2007 in literature

The year 2007 in literature involves some significant new books.

Events

• November 19 - First Kindle e-book reader released.
• December 11 - Terry Pratchett informs fans on-line that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.^[1]

Books

Prose fiction

• Gilbert Adair - A Mysterious Affair of Style
• Louis Begley - Matters of Honor
• Alan Bennett - The Uncommon Reader
• Bob Burg and John D. Mann - The Go-Giver
• Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
• Bernard Cornwell - Sword Song
• Jim Crace - The Pesthouse
• Robert Crais - The Watchman
• Don DeLillo - Falling Man
• Junot Díaz - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
• Joshua Ferris - Then We Came to the End
• Helon Habila - Measuring Time
• Don Hannah - Ragged Islands
• Elizabeth Hay - Late Nights on Air
• Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Denis Johnson - Tree of Smoke
• Panos Karnezis - The Birthday Party
• Jesse Lee Kercheval - The Alice Stories
• Min Jin Lee - Free Food for Millionaires
• Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach
• Michael Ondaatje - Divisadero
• Graham Swift - Tomorrow
• M. G. Vassanji - The Assassin's Song
• Kirby Wright - Moloka'i Nui Ahina, Summers on the Lonely Isle
• Juli Zeh - Dark Matter

Children's and young adult fiction

• Sherman Alexie - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
• Libba Bray - The Sweet Far Thing
• Suzanne Collins - Gregor and the Code of Claw (fifth and final book in the Underland Chronicles)
• Charlie Higson
  • Double or Die (third book in the Young Bond series)
  • Hurricane Gold (fourth book in the Young Bond series)
• D. J. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne
• Stephenie Meyer - Eclipse
• China Miéville - Un Lun Dun
• Robert Muchamore
  • The Fall (seventh book in the CHERUB series)
  • Mad Dogs (eighth book in the CHERUB series)
• Garth Nix - Lady Friday (fifth book in the Keys to the Kingdom series)
• J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (July 21) (final book in the Harry Potter series)
• Hikaru Sugii - Heaven's Memo Pad
• N. D. Wilson - 100 Cupboards (first book in the 100 Cupboards series)

Science fiction and fantasy

• Joe Abercrombie - Before They Are Hanged (March 15) (second of The First Law series)
• Christopher Barzak - One For Sorrow (August 28)
• Jim Butcher - White Night (April 3) (Harry Dresden #9)
• Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union (May 1)
• Hal Duncan - Ink (February 2) (second of The Book of All Hours)
• Warren Ellis - Crooked Little Vein (July 24)
• Steven Erikson - Reaper's Gale (April 24) (seventh in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series)
• William Gibson - Spook Country (August 7)
• Ed Greenwood - Dark Lord (September) (First book in the Falconfar series)
• Tanith Lee - Piratica III: The Family Sea (third in The Piratica Series)
• Scott Lynch - Red Seas Under Red Skies (July 31) (second in the Gentleman Bastard series)
• Richard K. Morgan - Th1rte3n (June 26)
• Ian McDonald - Brasyl (May 1)
• Chuck Palahniuk - Rant: An Oral History of Buster Casey (May 1)
• Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - The Wheel of Darkness
• Lucius Shepard - Softspoken (April 15)
• Jeffrey Thomas - Deadstock (February 27)
• Catherynne M. Valente - The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice (October 30) (second in the Orphan's Tales series)

New drama

• Hassan Abdulrazzak - Baghdad Wedding
• Bola Agbaje - Gone Too Far!
• Jacob M. Appel - The Mistress of Wholesome
• Melissa James Gibson - Current Nobody
• David Henry Hwang - Yellow Face
• Caleb Lewis - Dogfall
• Brendan O'Carroll - For the Love of Mrs. Brown
• Aaron Sorkin - The Farnsworth Invention

Poetry

• Dejan Stojanović, Ples vremena (Dance of Time), Konras, Beograd^[2]

Non-fiction and biography

• Peter Ackroyd - Thames: Sacred River
• Andrea Cagan - Peace Is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat
• Wayne Federman, Marshall Terrill and Jackie Maravich - Maravich: The Definitive Biography of Pistol Pete Maravich
• David Halberstam - The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War
• Ian Halperin - Hollywood Undercover
• A. J. Jacobs - The Year of Living Biblically
• Linda and Terry Jamison - Separated at Earth (2007)
• Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine
• David McMillan - Escape
• John Matteson - Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father
• The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales (September 2007)

Deaths

• Margaret Avison (born 1918)
• Michael Dibdin (born 1947)
• Douglas Hill (born 1935)
• Robert Jordan (born 1948)
• Ryszard Kapuscinski (born 1932)
• Madeleine L'Engle (born 1918)
• Ira Levin (born 1929)
• Norman Mailer (born 1923)
• Herbert Reinecker (born 1914)
• Jane Rule (born 1931)
• Sidney Sheldon (born 1917)
• Magda Szabó (born 1917)
• Dragutin Tadijanović (born 1905)
• Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (born 1922)

Awards and honors

Australia

• Patrick White Award: David Rowbotham
• ALS Gold Medal: Carpentaria, Alexis Wright
• Miles Franklin Award: Carpentaria, Alexis Wright

Canada

• Canada Reads: Heather O'Neill, Lullabies for Little Criminals
• Le Combat des livres: Denis Thériault, L'Iguane
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air
• 2007 Governor General's Awards

United Kingdom

• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Meg Rosoff, Just in Case
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Rosalind Belben, Our Horses in Egypt
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Rosemary Hill, God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain
• Man Booker Prize: Anne Enright, The Gathering

United States

• Compton Crook Award: Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon
• Whiting Writers' Awards:
  • Poetry: Paul Guest, Cate Marvin
  • Fiction: Ben Fountain, Brad Kessler, Dalia Sofer, Nina Marie Martínez, Patrick O’Keeffe
  • Plays: Sheila Callaghan, Tarell Alvin McCraney
  • Nonfiction: Carlo Rotella, Peter Trachtenberg, Jack Turner

See also

• List of literary awards
• List of poetry awards
• 2007 in Australian literature
• 2007 in comics

References