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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2020.
Dates after each title indicate the first publication, unless otherwise indicated.
ISBN in first citation always refers to the first edition published. Links should point to first edition, though they may point to newer editions by the same publisher. If the publisher does not present the first edition online, a second citation is provided with a link to a newer one on the publisher's site.
OCLC may represent other ISBNs in some cases.
Date | Individual | Background | Age | Cause of death | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
January 5 | Sylvia Jukes Morris | British biographer | 84 | [168] | |
January 7 | Elizabeth Wurtzel | American author (Prozac Nation) | 52 | Leptomeningeal disease as a complication of metastasized breast cancer | [169] |
January 9 | Chukwuemeka Ike | Nigerian writer | 88 | [170] | |
January 12 | Sir Roger Scruton | English philosopher and writer | 75 | Cancer | [171] |
January 16 | Christopher Tolkien | British academic and editor, son of J. R. R. Tolkien | 95 | [172] | |
January 17 | Charles Carrère | Senegalese poet | 91 | [173] | |
January 23 | Armando Uribe | Chilean writer, National Prize for Literature winner (2004) | 86 | [174] | |
January 30 | Jörn Donner | Finnish writer | 86 | Lung disease | [175] |
January 31 | Mary Higgins Clark | American best-selling author of suspense novels | 92 | [176] | |
February 3 | George Steiner, FBA | Frenco-American literary critic and essayist (After Babel) | 90 | [177] | |
February 4 | Kamau Brathwaite | Barbadian poet and academic | 89 | [178] | |
Alice Mayhew | American editor | 87 | [179] | ||
February 12 | Christie Blatchford | Canadian newspaper columnist, writer and broadcaster | 68 | Cancer | [180] |
February 17 | Charles Portis | American author (True Grit, Gringos) | 86 | Alzheimer's disease | [181] |
February 21 | Lisel Mueller | German-American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet | 96 | [182] | |
February 22 | Kiki Dimoula | Greek poet | 88 | [183] | |
February 24 | Clive Cussler | American adventure novelist (Raise the Titanic!) and founder of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) | 88 | [184] | |
February 25 | Grace F. Edwards | American novelist and director of the Harlem Writers Guild | 87 | [185] | |
March 2 | Barbara Neely | African-American myster writer | 78 | [186] | |
March 13 | Yang Mu | Taiwanese poet and essayist | 79 | [187] | |
March 22 | Richard Marek | American editor | 86 | Esophageal cancer | [188] |
March 24 | Terrence McNally | American playwright, and librettist | 81 | COVID-19 | [189] |
March 30 | Tomie dePaola | American author and illustrator | 86 | Complications from surgery | [190] |
April 1 | Bruce Dawe | Australian poet | 90 | [191] | |
April 2 | Patricia Bosworth | American biographer, and memoirist | 86 | COVID-19 | [192] |
April 6 | Jean Little | Canadian children's fiction author | 88 | [193] | |
April 15 | Rubem Fonseca | Brazilian writer | 94 | [194] | |
April 16 | Luis Sepúlveda | Chilean author and journalist | 70 | COVID-19 | [195] |
April 25 | Per Olov Enquist | Swedish author (The Visit of the Royal Physician) | 85 | Cancer | [196] |
April 27 | Eavan Boland | Irish poet | 75 | Stroke | [197] |
April 29 | Yahya Hassan | Danish poet and political activist | 24 | [198] | |
Maj Sjowall | Swedish crime writer | 84 | [199] | ||
May 4 | Michael McClure | American beat poet, playwright, and songwriter, who read at the Six Gallery reading | 87 | Complications from a stroke | [200] |
May 12 | Carolyn Reidy | American publisher and head of Simon & Schuster | 71 | Heart attack | [201] |
May 27 | Larry Kramer | American playwright (The Normal Heart) and LGBT rights activist | 84 | Pneumonia | [202][203] |
June 2 | Hiber Conteris | Uruguayan literary critic | 86 | ||
June 3 | Bruce Jay Friedman | American humorist, novelist, and playwright | 90 | [204] | |
June 13 | Jean Raspail | French author (The Camp of the Saints) | 94 | ||
June 19 | Carlos Ruiz Zafón | Spanish author (The Shadow of the Wind) | 55 | Colorectal cancer | [205] |
June 28 | Rudolfo Anaya | American author (Bless Me, Ultima), founder of Chicano literature | 82 | [206][207] | |
July 7 | Elizabeth Harrower | Australian novelist | 92 | [208] | |
July 8 | Brad Watson | American author | 64 | [209] | |
July 12 | Joanna Cole | American author (The Magic School Bus) | 75 | Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis | [210] |
August 3 | Shirley Ann Grau | American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer (The Keepers of the House) | 91 | Complications from a Stroke | [211] |
August 5 | Eric Bentley | American theater critic | 103 | [212] | |
Pete Hamill | American journalist and author | 85 | Heart and kidney failure | [213] | |
August 10 | Jacobo Langsner | Uruguayan screenwriter and playwright | 93 | ||
August 24 | Gail Sheehy | American journalist and author (Hillary's Choice) | 83 | Complications of pneumonia | [214] |
August 28 | Randall Kenan | American short story writer and author | 57 | [215] | |
September 1 | Shanna Hogan | American true crime writer | 37 | Home accident | [216] |
September 2 | David Graeber | American anthropologist, activist, social critic, and author (Debt: The First 5000 Years) | 59 | Necrotic pancreatitis | |
September 12 | Florence Howe | American author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian, founder of Feminist Press | 91 | Complications from Parkinson's disease | [217] |
September 14 | Anne Stevenson | British-American poet and author | 87 | Heart failure | |
September 16 | Stanley Crouch | American jazz critic, playwright, novelist, public intellectual, and essayist | 74 | COVID-19 | [218] |
September 17 | Terry Goodkind | American science-fiction and fantasy writer | 72 | [219] | |
Winston Groom | American author (Forrest Gump) | 77 | Heart attack | [220] | |
September 23 | Sir Harold Evans | British-American journalist and author (The American Century) | 92 | Congestive heart failure | [221][222] |
September 23 | Emyr Humphreys | Welsh-language writer | 101 | [223] | |
October 1 | Derek Mahon | Irish poet and journalist | 78 | [224] | |
October 5 | Ruth Klüger | Austrian-American author and academic | 88 | [225] | |
October 25 | Diane Di Prima | American poet | 86 | [226] | |
October 26 | Daniel Menaker | American editor at Random House and The New Yorker | 79 | Pancreatic cancer | [227] |
October 27 | Julia O'Faolain | Irish writer | 88 | [228] | |
October 31 | Joan Bingham | American co-founder and executive director of Grove Atlantic | 85 | Pneumonia | [229] |
November 4 | Naomi Long Madgett | American poet laureate, founder of Lotus Press, and “the godmother of African-American poetry” | 97 | [230][231] | |
November 6 | Luke Rhinehart | American novelist, screenwriter, and nonfiction writer | 87 | [232] | |
Natan Zach | Israeli poet | 89 | Complications of Alzheimer's disease | [233] | |
Mikhail Zhvanetsky | Soviet and Russian writer and satirist | 86 | [234] | ||
November 9 | Joan Drury | American writer, publisher, and indie bookseller | 75 | [235] | |
November 20 | Jan Morris | British journalist | 94 | [236] | |
November 29 | Ben Bova | American science fiction writer and magazine editor (Analog) | 88 | COVID-19-related pneumonia and a stroke | [237][238] |
December 1 | Miguel Algarín | Puerto Rican poet and founder of Nuyorican Poets Café | 79 | Sepsis | [239] |
December 3 | Alison Lurie | American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (Foreign Affairs) | 94 | [240] | |
December 8 | Anthony Veasna So | American short story writer | 28 | Accidental drug overdose | [241][242] |
December 12 | John le Carré | English author (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) | 89 | Complications from a fall | [243] |
The following list is arranged alphabetically:
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