This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2013.

Events

• 21 January – An annual Orwell Day is instituted.^[1]
• 26 January – Fleeing Islamist insurgents set fire to library buildings in Timbuktu containing manuscripts, mostly in Arabic, dating back to 1204.^[2]
• 7 March – World Book Day becomes a UNESCO-designated event marked in more than 100 countries.^[3]
• April – J. K. Rowling publishes a detective novel, The Cuckoo's Calling, under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, with the U.K. publisher Sphere Books. The author's identity is revealed by the media in July.^[4]
• 23 April – World Book Night.^[3]
• 28 April – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Simon Stephens' stage adaptation of a novel by Mark Haddon, wins a record seven awards at the 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards in London.^[5]
• 1 July – Publisher Penguin Random House is created by a merger.
• 3 September – The new Library of Birmingham, the largest public library in the U.K., is opened by Malala Yousafzai.^[6] Its public spaces are integrated with those of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
• October – Jo Nesbø reveals himself as Tom Johansen, author of three forthcoming novels.^[7]
• 28 November – Three unpublished works by J. D. Salinger (died 2010), including "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls", are leaked onto the internet.^[8]

Anniversaries

• 11 February
  • 50th anniversary of the death of Sylvia Plath in 1963^[3]
  • 200th anniversary of the birth of Harriet Jacobs in 1813^[9]
• 28 January – 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice in 1813^[3]
• 5 May – 200th anniversary of the birth of Søren Kierkegaard in 1813^[3]
• 2 June – 100th anniversary of the birth of Barbara Pym^[10]
• 29 June – 400th anniversary of the burning of the Globe Theatre during a production of Shakespeare and Fletcher's Henry VIII in 1613^[3]
• 2 August – 25th anniversary of the death of US short story writer Raymond Carver
• 7 November – 100th anniversary of the birth of Albert Camus^[3]
• 22 November – 50th anniversary of the death of Aldous Huxley^[3]

New books

Fiction

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Americanah
• José Eduardo Agualusa – A General Theory of Oblivion (Teoria Geral do Esquecimento)
• Jacob M. Appel – The Biology of Luck
• Kate Atkinson – Life After Life
• Dan Brown – Inferno
• Adam Christopher – The Burning Dark
• J. M. Coetzee – The Childhood of Jesus
• Troy Denning – Crucible
• Doug Dorst – S.
• Richard Flanagan – The Narrow Road to the Deep North
• Aminatta Forna – The Hired Man
• Frederick Forsyth – The Kill List
• Neil Gaiman – The Ocean at the End of the Lane
• Elizabeth Graver – The End of the Point
• David G. Hartwell (ed.) – Year's best SF 18
• Neamat Imam – The Black Coat
• Reinhard Jirgl – Nichts von euch auf Erden
• Stephen King – Doctor Sleep
• Rachel Kushner – The Flamethrowers
• Pierre Lemaitre – Au revoir là-haut (The Great Swindle)
• Eimear McBride – A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
• Alex Miller – Coal Creek
• Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹) – Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年, Tsukuru to, kare no junrei no toshi)
• Adam Nevill – House of Small Shadows
• Nnedi Okorafor – Kabu-Kabu: Stories
• Chuck Palahniuk – Doomed
• Ruth Ozeki - A Tale for the Time Being
• Rick Riordan – The House of Hades
• Veronica Roth – Allegiant
• J. K. Rowling (as Robert Galbraith) – The Cuckoo's Calling
• Ahmed Saadawi – Frankenstein in Baghdad (فرانكشتاين في بغداد)
• M. G. Sanchez – The Escape Artist: a Gibraltarian novel
• George Saunders – Tenth of December: Stories
• John Scalzi – The Human Division
• Sjón – Moonstone – The Boy Who Never Was (Mánasteinn – drengurinn sem aldrei var til)
• Marivi Soliven – The Mango Bride
• Robert Stone – Death of the Black-Haired Girl
• Donna Tartt – The Goldfinch
• Zlatko Topčić – Dagmar
• Laura van den Berg – The Isle of Youth (short story collection)
• Peter Watts – Beyond the Rift (collected stories)
• Tim Winton – Eyrie

Children's and young people

• David Almond – Mouse Bird Snake Wolf
• Janeen Brian – I'm A Dirty Dinosaur
• Nick Bromley – Open Very Carefully
• Laura Dockrill – Darcy Burdock
• Anthony Horowitz – Russian Roulette^[11]
• John Hornor Jacobs – The Twelve-Fingered Boy
• Chris Lynch – Dead in The Water
• Patricia MacLachlan – Cat Talk
• Nikki McClure – How To Be A Cat
• Rhode Montijo - The Gumazing Gum Girl! Book 1: Chews Your Destiny (August 20)
• Chris Raschka – Daisy Gets Lost
• Rainbow Rowell
  • Eleanor & Park
  • Fangirl
• Maggie Stiefvater – The Dream Thieves (second book in The Raven Cycle)
• Amy Tintera – Reboot

Drama

• Annie Baker – The Flick
• Elfriede Jelinek – Die Schutzbefohlenen
• Lucy Kirkwood – Chimerica
• Stefano Massini – The Lehman Trilogy
• Edward Petherbridge and Kathryn Hunter – My Perfect Mind
• Roger Williams – Tir Sir Gâr

Poetry

Non-fiction

• Saroo Brierley – A Long Way Home
• Kate Christensen – Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites
• Pat Conroy – The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son
• Jared Diamond – The World Until Yesterday
• Craig Dworkin – No Medium
• Peter Freeman – The Wallpapered Manse
• Malcolm Gladwell – David and Goliath
• Ben Goldacre – Bad Pharma
• Temple Grandin – The Autistic Brain
• Michael Kimmel – Angry White Men^[12]
• Mark Levin – The Liberty Amendments
• Peter H. Maguire – Thai Stick^[13]
• Diane Muldrow – Everything I Need To Know I Learned From A Little Golden Book
• Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse – The Neanderthals Rediscovered
• Thomas Piketty – Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Le Capital au XXIe siècle)^[14]
• Lisa Randall – Higgs Discovery
• Sheryl Sandberg – Lean In
• Nina Stibbe – Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life
• Jeff VanderMeer – The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

Deaths

• 2 January
  • Alexei Rudeanu, Romanian writer (born 1939)^[15]
  • Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and writer (born 1944)^[16]
• 7 January – Maruša Krese, Slovene poet, writer and journalist (born 1947)^[17]
• 10 January – Evan S. Connell, American novelist, poet and short story writer (born 1924)
• 11 January – Robert Kee, English writer, journalist and broadcaster (born 1919)^[18]
• 18 January – Jacques Sadoul, French novelist, book editor and non-fiction writer (born 1934)^[19]
• 20 January
  • Yemi Ajibade, Nigerian playwright and actor (born 1929)
  • Dolores Prida, Cuban-American journalist and playwright (born 1943)
  • Toyo Shibata (柴田トヨ), Japanese poet (born 1911)^[20]
• 24 January – Richard G. Stern, American novelist and educator (born 1928)
• 2 February – Sirajul Haq Memon, Pakistani author, journalist and scholar in Sindhi (born 1933)^[21]
• 3 February – Robert Anthony Welch, Irish author and academic (born 1947)^[22]
• 4 February – Margaret Frazer (Gail Lynn Brown), American historical novelist (born 1946)^[23]
• 5 February – Leda Mileva, Bulgarian writer, translator, and diplomat (born 1920)^[24]
• 7 February
  • Niki Marangou, Cypriot writer and painter (born 1948)^[25]
  • Jonathan Rendall, English author (born 1964)^[26]
• 8 February – Alan Sharp, Scottish-American screenwriter and author (born 1934)^[27]
• 10 February – W. Watts Biggers, American novelist (born 1927)^[28]
• 12 February – Barnaby Conrad, American author (born 1922)^[29]
• 13 February – Oswald LeWinter, Austrian-born American writer (born 1931)^[30]
• 14 February
  • Glenn Boyer, American author (born 1924)^[31]
  • Mary Brave Bird, American Lakota writer and activist (born 1954)^[32]
  • Friedrich Neznansky, Russian writer (born 1932)^[33]
• 17 February
  • William Bridges, American author and business consultant (born 1933)^[34]
  • Manoranjan Das, Indian playwright (born 1923)^[35]
  • Debbie Ford, American motivational author (born 1955)^[36]
• 23 February
  • Maurice Rosy, Belgian comics writer (born 1927)^[37]
  • Sylvia Smith, English writer (born 1945)^[38]
• 24 February – Mahmoud Salem, Egyptian author (born 1931)^[39]
• 26 February
  • Jan Howard Finder, American science fiction writer (born 1939)^[40]
  • Stéphane Hessel, German-born French author and diplomat (born 1917)^[41]
• 27 February
  • Molly Lefebure, English writer (born 1919)^[42]
  • Imants Ziedonis, Latvian poet (born 1933)^[43]
• 10 March – Robert Chrisman, American poet, scholar, and critic, co-founder of The Black Scholar (born 1937)
• 1 April – Kildare Dobbs, Canadian author (born 1923)
• 11 April – Adam Galos, Polish historian (born 1924)^[44]
• 13 April – Nick Pollotta, American science fiction author (born 1954)^[45]
• 20 April
  • Jocasta Innes, China-born English non-fiction writer (born 1934)^[46]
  • E. L. Konigsburg, American children's novelist and illustrator (born 1930)^[47]
• 22 April – Clément Marchand, Canadian poet and journalist (born 1912)^[48]
• 1 May – Gregory Rogers, Australian children's author and illustrator (born 1957)
• 12 May – Per Maurseth, Norwegian historian (born 1932)
• 23 May – William Demby, American author (born 1922)
• 26 May – Jack Vance, American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer (born 1916)
• 6 June – Tom Sharpe, English comic novelist (born 1928)^[49]
• 9 June – Iain Banks, Scottish novelist (born 1954)^[50]
• 23 June – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (born 1926)^[51]
• 12 July – Elaine Morgan, Welsh writer on anthropology (born 1920)^[52]
• 2 September – Frederik Pohl, American science fiction writer (born 1919)^[53]
• 18 September – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-born German literary critic (born 1920)
• 21 September – Kofi Awoonor, Ghanaian poet (shot dead, born 1935)^[54]
• 23 September
  • Christopher Koch, Australian novelist (born 1932)^[55]
  • Álvaro Mutis, Colombian poet, novelist and essayist (born 1923)^[56]
  • Luciano Vincenzoni, Italian screenwriter (born 1926)^[57]
• 1 October – Tom Clancy, American thriller writer (born 1947)^[58]
• 25 November – Joel Lane, English author, poet, and critic (born 1963)
• 11 December – Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author (born 1929)

Awards

• Akutagawa Prize (Early): Kaori Fujino for Tsume to Me (爪と目) "Nails and Eyes"
• Caine Prize for African Writing: Tope Folarin, "Miracle"
• Camões Prize: Mia Couto^[59]
• Danuta Gleed Literary Award: (announced 11 June 2013)
• David Cohen Prize: Hilary Mantel
• Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Main award, C. E. Gatchalian; honours of distinction, Anand Mahadevan, Barry Webster
• Dylan Thomas Prize: Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins^[60]
• European Book Prize: Eduardo Mendoza, An Englishman in Madrid, and Arnaud Leparmentier, The French, gravediggers of the euro
• German Book Prize: Terézia Mora, Das Ungeheuer
• Goldsmiths Prize: A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride^[61]
• Gordon Burn Prize: Pig Iron by Ben Myers^[62]
• Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
• Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: Quand les guêpes se taisent by Stéphanie Pelletier
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française: Plonger by Christophe Ono-dit-Biot
• Hugo Award for Best Novel: John Scalzi for Redshirts
• International Dublin Literary Award: City of Bohane by Kevin Barry^[63]
• International Prize for Arabic Fiction: The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi
• Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2013 Lambda Literary Awards
• Man Booker Prize: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
• Miles Franklin Award: Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser^[64][65]
• National Biography Award (5 August): The Two Frank Thrings by Peter Fitzpatrick^[66]
• National Book Award for Fiction: The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
• National Book Critics Circle Award: to Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Alice Munro
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
• Premio Planeta de Novela: El cielo ha vuelto by Clara Sánchez
• Premio Strega: Resistere non serve a niente by Walter Siti
• Pritzker Military Library Literature Award: to Tim O'Brien^[67]
• Prix Goncourt: Au revoir là-haut by Pierre Lemaitre
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds
• Russian Booker Prize: Возвращение в Панджруд (Return to Panjrud) by Andrei Volos
• SAARC Literary Award: Suman Pokhrel, Abhay K, Daya Dissanayake, Farheen Chaudhary, Abdul Khaliq Rashid
• Samuel Johnson Prize: (announced November 2013) The Pike by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Lynn Coady, Hellgoing^[68]
• Whiting Awards: Fiction: Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams (fiction/nonfiction), Amanda Coplin, Jennifer duBois, C.E. Morgan, Stephanie Powell Watts; Nonfiction: Morgan Meis, Clifford Thompson; Plays: Virginia Grise; Poetry: Ishion Hutchinson, Rowan Ricardo Phillips
• Women's Prize for Fiction: May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes
• Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: W.S. Merwin^[69]