1983 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1983.

Events

 * April – The Russian samizdat poet Irina Ratushinskaya is sentenced to imprisonment in a labor camp for dissident activity. While there she continues to write poetry clandestinely.
 * June 2 – The Francophone Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor becomes the first black African writer elected as a member of the Académie française.
 * July – Barbara Cartland, who reaches the age of 82, writes 23 romantic novels this year.
 * November – Bruce Bethke's short story "Cyberpunk", written in 1980, is published in Amazing Stories magazine in the United States, giving a name to the science fiction subgenre of cyberpunk.
 * unknown date – Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published, as the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris creation "The Saint", which started in 1928. (An attempt to revive the series in 1997 is unsuccessful.)

Fiction

 * Nelson Algren (posthumous) – The Devil's Stocking
 * Isaac Asimov – The Robots of Dawn
 * Greg Bear – The Wind from a Burning Woman
 * Samuel Beckett – Worstward Ho
 * Thomas Bernhard – The Loser (Der Untergeher)
 * Jorge Luis Borges – Shakespeare's Memory (La memoria de Shakespeare, short stories)
 * Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Mists of Avalon
 * Morley Callaghan – A Time for Judas
 * Raymond Carver – Cathedral
 * J. M. Coetzee – Life and Times of Michael K
 * Jackie Collins – Hollywood Wives
 * Basil Copper – The House of the Wolf
 * Bernard Cornwell
 * Sharpe's Sword
 * Sharpe's Enemy
 * Bernard and Judy Cornwell (as Susannah Kells) – A Crowning Glory
 * György Dalos – 1985
 * L. Sprague de Camp
 * The Reluctant King
 * The Unbeheaded King
 * Jim Dodge – Fup
 * Stephen R. Donaldson – White Gold Wielder: Book Three of The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
 * Nora Ephron – Heartburn
 * Ken Follett – On Wings of Eagles
 * Ernest J. Gaines – A Gathering of Old Men
 * John Gardner – Icebreaker
 * Mark Helprin – Winter's Tale
 * Susan Hill – The Woman in Black
 * Elizabeth Jolley – Woman in a Lamp Shade
 * Ernst Jünger – Aladdin's Problem
 * William Kennedy – Ironweed
 * Stephen King
 * Christine
 * Pet Sematary
 * Dean R. Koontz – Phantoms
 * Louis L'Amour – The Lonesome Gods
 * Derek Lambert – The Judas Code
 * John le Carré – The Little Drummer Girl
 * Mary Mackey – The Last Warrior Queen
 * Norman Mailer – Ancient Evenings
 * James A. Michener – Poland
 * R. K. Narayan – A Tiger for Malgudi
 * Robert B. Parker – The Widening Gyre
 * Ellis Peters
 * The Sanctuary Sparrow
 * The Devil's Novice
 * Tim Powers – The Anubis Gates
 * Terry Pratchett – The Colour of Magic
 * Salman Rushdie – Shame
 * Joanna Russ – The Zanzibar Cat
 * Danielle Steel – Changes
 * Peter Straub – Floating Dragon
 * Walter Tevis – The Queen's Gambit
 * Gore Vidal – Duluth
 * Evangeline Walton – The Sword Is Forged
 * Fay Weldon – The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
 * A. N. Wilson – Scandal
 * Robert Anton Wilson – Prometheus Rising
 * Christa Wolf – Cassandra (Kassandra)
 * Roger Zelazny – Unicorn Variations (stories and essays)

Children and young people

 * Chris Van Allsburg – The Wreck of the Zephyr
 * Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (with Willi Glasauer) – Beauty and the Beast
 * Roald Dahl – The Witches
 * Lynley Dodd – Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy (first of the Hairy Maclary and Friends series)
 * Mem Fox – Possum Magic
 * Dick King-Smith – The Sheep-Pig (also as Babe, the Gallant Pig)
 * Harold Lamb (with George Barr and Alicia Austin) - The Sea of the Ravens
 * Jean Giono (with Willi Glasauer) – The Man Who Planted Trees

Drama

 * Samuel Beckett – Nacht und Träume (television play, first broadcast)
 * Ray Cooney – Run for Your Wife
 * David Mamet – Glengarry Glen Ross
 * Tom Murphy – The Gigli Concert
 * Christina Reid – Tea in a China Cup
 * Larry Shue – The Foreigner
 * Neil Simon – Brighton Beach Memoirs
 * Botho Strauß – The Park (Der Park)

Poetry

 * Paul Durcan – Jumping the Train Tracks with Angela
 * Grace Nichols – I is a long-memoried woman

Non-fiction

 * Benedict Anderson – Imagined Communities
 * Pascal Bruckner – The Tears of the White Man
 * L. Sprague de Camp – The Fringe of the Unknown
 * L. Sprague de Camp, Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin – Dark Valley Destiny
 * Tom Dardis – Harold Lloyd: The Man on the Clock
 * Terry Eagleton – Literary Theory: An Introduction
 * Anthony Grey – The Prime Minister Was a Spy
 * Susan Oliver – Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey
 * Renée Richards – Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story
 * Colin Thubron – Among the Russians
 * A. N. Wilson – The Life of John Milton: A Biography

Births

 * November 17 – Christopher Paolini, American fantasy novelist
 * December 6 – Jason Reynolds, African American children's novelist and poet
 * unknown date – Sarah Howe, Hong Kong-born poet writing in English

Deaths

 * January 5 – Chapman Grant, American historian and publisher (born 1887)
 * January 18 – Colin Watson, English crime fiction writer (born 1920)
 * February 14 – Brita von Horn, Swedish theater director, dramatist and novelist (born 1886)
 * February 18 – Robert Payne, English author, poet and biographer (born 1911)
 * February 25 – Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams III), American playwright (born 1911)
 * March 3 – Hergé (Georges Prosper Remi), Belgian comics creator (born 1907)
 * March 15 – Dame Rebecca West, British writer (born 1892)
 * April 12 – Desmond Bagley, English novelist (complications from stroke, born 1923))
 * May 4 – Shūji Terayama (寺山 修司), Japanese poet, dramatist, and film director (cirrhosis, born 1935)
 * May 21 – Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol, Egyptian poet (born 1940)
 * May 26 – Jack Hilton, British writer (born 1900)
 * June 19 – Vilmundur Gylfason, Icelandic historian, poet and politician (suicide, born 1948)
 * June 27 – Alden Nowlan, Canadian poet, novelist and playwright (born 1933)
 * July 27 – Gladys Mitchell, English crime fiction writer (born 1901)
 * August 12 – Mikey Smith, Jamaican dub poet (stoned to death; born 1954)
 * August 18 – Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, German-born British art historian (born 1902)
 * September 15 – Beverley Nichols, English writer and playwright (born 1898)
 * September 16 – Roy Andries De Groot, English-born American food writer (born 1910)
 * November 30 – Richard Llewellyn, British novelist (heart attack, born 1906)
 * December 5 – John Robinson, English religious writer and bishop (born 1919)
 * December 13 – Mary Renault, British novelist (born 1905)

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: William Golding

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jenny Summerville, Shields Of Trell
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Vivian Smith, Tide Country
 * Miles Franklin Award: No award presented

Canada

 * See 1983 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

 * Prix Goncourt: Frédérick Tristan, Les Égarés
 * Prix Médicis French: Jean Echenoz, Cherokee
 * Prix Médicis International: Kenneth White, La Route bleue

Spain

 * Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Rafael Alberti

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee -Life and Times of Michael K
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Jan Mark, Handles
 * Cholmondeley Award: John Fuller, Craig Raine, Anthony Thwaite
 * Eric Gregory Award: Martin Stokes, Hilary Davies, Michael O'Neill, Lisa St Aubin De Teran, Deidre Shanahan
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jonathan Keates, Allegro Postillions
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years
 * Newdigate prize: Peter McDonald
 * Whitbread Best Book Award: John Fuller, Flying to Nowhere

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kate Daniels, The White Wave
 * Nebula Award: David Brin, Startide Rising
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Voigt, Dicey's Song
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Marsha Norman, 'Night, Mother
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Alice Walker – The Color Purple
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Galway Kinnell – Selected Poems
 * Pulitzer Prize for History: The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790 by Rhys Isaac
 * Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction: Is There No Place on Earth for Me? by Susan Sheehan

Elsewhere

 * Hugo Award for Best Novel: Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov
 * Premio Nadal: Salvador García Aguilar, Regocijo en el hombre