2009 in literature

The year 2009 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

Herta Müller

• October 8 – Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature.
• November 10 – Linden MacIntyre wins the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel The Bishop's Man.

Books

Prose fiction

• Steig Larsson – The Girl Who Played With Fire (July 28)
• Margaret Atwood – The Year of the Flood (September 8)
• T. C. Boyle – The Women (February 10)
• Kathryn Stockett – The Help (February 10)
• Juli Zeh - Corpus Delicti (February 20)
• Dan Brown – The Lost Symbol (September 15)
• E. L. Doctorow – Homer & Langley (September 1)
• Glen David Gold – Sunnyside (May 5)
• Lauren Groff – Delicate Edible Birds (January 27)
• Terrence E. Holt – In the Valley of the Kings (September 14)
• Denis Johnson – Nobody Move (June 5)
• Daniel Kehlmann – Fame (January 16)
• Lorrie Moore – A Gate at the Stairs (September 15)
• Alice Munro – Too Much Happiness (August 25)
• Joyce Carol Oates – Dear Husband, (March 31)
• Joyce Carol Oates – Little Bird of Heaven (September 15)
• Chuck Palahniuk – Pygmy (May 5)
• Lyudmila Petrushevskaya – There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby (September 29)
• Thomas Pynchon – Inherent Vice (August 4)
• Richard Russo – That Old Cape Magic (August 4)
• Raphael Selbourne – Beauty (September)
• Nicholas Sparks – The Last Song (September 8)
• Wells Tower – Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (March 17)
• John Wray – Lowboy (March 3)
• Dave Eggers – The Wild Things (October 1)
• Jonathan Lethem – Chronic City (October 13)
• John Irving – Last Night in Twisted River (October 20 – Canada) (October 27 – U.S.A.)
• Philip Roth – The Humbling (November 2)
• Vladimir Nabokov – The Original of Laura (unfinished last novel) (November 3)
• Barbara Kingsolver – The Lacuna: A Novel (November 3)

Horror Fiction

• Yukito Ayatsuji – Another (October 29)
• Matthew J. Costello – Doom 3: Maelstrom (March 31)
  • Dark Calling (May 2009)
  • Hell's Heroes (book) (October 2009)
• Richard Laymon – Dark Mountain (book) (March 2009)
• Stephen King – Under the Dome (November 10)

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Shinichi Kimura, Kobuichi and Muririn – Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? (January 20)
• Charles Ogden – Split Ends (January 27, 2009)
• Robert Muchamore – Henderson's Boys: The Escape (February 5, 2009)
• Sagu Aoyama and Tinkle – Ro-Kyu-Bu! (February 10)
• Erin Hunter – Great Bear Lake (February 10, 2009)
• James Dashner – The Hunt for Dark Infinity (March 1, 2009)
• The Spook's Tale/Interception Point (March 5, 2009) by Joseph Delaney and Mark Walden
• Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (March 9, 2009)
• Neil Gaiman – Blueberry Girl (March 10, 2009)
• Brandon Mull – Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (March 24, 2009)
• Peter Lerangis – The Sword Thief (April 1, 2009)
• Robert Muchamore – Eagle Day (June 4, 2009)
• Erin Hunter – Sunrise (April 24, 2009)
• Erin Hunter – Smoke Mountain (May 1, 2009)
• Rick Riordan – The Last Olympian (May 5, 2009)
• D.J. Machale – The Soldiers of Halla (May 12, 2009)
• N.D. Wilson – Dandelion Fire
• Operation Storm City (May 12, 2009) by Joshua Mowll and various
• Michael Scott – The Sorceress (May 26, 2009)
• IS (Infinite Stratos) (May 31) by Izuru Yumizuru and Okiura
• Septimus Heap: The Magykal Papers – Angie Sage (June 23, 2009)
• Beyond the Grave (June 2, 2009) by Jude Watson
• Emily the Strange: The Lost Days (June 2, 2009) by Rob Reger
• Code of the Clans (June 9, 2009) by Erin Hunter
• The Dragons of Ordinary Farm by Tad Williams and Deborah Beale (July 2, 2009)
• Bluestar's Prophecy (August 2009) by Erin Hunter
• The Green Bronze Mirror (reprint) (October 29, 2009) by Lynne Ellison
• The Lost Train of Thought (October 2009) by John Hulme and Michael Wexler
• Mayo Chiki! (November 21) by Hajime Asano and Seiji Kikuchi
• The Fourth Apprentice (November 24, 2009) by Erin Hunter

   Catching Fire (september 2009) by Suzzane Collins

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• James Patterson – MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel (March 16, 2009)
• Jim Butcher – Turn Coat (April 7)
• James Patterson – Daniel X: Watch the Skies (July 27)
• Michael E. Marks – Dominant Species (novel) (October 1, 2009)
• Eoin Colfer – And Another Thing... (October 2009)
• J.C. Hutchins – 7th Son, Book One: Descent (October 27)
• Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson – The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time volume 12) (October 27, 2009)
• Michael Crichton – Pirate Latitudes (November 24)

Mystery

• David Baldacci – First Family (April 21)

Non-fiction

• Olivier Ameisen – The End of my Addiction (March 5)
• Dave Eggers – Zeitoun (July 15)
• Craig Ferguson – American on Purpose (September 22)
• Jonathan Safran Foer – Eating Animals (October 28)
• David Grann – The Lost City of Z (February 24)
• Thomas Levenson – Newton and the Counterfeiter (June 3)
• Eric W. Sanderson – Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (May 1)
• Bill Simmons – The Book of Basketball (October 26)
• William T. Vollmann – Imperial (July 29)
• Michael Chabon – Manhood for Amateurs (October 6)
• Jonathan Safran Foer – Eating Animals (November 2)
• Guy Sorman – Economics Does Not Lie (July 20)

New drama

• Jacob M. Appel – Causa Mortis
• Patrick Marber – After Miss Julie
• Tony Glazer – In The Daylight
• Anna Deavere Smith – Let Me Down Easy
• Sarah Ruhl – In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)

Poetry

Political

• Mark Levin – Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto (March 24, 2009)

Awards and honors

• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction – Joseph O'Neill, Netherland
• Canada Reads – Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes
• IMPAC Dublin Literary Award – Michael Thomas, Man Gone Down
• Man Booker Prize – Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction – Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge
• Scotiabank Giller Prize – Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop's Man
• Nobel Prize in Literature – Herta Müller
• Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year – Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, Daina Taimina
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Siobhan Dowd, Bog Child
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française: Pierre Michon, Les Onze

Deaths

• January 1 – Johannes Mario Simmel, 84, Austrian writer
• January 27 – John Updike, 76, American novelist (Rabbit series)
  

  

  John Updike
• February 20 – Christopher Nolan, 43, Irish poet and author
• February 25 – Philip José Farmer, 91, American science fiction writer
• March 13 – James Purdy, 94, American novelist, poet and playwright
• March 31
  • Jarl Alfredius, 66, Swedish journalist
  • Michael Cox, 60, British novelist and biographer
• April 14 – Maurice Druon, 90, French historical novelist
• April 19 – J. G. Ballard, 78, British novelist
• May 6 – Lev Losev, 71, Russian-American poet
• May 17 – Mario Benedetti, 88, Uruguayan writer
• June 2 – David Eddings, 77, American novelist
• July 6 – Vasily Aksyonov, 76, Russian novelist
• July 19 – Frank McCourt, 78, Irish-American memoirist and Pulitzer Prize winner
  

  

  Frank McCourt
• July 23 – E. Lynn Harris, 54, American author
• July 25 – Stanley Middleton, 89, British author
• July 27
  • Aeronwy Thomas, 66, British translator and writer
  • Michaël Zeeman, 50, Dutch literary critic, poet and writer
• July 31 – Tim Guest, 34, British writer
• August 2 – Adolf Endler, 78, German writer
• August 4 – Blake Snyder, 51, American screenwriter and author
• August 5 – Budd Schulberg, 95, American screenwriter and novelist
• August 6
  • Jack T. Kirby, 70, American historian
  • Willibrordus S. Rendra, 73, Indonesian poet
• August 7 – Danko Popović, 81, Serbian writer
• August 8 – Alfonso Calderón, 78, Chilean writer and poet
• August 9 – Thierry Jonquet, 55, French writer
• August 10
  • Josef Burg, 97, Ukrainian Yiddish writer
  • Merlyn Mantle, 77, American author
• August 16 – Alistair Campbell, 84, New Zealand poet
• August 18
  • Dic Jones, 75, Welsh poet
  • Hugo Loetscher, 79, Swiss author
  • Fernanda Pivano, 92, Italian writer
• August 19 – Donald M. Grant, 82, American science fiction publisher
• August 20 – Karla Kuskin, 77, American children's author
• August 22 – Elmer Kelton, 83, American Western novelist
  

  

  Elmer Kelton.
• August 25 – Bob Carroll, 73, American historian and author
• August 25 – Sergey Mikhalkov, 96, Russian writer and poet
• September 3 – Christine D'Haen, 85, Belgian poet
• September 4 – Keith Waterhouse, 80, British author and playwright
• September 6
  • Catherine Gaskin, 80, Irish-born Australian novelist
  • Nada Iveljić, 79, Croatian writer
• September 10 – Lyn Hamilton, 65, Canadian author
• September 11 – Jim Carroll, 60, American author
• September 12
  • William Hoffman, 84, American novelist
  • Antônio Olinto, 90, Brazilian writer
• September 13 – Sarah E. Wright, 80, American novelist
• September 15 – Trevor Rhone, 69, Jamaican playwright
• September 19 – Milton Meltzer, 94, American historian and author
• September 21 – Junzo Shono, 88, Japanese author
• September 22 – Kole Čašule, 88, Macedonian writer
• September 24 – Nelly Arcan, 35, Canadian novelist
• September 25 – Willy Breinholst, 91, Danish author
• October 1
  • Otar Chiladze, 76, Georgian writer
  • Cintio Vitier, 88, Cuban poet
• October 4 – Veikko Huovinen, 82, Finnish writer
• November 29 – Robert Holdstock, 61, British writer
  

  

  Veikko Huovinen
• November 30 – Milorad Pavić, 80, Serbian writer
• December 5 – William Lederer, 97, American author
• December 7
  • Carlene Hatcher Polite, 77, American novelist
  • Pyotr Vail, 60, Russian essayist and journalist
• December 15 – Courtlandt Bryan, 73, American author
• December 19 – Loren Singer, 86, American novelist
• December 20 – Vera Rich, 73, British poet, journalist
• December 23 – Grigory Baklanov, 86, Russian novelist
• December 25
  • Vrindavanam Venugopalan, 74, Indian writer
  • Rachel Wetzsteon, 42, American poet
• December 26
  • Dennis Brutus, 85, South African poet
  • Norval White, 83, American author

References

See also

• 2009 in Australian literature
• 2009 in comics
• List of literary awards
• List of poetry awards