1998 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1998.

Events

 * March 5 – Tennessee Williams' 1938 play Not About Nightingales receives its stage première in London, in a collaboration between the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and Corin and Vanessa Redgrave's Moving Theatre.
 * October
 * The death of the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom Ted Hughes leaves a gap of several months before a successor, Andrew Motion, is designated the following spring.
 * Kinoko Nasu (奈須きのこ) launches the Kara no Kyōkai series, with five chapters released online.
 * November 18 – Alice McDermott wins the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy.
 * December – The Strand Magazine title is revived in the United States.

Fiction

 * Turki al-Hamad – Adama (first volume in Atyaf al-Aziqah al-Mahjurah (Phantoms of the Deserted Alley) trilogy)
 * Tariq Ali – The Book of Saladin
 * Aaron Allston
 * Iron Fist
 * Wraith Squadron
 * Hanan al-Shaykh – I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops (أكنس الشمس عن السطوح)
 * Martin Amis – Heavy Water and Other Stories (most stories previously published)
 * Beryl Bainbridge – Master Georgie
 * Iain M. Banks – Inversions
 * Alessandro Barbero – Romanzo russo. Fiutando i futuri supplizi (translated 2010 as The Anonymous Novel. Sensing the Future Torments)
 * Julian Barnes – England, England
 * Greg Bear
 * Dinosaur Summer
 * Foundation and Chaos
 * Raymond Benson – The Facts of Death
 * Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny – Psychoshop
 * Robert Bloch – Flowers from the Moon and Other Lunacies
 * Roberto Bolaño – The Savage Detectives (Los Detectives Salvajes)
 * Xurxo Borrazás – Contos malvados
 * William Boyd – Armadillo
 * Giannina Braschi – Yo-Yo Boing!
 * Anne Carson – Autobiography of Red (verse novel)
 * Driss Chraïbi – Muhammad
 * Mary Higgins Clark – All Through the Night
 * Tom Clancy – Rainbow Six
 * Paulo Coelho – Veronika Decides to Die
 * Michael Connelly – Blood Work
 * Bernard Cornwell – Sharpe's Triumph
 * Patricia Cornwell – Point of Origin
 * Douglas Coupland – Girlfriend in a Coma
 * Ann C. Crispin – Rebel Dawn
 * Michael Cunningham – The Hours
 * Nelson DeMille – Plum Island
 * August Derleth
 * The Final Adventures of Solar Pons
 * In Lovecraft's Shadow
 * Peter Dickinson – The Kin
 * Allan W. Eckert – Return to Hawk's Hill
 * Bret Easton Ellis – Glamorama
 * Giles Foden – The Last King of Scotland
 * Diana Gabaldon – Hellfire
 * Neil Gaiman – Smoke and Mirrors (mainly reprints)
 * Andrew Greeley – A Midwinter's Tale
 * John Grisham – The Street Lawyer
 * Wolf Haas – Komm, süßer Tod (Come, Sweet Death)
 * Margaret Peterson Haddix - Among the Hidden
 * Ha Jin (哈金) – Waiting
 * Tomson Highway – Kiss of the Fur Queen
 * Nick Hornby – About a Boy
 * Michel Houellebecq – Atomised (Les Particules élémentaires)
 * Marek S. Huberath – Gniazdo światów (Nest of Worlds)
 * John Irving – A Widow for One Year
 * K. W. Jeter
 * The Mandalorian Armor
 * Slave Ship
 * Wayne Johnston – The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
 * Stephen King – Bag of Bones
 * Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible
 * Dean R. Koontz – Seize the Night
 * Joe R. Lansdale
 * Rumble Tumble
 * The Boar
 * Alain Mabanckou – Bleu-Blanc-Rouge
 * Patrick McCabe – Breakfast on Pluto
 * Ian McEwan – Amsterdam
 * Roy MacLaren – African Exploits
 * Steve Martin – Pure Drivel
 * Carol Matas – Greater Than Angels
 * China Miéville – King Rat
 * Alice Munro – The Love of a Good Woman
 * Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹) – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル, Nejimakidori Kuronikuru)
 * Cees Nooteboom – All Souls' Day (Allerzielen)
 * Sigrid Nunez – Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury
 * Tim O'Brien – Tomcat in Love
 * Orhan Pamuk – My Name Is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı)
 * Tom Perrotta – Election
 * Terry Pratchett
 * Carpe Jugulum
 * The Last Continent
 * Fahmida Riaz – Godavari
 * David Adams Richards – The Bay of Love and Sorrows
 * José Luis Rodríguez Pittí – Crónica de invisibles
 * Philip Roth – I Married a Communist
 * Margit Sandemo – Ensam i världen (Alone in the World)
 * Michael Slade – Shrink (also Primal Scream)
 * Alexander McCall Smith – The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
 * Michael Stackpole – I, Jedi
 * Danielle Steel
 * The Klone and I
 * The Long Road Home
 * Mirror Image
 * Thomas Sullivan – The Martyring
 * Andrew Vachss – Safe House
 * Connie Willis – To Say Nothing of the Dog
 * A. N. Wilson – Dream Children
 * Tom Wolfe – A Man in Full
 * Timothy Zahn – Vision of the Future

Children and young people

 * David Almond – Skellig
 * Melvin Burgess – Junk
 * Denise Fleming – Mama Cat Has Three Kittens
 * Gayle Greeno (with Michael Gilbert) – Sunderlies Seeking
 * Tanya Huff – Summon the Keeper
 * Diana Wynne Jones – Dark Lord of Derkholm
 * Dick King-Smith – The Crowstarver
 * Julius Lester – Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story
 * J. Patrick Lewis (with Gary Kelley) – BoshBlobberBosh: Runcible Poems for Edward Lear
 * J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Louis Sachar – Holes
 * Robert Swindells – Abomination
 * Judy Waite – Mouse, Look Out!
 * Douglas Wood – Rabbit and the Moon

Drama

 * Edward Albee – The Play About the Baby
 * Parv Bancil – Made in England (full-length version)
 * Marina Carr – By the Bog of Cats
 * Michael Frayn – Copenhagen
 * David Hare – The Blue Room
 * Ted Hughes (translator) – Phèdre
 * Elfriede Jelinek – Ein Sportstück (A Sports Piece)
 * Terrence McNally – Corpus Christi
 * Sol B River
 * The White Witch of Rose Hall
 * River Plays 1 (published)
 * Shelagh Stephenson – An Experiment with an Air Pump
 * Marius von Mayenburg – Fireface (Feuergesicht)
 * Tennessee Williams (died 1983) – Not About Nightingales (first performance; written 1938)

Poetry

 * Seamus Heaney
 * Beowulf (translation)
 * Opened Ground: Poems 1966–1996
 * Ted Hughes – Birthday Letters
 * Dejan Stojanović – Krugovanje: 1978–1987 (Circling; 2nd edition)

Non-fiction

 * Charlotte Allen – The Human Christ: The Search For The Historical Jesus
 * Andrea Ashworth – Once in a House on Fire
 * Antony Beevor – Stalingrad
 * Harold Bloom – Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human
 * Bill Bryson – Notes from a Big Country
 * Peter Cannon (editor) – Lovecraft Remembered
 * Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd – Dear Friend and Gardener
 * Corinne Debaine-Francfort – La redécouverte de la Chine ancienne
 * Amanda Foreman – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
 * John Fowles – Wormholes – Essays and Occasional Writings
 * Jonathan Freedland – Bring Home the Revolution
 * Sita Ram Goel – Vindicated by Time
 * Simon Heffer – Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell
 * Adam Hochschild – King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa
 * A. P. J. Abdul Kalam – India 2020
 * Ryszard Kapuściński – Heban (Ebony, translated as The Shadow of the Sun)
 * B. B. Lal – India 1947–1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization
 * Martin Lee and Marcia Miller – The Mega-fun Multiplication Facts Activity Book
 * Eric Liu – The Accidental Asian
 * Alan I. Marcus – Building Western Civilization: From the Advent of Writing to the Age of Steam
 * Thylias Moss – Tale of a Sky-Blue Dress
 * Inga Muscio – Cunt: A Declaration of Independence
 * V. S. Naipaul – Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples
 * Gilles Perrault (ed.) – Le Livre noir du capitalisme (The Black Book of Capitalism)
 * John Pilger – Hidden Agendas
 * Michael Poole – Romancing Mary Jane
 * Arun Shourie – Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud
 * Marilee Strong – A Bright Red Scream
 * University of Arizona – Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni
 * Adam Zagajewski – Another Beauty

Births

 * March 7 – Amanda Gorman, American poet and activist
 * May 15 – Mohammed El-Kurd, Palestinian writer and poet
 * December 16 – Chloe Gong, Chinese-born New Zealand author
 * unknown dates
 * K-Ming Chang – Taiwanese-American novelist and poet
 * Moses MacKenzie – British novelist

Deaths

 * January 2 – Frank Muir, English comedy writer and broadcaster (born 1920)
 * January 11 – John Wells, English satirist (born 1936)
 * January 18 – Monica Edwards, English children's novelist (born 1912)
 * January 23 – John Forbes, Australian poet (heart attack, born 1950)
 * January 27 – Geoffrey Trease, English children's historical novelist (born 1909)
 * February 7 – Lawrence Sanders, American novelist and short story writer (born 1920)
 * February 15 – Martha Gellhorn, American journalist (suicide, born 1908)
 * February 17 – Ernst Jünger, German novelist and war memoirist (born 1895)
 * March 15 – Dr. Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and writer on child care (born 1903)
 * April 11 – Francis Durbridge, English playwright (born 1912)
 * April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914)
 * April 27
 * Anne Desclos (Pauline Réage), French journalist and novelist (born 1907)
 * Carlos Castaneda, Mexican-born American anthropologist and author (born 1925)
 * May 9 – Nat Perrin, American comedy writer (born 1905)
 * May 11 — Willy Corsari, Dutch author of detective fiction (born 1897)
 * June 10
 * Joan Adeney Easdale, English poet (born 1913)
 * Hammond Innes, English novelist (born 1913)
 * June 11 – Dame Catherine Cookson, English novelist (born 1906)
 * July 1 – Martin Seymour-Smith, English biographer (born 1928)
 * July 5 – Johnny Speight, English comedy writer (born 1920)
 * July 9 – Ian Wallace (John Wallace Pritchard), American science fiction author (born 1912)
 * July 14 – Miroslav Holub, Czech poet (born 1923)
 * July 23
 * John Hopkins, English film and television writer (born 1931)
 * Manuel Mejía Vallejo, Colombian novelist (born 1923)
 * August 16 – Dorothy West, American novelist and short story writer (born 1907)
 * August 22 – Grace Paley, American writer (born 1922)
 * September 28 – Eric Malling, Canadian journalist (born 1946)
 * October 15 – Iain Crichton Smith, Scottish writer (born 1928)
 * October 22 – Eric Ambler, English spy novelist (born 1909)
 * October 28 – Ted Hughes, English poet and Poet Laureate (born 1930)
 * November 3 – Bob Kane (Robert Kahn), American comics artist and writer (born 1915)
 * November 8 – Rumer Godden, English novelist (born 1907)
 * November 17 – Alexandru Talex, Romanian journalist, critic and biographer (born 1909)
 * December 16 – William Gaddis, American novelist (born 1922)

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: José Saramago
 * Europe Theatre Prize: Luca Ronconi
 * Camões Prize: Antonio Candido

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jennifer Kremmer, Pegasus in the Suburbs
 * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Coral Hull, Broken Land
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: No awards this year
 * Mary Gilmore Prize: Emma Lew, The Wild Reply
 * Miles Franklin Award: Peter Carey, Jack Maggs

Canada

 * Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award: Talya Rubin
 * See 1998 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists.
 * Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Alice Munro: The Love of a Good Woman
 * Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Charlotte Gray: Mrs. King

France

 * Prix Décembre: Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules élémentaires
 * Prix Goncourt: Paule Constant, Confidence pour confidence
 * Prix Médicis French: Le Loup mongol
 * Prix Médicis International: The House of Sleep – Jonathan Coe

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: David Almond, Skellig
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More
 * Cholmondeley Award: Roger McGough, Robert Minhinnick, Anne Ridler, Ken Smith
 * Eric Gregory Award: Mark Goodwin, Joanne Limburg, Patrick McGuinness, Kona Macphee, Esther Morgan, Christiania Whitehead, Frances Williams
 * Orange Prize for Fiction: Carol Shields, Larry's Party
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Les Murray
 * Whitbread Best Book Award: Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Shara McCallum, The Water Between Us
 * Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: X.J. Kennedy
 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Horton Foote
 * American Book Award Before Columbus Foundation: Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, and (separately) Allison Hedge Coke, Dog Road Woman
 * Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Sherod Santos, "Elegy for My Sister", and (separately) Neil Azevedo, "Caspar Hauser Songs"
 * Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: Frank Bidart, Desire
 * Compton Crook Award: Katie Waitman, The Merro Tree
 * Hugo Award for Best Novel: Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
 * Frost Medal: Stanley Kunitz
 * Nebula Award: Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust
 * PEN American Center's PEN Open Book Award: Giannina Braschi, Yo-Yo Boing!
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Philip Roth, American Pastoral
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Charles Wright, Black Zodiac
 * Wallace Stevens Award: A. R. Ammons
 * Whiting Awards:
 * Fiction: Michael Byers, Ralph Lombreglia (fiction/nonfiction)
 * Non-fiction: D. J. Waldie, Anthony Walton
 * Plays: W. David Hancock
 * Poetry: Nancy Eimers, Daniel Hall, James Kimbrell, Charles Harper Webb, Greg Williamson

Elsewhere

 * International Dublin Literary Award: Herta Muller, The Land of Green Plums
 * Premio Nadal: Lucía Etxebarria, Beatriz y los cuerpos celestes