Overview of the events of 2016 in literature
Overview of the events of 2016 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2016.
New books
The date after each title indicate the U.S. publication date, unless otherwise stated.
Fiction
- Naomi Alderman – The Power (UK, October)
- Mohammed Hasan Alwan – A Small Death (موت صغير, Lebanon, May)
- Fernando Aramburu – Patria (Spain)
- Anuk Arudpragasam – The Story of a Brief Marriage (UK)
- Margaret Atwood – Hag-Seed (October)[7]
- Sebastian Barry – Days Without End (October)[8]
- Gary Barwin – Yiddish for Pirates (April 8)[9]
- Mike Binder – Keep Calm (February 2)[10]
- Pierce Brown – Morning Star (February 9)[11]
- Graeme Macrae Burnet – His Bloody Project (UK)
- Marcia Clark – Blood Defense (May 1)[12]
- J. M. Coetzee – The Schooldays of Jesus (UK, September 27)
- Jean-Baptiste Del Amo – Règne animal (France, August 18)
- Emma Donoghue – The Wonder (September)[13]
- Paul Goldberg – The Yid (February 2)[14]
- Linda Grant – The Dark Circle (UK only, November 3)
- Mark Greaney – Back Blast
- Yaa Gyasi – Homegoing
- Michael Helm – After James (September 13)[15]
- Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson – Navigators of Dune (September 13)[16]
- Vigdis Hjorth – Arv og miljø (Wills and Testaments, Norway)
- Anosh Irani – The Parcel
- Alexandra Kleeman – Intimations: Stories (September 13)
- Christian Kracht – The Dead (Die Toten, Germany, September 8)
- László Krasznahorkai – Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming (Báró Wenckheim hazatér, Hungary, September)
- Shari Lapena – The Couple Next Door
- Deborah Levy – Hot Milk (UK, March 24)[17]
- Édouard Louis – Histoire de la violence (History of Violence, France, January 7)
- Mike McCormack – Solar Bones (UK, May 5)[18]
- Elizabeth McKenzie – The Portable Veblen
- C. E. Morgan – The Sport of Kings
- Sayaka Murata – Convenience Store Woman (コンビニ人間, Konbini ningen, Japan, July 27)
- Maggie O'Farrell – This Must Be the Place (UK, May 17)[19]
- Chibundu Onuzo – Welcome to Lagos (UK)
- Stef Penney – Under A Pole Start
- Sarah Perry – The Essex Serpent (UK, May 27)[20]
- Kerry Lee Powell – Willem de Kooning's Paintbrush
- Christoph Ransmayr – Cox
- David Adams Richards – Principles to Live By
- Steven Rowley – Lily and the Octopus (June 7)[21]
- Joss Sheldon – The Little Voice (UK, November 23)[22][23]
- Leïla Slimani – Chanson douce (France, August 18, translated as Lullaby or The Perfect Nanny)
- Ali Smith – Autumn (UK, October 20)[24]
- Zadie Smith – Swing Time
- Botho Strauß – Oniritti Höhlenbilder (Germany, October 10)
- David Szalay – All That Man Is (linked short stories, UK, April 7)[25]
- Yasuko Thanh – Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains (Canada)[26]
- Madeleine Thien – Do Not Say We Have Nothing (October 11)[27]
- Rose Tremain – The Gustav Sonata (UK, May 19)[28]
- Katherena Vermette – The Break (Canada)[26]
- Colson Whitehead – The Underground Railroad
- Zoe Whittall – The Best Kind of People (August 27)[29]
- Corrina Wycoff – Damascus House (May 25)
Children and young people
Poetry
Drama
Non-fiction
- Jimmy Barnes – Working Class Boy
- Daniel Beer – The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars (UK)
- Paul Cartledge – Democracy: A Life (UK, March 24)[37]
- Nicholas Crane – The Making of the British Landscape: From the Ice Age to the Present
- Daisy Deomampo – Transnational Reproduction[38]
- Susan Faludi – In the Darkroom (June 14)[39]
- Christopher Goscha – The Penguin History of Vietnam
- John Guy – Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years (UK, May 5)[citation needed]
- Jock Haswell (with John Lewis-Stempel) – A Brief History of the British Army (UK, May 26)
- Gareth Stedman Jones – Karl Marx: Greatness and Illusion (UK, August)[40]
- Daniel Levitin – A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age
- John Lewis-Stempel
- The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland (UK, June 20)
- Where Poppies Blow: The British Soldier, Nature, The Great War (UK)
- John McWhorter – Words on the Move: Why English Won't – and Can't – Sit Still (Like, Literally)
- Rajiv Malhotra
- Hisham Matar – The Return (UK, June 30)[41]
- Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack – The Index Card (January 5)[42]
- Patrick Phillips – Blood at the Root
- John Preston – A Very English Scandal (UK, May 5)[43]
- Kassia St. Clair – The Secret Lives of Colour
- Gary Younge – Another Day in the Death of America
Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in literature" article:
- January 11 – Gunnel Vallquist, Swedish writer and translator (born 1918)[44]
- January 18 – Michel Tournier, French writer, 91 (born 1924)[45]
- January 20 – David G. Hartwell, American anthologist, author and critic (b. 1941)
- February 8 – Margaret Forster, English novelist and biographer, 77 (born 1938)[46]
- February 18 – Yūko Tsushima (津島 佑子), Japanese author, 68 (born 1947)[47]
- February 19
- February 29 – Louise Rennison, English author and comedian (born 1951)[50]
- March 1 – Carole Achache, French writer, photographer and actress, 63, (born 1952)[51]
- March 4 – Pat Conroy, American novelist (The Prince of Tides), 70 (born 1945)[52]
- March 8 - Enrique Estrázulas, Uruguayan writer, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist and diplomat, 74 (born 1942)[53]
- March 21 – Tomás de Mattos, Uruguayan writer and librarian, 68 (born 1947)[54]
- March 31 – Imre Kertész, Hungarian writer and the 2002 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 86 (born 1929)[55]
- April 3 – Lars Gustafsson, Swedish writer and scholar, novelist and poet, 79 (born 1936)[56]
- April 5 – E. M. Nathanson, American author (The Dirty Dozen), 87 (born 1928)[57]
- April 12 – Sir Arnold Wesker, English dramatist, 83 (born 1932)[58]
- April 30 – Daniel Berrigan, American Jesuit priest, poet, peace activist and recidivist, won the 1957 Lamont Prize in Poetry, 94 (born 1921)[59]
- June 6 – Sir Peter Shaffer, English playwright (Amadeus), 90 (born 1926)[60]
- June 25 – Adam Small, 79, South African writer and poet, winner of the Hertzog Prize (born 1936)[61]
- June 30 – Sir Geoffrey Hill, English poet, 84 (born 1932)[62]
- July 1 – Yves Bonnefoy, French poet, 93 (born 1923)[63]
- July 2 – Elie Wiesel, American Jewish author (Night) and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner (born 1928)[64]
- July 14 – Péter Esterházy, Hungarian writer, 66 (born 1950)[65]
- July 19 – Carlos Gorostiza, Argentine playwright, theatre director and novelist, 96 (born 1920)
- August 24 – Michel Butor, French essayist, novelist, critic and a leading figure of 1950s Nouveau Roman group, 89 (born 1926)[66]
- September 4 :
- September 16
- September 28 – Gloria Naylor, African-American novelist and academic (The Women of Brewster Place), 66, (born 1950)[70]
- October 13 – Dario Fo, Italian playwright and the 1997 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 90 (born 1926)[71]
- October 31 – Natalie Babbitt, American author (Tuck Everlasting), 84 (born 1932)[72]
- November 7 – Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet, novelist and songwriter, 82 (born 1934)[73]
- November 10 – Francisco Nieva, Spanish playwright, novelist and short story writer, 91 (born 1924)
- November 11 – Sir James McNeish, New Zealand novelist, playwright and biographer, 85 (born 1931)[74]
- November 20 – William Trevor, Irish novelist, playwright and short story writer, 88 (born 1928)[75]
- December 12 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian novelist and short story writer, 85 (born 1931)[76]
- December 24 – Richard Adams, English author (Watership Down), 96 (born 1920)[77]
- December 28 – Michel Déon, French novelist, 97 (born 1919)