelist
• March 18 - Bernard Malamud, novelist
• April 14 - Simone de Beauvoir, philosopher and feminist writer
• May 15 - Theodore White, writer
• June 14 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer
• August 1 - Lena Kennedy, novelist
• August 3 - Beryl Markham, traveller and author
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright
• December 17 - J. F. Hendry, poet
• December 19 - V. C. Andrews, novelist

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Wole Soyinka

Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Robin Walton, Glace Fruits
• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Rhyll McMaster, Washing the Money and John A. Scott, St. Clair
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Robert Gray Selected Poems 1963-83
• Mary Gilmore Prize: Stephen Williams - A Crowd of Voices

Canada

• See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Goncourt: Michel Host, Valet de nuit
• Prix Médicis French: Pierre Combescot, Les Funérailles de la Sardine
• Prix Médicis International: John Hawkes, Aventures dans le commerce des peaux en Alaska

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Berlie Doherty, Granny Was a Buffer Girl
• Cholmondeley Award: Lawrence Durrell, James Fenton, Selima Hill
• Eric Gregory Award: Mick North, Lachlan Mackinnon, Oliver Reynolds, Stephen Romer
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jenny Joseph, Persephone
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: D. Felicitas Corrigan, Helen Waddell
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Norman MacCaig
• Whitbread Best Book Award: Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World

United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Robley Wilson, Kingdoms of the Ordinary
• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Sidney Kingsley
• Frost Medal: Allen Ginsberg / Richard Eberhart
• Nebula Award: Orson Scott Card, Speaker For the Dead
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Patricia MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall
• Prometheus Award: Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Henry Taylor, The Flying Change

Elsewhere

• Premio Nadal: Manuel Vicent, Balada de Caín