1992 in literature

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The year 1992 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

• The Goosebumps series of books, penned by R.L. Stine, are first published.

New books

• Ben Aaronovitch - Transit
• Julia Álvarez - How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
• Paul Auster - Leviathan
• Iain Banks - The Crow Road
• Clive Barker - The Thief of Always
• Greg Bear - Anvil of Stars
• Thomas Berger - Meeting Evil
• Louis de Bernières - The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman
• James P. Blaylock - Lord Kelvin's Machine
• A. S. Byatt - Morpho Eugenia
• Roger Caron - Dreamcaper
• Andrew Cartmel - Cat's Cradle: Warhead
• Paulo Coelho - The Valkyries
• Hugh Cook - The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster and The Worshippers and the Way
• Paul Cornell - Love and War
• Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Devil and Scoundrel
• Douglas Coupland - Shampoo Planet
• Robert Crais - Lullaby Town
• L. Sprague de Camp and Christopher Stasheff - The Enchanter Reborn
• Roddy Doyle - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
• Leon Forrest - Divine Days
• John Gardner - Death is Forever
• Mark Gatiss - Nightshade
• Ann Granger - Cold in the Earth
• Alasdair Gray - Poor Things
• John Grisham - The Pelican Brief
• Andrew Hunt - Cat's Cradle: Witchmark
• P. D. James - The Children of Men
• John Kessel - Meeting in Infinity
• Stephen King - Dolores Claiborne and Gerald's Game
• Val McDermid - Dead Beat
• Terry McMillan - Waiting to Exhale
• Rohinton Mistry - Tales from Firozsha Baag
• Toni Morrison - Jazz
• Danielle Steel - Jewels and Mixed Blessings
• Michael Ondaatje - The English Patient
• Marc Platt - Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible
• Terry Pratchett - Lords and Ladies and Small Gods
• Anne Rice - The Tale of the Body Thief
• Mordecai Richler - Oh Canada! Oh Quebec!
• Gail Sheehy - Silent Passage
• Sidney Sheldon - The Stars Shine Down
• Michael Slade - Cutthroat
• Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash
• Adam Thorpe - Ulverton
• Sue Townsend - The Queen and I
• Barry Unsworth - Sacred Hunger
• Gore Vidal - Live From Golgotha
• Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep
• Robert James Waller - The Bridges of Madison County
• Connie Willis - Doomsday Book
• Timothy Zahn - Dark Force Rising
• Michael Connelly - The Black Echo
• Roger Zelazny and Thomas Thurston Thomas - Flare

New drama

• David Mamet - Oleanna
• Herb Gardner - Conversations with My Father
• Louis Nowra - Così
• Michael Wall - Women Laughing

Poetry

• Ben Okri - An African Elegy

Non-fiction

• Gerina Dunwich - Secrets of Love Magick
• John Gray - Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
• Karen Armstrong - Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
• Andrew Morton - Diana: Her True Story

Births

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Deaths

• January 9 - Bill Naughton, playwright and novelist
• February 10 - Alex Haley, Roots author
• February 16 - Angela Carter, author
• April 6 - Isaac Asimov, author
• April 21 - Väinö Linna, Finnish novelist
• April 28 - Iceberg Slim, novelist
• May 22 - Elizabeth David, cookery writer
• July 22 - Reginald Bretnor, science fiction writer
• September 5 - Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr., American writer of fantasy and science fiction
• November 7 - Richard Yates, American novelist and short-story writer
• December 25 - Monica Dickens, novelist
• December 27 - Kay Boyle, writer, educator, political activist

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Derek Walcott

Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Fotini Epanomitis, The Mule's Foal
• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Robert Harris, Jane, Interlinear and Other Poems
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Elizabeth Riddell, Selected Poems
• Mary Gilmore Prize: Alison Croggon - This is the Stone

Canada

• See 1992 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Goncourt: Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco
• Prix Décembre: Henri Thomas, La Chasse au trésor and Roger Grenier, Regardez la neige qui tombe
• Prix Médicis French: Michel Rio, Tlacuilo
• Prix Médicis International: Louis Begley, Une éducation polonaise

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Anne Fine, Flour Babies
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Rose Tremain, Sacred Country
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Charles Nicholl, The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe
• Cholmondeley Award: Allen Curnow, Donald Davie, Carol Ann Duffy, Roger Woddis
• Eric Gregory Award: Jill Dawson, Hugh Dunkerley, Christopher Greenhalgh, Marita Maddah, Stuart Paterson, Stuart Pickford
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Kathleen Raine
• Whitbread Best Book Award: Jeff Torrington, Swing Hammer Swing!
• The Sunday Express Book of the Year: Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety

United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Hunt Hawkins, The Domestic Life
• Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks
• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Sam Shepard
• Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: Louise Glück for Ararat, and Mark Strand for The Continuous Life
• Compton Crook Award: Carol Severance, Reefsong
• Frost Medal: Adrienne Rich / David Ignatow
• Nebula Award: Connie Willis, Doomsday Book
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Shiloh
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Tate, Selected Poems
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Robert Schenkkan, The Kentucky Cycle

Elsewhere

• Premio Nadal: Alejandro Gándara, Ciegas esperanzas