1996 in literature

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The year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

• Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."
• In the United Kingdom, the first Orange Prize for Fiction for female novelists is awarded.
• First performance of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues.
• Peter O'Donnell publishes Cobra Trap, his final volume of adventures featuring Modesty Blaise; the first book in the series was published in 1965.
• Margaret Mitchell's long-lost first novella, Lost Laysen, is published 80 years after it was written.
• At the special request of Nelson Mandela, Benjamin Zephaniah hosts the president's Two Nations Concert at London's Royal Albert Hall.

New books

• Stephen Ambrose - Undaunted Courage
• Anonymous - Primary Colors
• Jeffrey Archer - The Fourth Estate
• Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
• Beryl Bainbridge - Every Man for Himself
• David Baldacci - Absolute Power
• Alex Garland - The Beach
• Iain M. Banks - Excession
• John Berendt - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
• Thomas Berger - Suspects
• Harold Bloom - Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection
• Dionne Brand - In Another Place, Not Here
• Brett Butler - Knee Deep in Paradise
• Ann Chamberlin - Sofia; The Sultan's Daughter
• Tom Clancy - Executive Orders
• Mary Higgins Clark - Moonlight Becomes You
• Joseph Connolly - This Is It
• Bernard Cornwell - The Bloody Ground and Enemy of God
• Douglas Coupland - Polaroids from the Dead
• Amanda Craig - A Vicious Circle
• Robert Crais - Sunset Express
• John Darnton - Neanderthal
• Norman Davies - Europe: A History
• Seamus Deane - Reading in the Dark
• Fabrizio De André - Un destino ridicolo
• Stephen R. Donaldson - The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die
• Alan Downs - "Corporate Executions: the Ugly Truth about Downsizing"
• Ben Elton - Popcorn
• Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones' Diary
• Mavis Gallant - Selected Stories
• John Gardner - COLD
• Richard Garfinkle - Celestial Matters
• Alex Garland - The Beach
• William Golding - The Double Tongue
• Daniel Goleman - Emotional Intelligence
• John Grisham - The Runaway Jury and Hackers (short story collection)
• James L. Halperin - The Truth Machine
• Colin Harrison - Manhattan Nocturne
• Elisabeth Harvor - Let Me Be the One, stories (Canada)
• Nancy Huston - The Goldberg Variations
• Tama Janowitz - By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee
• Matt Jones - Bad Therapy
• Stephen King - Desperation, The Green Mile and The Regulators
• Joe Klein - Primary Colors (published anonymously)
• Dean R. Koontz - Intensity
• Michael P. Kube-McDowell - Before the Storm, Shield of Lies and Tyrant's Test
• Hugh Laurie - The Gun Seller
• John le Carré - The Tailor of Panama
• Paul Leonard - Speed of Flight
• Steve Lyons - Killing Ground
• George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones
• David A. McIntee - The Shadow of Weng-Chiang
• Terry McMillan - How Stella Got Her Groove Back
• Vladimir Megre - Anastasiya
• Lawrence Miles - Christmas on a Rational Planet
• Rohinton Mistry - A Fine Balance
• Joyce Carol Oates - We Were the Mulvaneys
• Daniel O'Mahony - The Man in the Velvet Mask
• Patricia A, McKillip - Winter Rose
• Kate Orman - Return of the Living Dad and SLEEPY
• Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club
• Lance Parkin - Cold Fusion and Just War
• Marc Platt - Downtime
• Terry Pratchett - Feet of Clay and Hogfather
• James Redfield - The Tenth Insight
• Justin Richards - The Sands of Time
• Gareth Roberts - The English Way of Death and The Plotters
• Mary Rosenblum - Synthesis & Other Virtual Realities
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The New Rebellion
• Gary Russell - The Scales of Injustice
• Al-Tayyib Salih - Bandarshah
• Jeff Shaara - Gods and Generals
• Michael Slade - Zombie aka Evil Eye
• Michael Stackpole - The Krytos Trap, Rogue Squadron and Wedge's Gamble
• Dave Stone - Death and Diplomacy
• Graham Swift - Last Orders
• Guy Vanderhaeghe - The Englishman's Boy
• David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest

New drama

• Jeff Baron - Visiting Mr. Green
• Eve Ensler - The Vagina Monologues
• Pam Gems - Stanley
• Ayub Khan-Din - East is East
• Martin McDonagh - The Beauty Queen of Leenane
• Mark Ravenhill - Shopping and Fucking
• Joshua Sobol - Alma

Poetry

Non-Fiction

Births

Rita Ivo Maria

Deaths

• January 21 - Efua Sutherland, Ghanaian dramatist, poet and children's author (born 1924)
• January 28
• Jerry Siegel, cartoonist, creator of Superman (born 1914)
• Joseph Brodsky, Russian poet and essayist, Nobel laureate (born 1940)
• February 11
• Bob Shaw, science fiction writer (born 1931)
• Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet (born 1930)
• March 3 - Marguerite Duras, French dramatist and film director (born 1914)
• March 18 - Odysseas Elytis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)
• March 22 - Ian Stephens, Canadian poet
• March 31 - Dario Bellezza, Italian poet and dramatist (born 194)
• April 22 - Erma Bombeck, American humorist and writer (born 1927)
• May 24 - Joseph Mitchell, American journalist (born 1908)
• May 26 - Ovidiu Papadima, Romanian critic and essayist (born 1909)
• May 31 - Timothy Leary, American writer
• June 2 - Leon Garfield, English children's author (born 1921)
• June 14 - Gesualdo Bufalino, Italian novelist (born 1920)
• June 26 - Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist
• July 10 - Eno Raud, Estonian children's author (born 1928)
• October 24 - Sorley Maclean, Gaelic poet (born 1911)
• December 20 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist and writer
• December 12 - Vance Packard, journalist and social critic (born 1914)
• December 16 - Quentin Bell, English biographer and art historian (born 1910)

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Wislawa Szymborska

Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Bernard Cohen, The Blindman's Hat
• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Peter Bakowski, In the Human Night
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Eric Beach, Weeping for Lost Babylon
• Mary Gilmore Prize: Jordie Albiston, Nervous Arcs

Canada

• Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Margaret Atwood: - Alias Grace
• See 1996 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Goncourt: Pascale Roze, Le Chasseur Zéro
• Prix Décembre: Régis Debray, Loués soient nos seigneurs: une éducation politique
• Prix Médicis French: Orlanda - Jacqueline Harpman and L'Organisation - Jean Rolin
• Prix Médicis International: Himmelfarb - Michael Kruger, Germany and Sonietchka - Ludmila Oulitskaïa, Russia

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: Graham Swift, Last Orders
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Melvin Burgess, Junk
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Graham Swift, Last Orders, and Alice Thompson, Justine
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life
• Cholmondeley Award: Elizabeth Bartlett, Dorothy Nimmo, Peter Scupham, Iain Crichton Smith
• Eric Gregory Award: Sue Butler, Cathy Cullis, Jane Griffiths, Jane Holland, Chris Jones, Sinéad Morrissey, Kate Thomas
• Orange Prize for Fiction: Helen Dunmore, A Spell of Winter
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Peter Redgrove
• Whitbread Best Book Award: Seamus Heaney, The Spirit Level

United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Helen Conkling, Red Peony Night
• Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: John Voiklis, "The Princeling's Apology", and (separately) Sarah Arvio, "Visits from the Seventh"
• Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: Kenneth Koch, One Train
• Compton Crook Award: Daniel Graham Jr., The Gatekeepers
• Hugo Award: Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
• Nebula Award: Nicola Griffith, Slow River
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Jonathan Larson, Rent
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Richard Ford - Independence Day
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Jorie Graham: The Dream of the Unified Field
• Wallace Stevens Award: Adrienne Rich

Elsewhere

• IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: David Malouf, Remembering Babylon
• Premio Nadal: Pedro Maestre, Matando dinosaurios con tirachinas