2003 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2003.

Events

 * February 12 – An invitation from the First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, for some poets to attend a conference at the White House is postponed when one of them, Sam Hamill, organizes a "Poets Against the War" group for poetry readings across the United States on the same date.
 * February 15 – Anti-war protests occur in London. They are later used as the setting for Ian McEwan's 2005 novel Saturday.
 * March – The University of Mosul library is damaged and looted during the Iraq War, but many volumes are removed for protection by staff.
 * April 14 – The Iraq National Library and Archive is burned down during the Battle of Baghdad.
 * April – Nicholas Hytner succeeds Sir Trevor Nunn as artistic director of London's Royal National Theatre.
 * November 7 – UNESCO places among the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity wayang kulit, a shadow puppet theatre and best known of the Indonesian wayang.

Fiction

 * Peter Ackroyd – The Clerkenwell Tales
 * Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Purple Hibiscus
 * Mitch Albom – The Five People You Meet in Heaven
 * Monica Ali – Brick Lane
 * Martin Amis – Yellow Dog
 * Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake
 * Paul Auster – Oracle Night
 * Max Barry – Jennifer Government
 * Greg Bear – Darwin's Children
 * Frédéric Beigbeder – Windows on the World
 * Hilari Bell – Fall of a Kingdom
 * Thomas Berger – Best Friends
 * Giles Blunt – The Delicate Storm
 * Frank Brennan – Tampering with Asylum
 * Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code
 * Angus Peter Campbell – An Oidhche Mus Do Sheol Sinn
 * Lars Saabye Christensen – Maskeblomstfamilien
 * Paulo Coelho – Eleven Minutes
 * J. M. Coetzee – Elizabeth Costello
 * Deborah Joy Corey – The Skating Pond
 * Bernard Cornwell
 * Sharpe's Havoc
 * Sharpe's Christmas
 * Heretic
 * Douglas Coupland – Hey Nostradamus!
 * Robert Crais – The Last Detective
 * Julie E. Czerneda – Space, Inc.
 * Jeffery Deaver – Twisted
 * Don DeLillo – Cosmopolis
 * Kate DiCamillo – The Tale of Despereaux
 * Cory Doctorow
 * A Place So Foreign and Eight More
 * Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
 * Gerard Donovan – Schopenhauer's Telescope
 * Fernanda Eberstadt – The Furies
 * Rodrigo Fresán – Jardines de Kensington
 * Cornelia Funke – Inkheart
 * Anna Gavalda – I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere (translation)
 * William Gibson – Pattern Recognition
 * Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen – Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War
 * Jean-Christophe Grangé – L'Empire des loups
 * John Grisham – The King of Torts
 * Margaret Peterson Haddix – Among the Barons
 * Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
 * Pete Hamill – Forever
 * Joanne Harris – Holy Fools
 * Shirley Hazzard – The Great Fire
 * Victor Heck – The Asylum
 * Vol 2 – The Violent Ward
 * Vol 3 – The Quiet Ward
 * Jennifer Haigh – Mrs. Kimble
 * Zoë Heller – Notes on a Scandal
 * Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner
 * Michel Houellebecq – Lanzarote
 * Evan Hunter – The Frumious Bandersnatch
 * Alan Judd – The Kaiser's Last Kiss
 * N. M. Kelby – Theater of the Stars: A Novel of Physics and Memory
 * Thomas Keneally – The Tyrant's Novel
 * Greg Keyes – The Final Prophecy
 * Stephen King – Wolves of the Calla
 * Dean R. Koontz – The Face
 * Dean R. Koontz – Odd Thomas
 * Jhumpa Lahiri – The Namesake
 * Dennis Lehane – Shutter Island
 * Jonathan Lethem – The Fortress of Solitude
 * James Luceno – The Unifying Force
 * Steve Martini – The Arraignment
 * Magnus Mills – The Scheme for Full Employment
 * Paul Murray – An Evening of Long Goodbyes
 * Julie Myerson – Something Might Happen
 * Andrew Neiderman – The Baby Squad
 * Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler's Wife
 * Garth Nix – Mister Monday
 * Chuck Palahniuk – Diary
 * Christopher Paolini – Eragon
 * Carolyn Parkhurst – The Dogs of Babel
 * Per Petterson – Out Stealing Horses (Ut og stjæle hester)
 * DBC Pierre – Vernon God Little
 * Terry Pratchett
 * Monstrous Regiment
 * The Wee Free Men
 * Jean Raspail – Les Royaumes de Borée
 * Matthew Reilly – Scarecrow
 * Nina Revoyr – Southland
 * Tom Robbins – Villa Incognito
 * J. Jill Robinson – Residual Desire
 * Nick Sagan – Idlewild
 * Matthew Sharpe – The Sleeping Father
 * Michael Slade – Bed of Nails
 * Wilbur Smith – Blue Horizon
 * Olen Steinhauer – The Bridge of Sighs
 * Neal Stephenson – Quicksilver (Vol. I of the Baroque Cycle)
 * Matthew Stover – Shatterpoint
 * Jonathan Stroud – The Amulet of Samarkand
 * Anthony Swofford – Jarhead
 * Miguel Sousa Tavares – Equador
 * Adam Thirlwell – Politics
 * Akira Toriyama (鳥山 明) – Toccio the Angel (Tenshi no Tocchio)
 * Sergio Troncoso – The Nature of Truth
 * Andrew Vachss – The Getaway Man
 * Mario Vargas Llosa – The Way to Paradise (El paraíso en la otra esquina)
 * Jo Walton – Tooth and Claw
 * Irvine Welsh – Porno
 * Tobias Wolff – Old School
 * Roger Zelazny – Manna from Heaven (short stories)

Children and young people

 * David Almond – The Fire-Eaters
 * Atsuko Asano – No. 6 (あさの あつこ)
 * Cressida Cowell – How to Train Your Dragon (first in the eponymous series of 16 books)
 * Madonna - The English Roses
 * Elizabeth Laird – The Garbage King
 * Jim Murphy – An American Plague: the true and terrifying story of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793
 * Jenny Nimmo – Charlie Bone and the Time Twister
 * Tyne O'Connell – Pulling Princes
 * Philip Reeve – Predator's Gold
 * J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Lemony Snicket – The Slippery Slope
 * Dugald Steer (with Helen Ward, Wayne Anderson, etc.) – Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons
 * Mo Willems - Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (first in a series of 8 books)
 * Ann Turnbull – No Shame, No Fear
 * Kay Winters (with Barry Moser) – Voices of Ancient Egypt
 * Yang Hongying (楊紅櫻) – Four Troublemakers (四个调皮蛋, first in the Mo's Mischief – 淘气包马小跳 – series of 8 books)
 * Peter H. Reynolds - The Dot

Drama

 * Jordi Galceran – El mètode Grönholm (The Grönholm method)
 * Richard Greenberg – The Violet Hour
 * David Hare – The Permanent Way
 * Kwame Kwei-Armah – Elmina's Kitchen
 * Lynn Nottage – Intimate Apparel
 * Mark O'Rowe – Crestfall
 * Abhi Subedi – Agniko Katha

Poetry

 * Lavinia Greenlaw – Minsk
 * Pope John Paul II – Roman Triptych. Meditations
 * Dean Kalimniou – Kipos Esokleistos

Non–fiction

 * Banglapedia – National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh
 * Neal Bascomb – Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City
 * Patricia Brown – A League Of My Own: Memoir of a Pitcher for the All-American Girls
 * Andrea Curtis – Into the Blue
 * Richard Dawkins – A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love
 * Gerina Dunwich – Dunwich's Guide to Gemstone Sorcery
 * Jerry A. Eichenberger – Your Pilot's License
 * Marc Ferro – Le Livre noir du colonialisme
 * John Fowles – The Journals – Volume 1
 * Anna Funder – Stasiland
 * Mattias Gardell – Gods of the Blood
 * A. C. Grayling – What Is Good?: The Search for the Best Way to Live
 * Christopher Hitchens – A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq
 * Erik Larson – The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
 * Bethany McLean – The Smartest Guys in the Room
 * Don Miller – Blue Like Jazz
 * Michael Moore – Dude, Where's My Country?
 * Azar Nafisi – Reading Lolita in Tehran
 * Alanna Nash – The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley
 * Daniel Okrent – Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center
 * Chuck Palahniuk – Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon
 * Rudy Ruiz – ¡ADELANTE!: una guía personal del éxito para usted y su familia (a guide for success for immigrants)
 * Jane Smiley – Charles Dickens
 * Clark Ashton Smith – Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith
 * David Starkey – Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII
 * Lynne McTaggart – The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe
 * Amy Tan – The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings
 * Lynne Truss – Eats, Shoots & Leaves
 * Penny Wolfson – Moonrise

Films

 * The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Deaths

 * January 5 – Jean Kerr, American author and playwright (born 1923)
 * January 21 – Paul Haines, American-born Canadian poet and songwriter (born 1933)
 * February 16 – Aleksandar Tišma, Serbian novelist (born 1924)
 * February 26 – Quentin Keynes, English explorer, writer and filmmaker (born 1921)
 * March 11 – Brian Cleeve, English-born Irish writer and broadcaster (born 1921)
 * March 12 – Howard Fast, American novelist (born 1914)
 * March 14 – Lucian Boz, Romanian and Australian literary critic (born 1908)
 * April 3 – Michael Kelly, American journalist (born 1957)
 * April 7 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French children's writer (born 1903)
 * June 21
 * George Axelrod, American dramatist and screenwriter (born 1922)
 * Leon Uris, American novelist (born 1924)
 * July 6 – Kathleen Raine, English poet, scholar, and translator (born 1908)
 * July 10 – Winston Graham, English novelist (born 1908)
 * July 14 – Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist and children's writer (born 1926)
 * July 15 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean-born fiction writer (born 1953)
 * July 16 – Carol Shields, American-born Canadian novelist (breast cancer; born 1935)
 * September 3 – Alan Dugan, American poet (born 1923)
 * September 12 – Profira Sadoveanu, Romanian journalist, memoirist, biographer, editor and translator (born 1906)
 * September 24 – Derek Prince, English biblical scholar, author and radio presenter (born 1915)
 * September 25 – Edward Said, Palestinian-American literary critic (born 1935)
 * November 9 – Alan Davidson, Northern Irish historian and food writer (born 1924)
 * December 3 – Sita Ram Goel, Indian historian, publisher and author (born 1921)
 * December 11 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (born 1927)
 * December 12 – Fadwa Toukan, Palestinian poet (born 1917)

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: J. M. Coetzee

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Nicholas Angel, Drown Them in the Sea
 * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Emma Lew, Anything the Landlord Touches
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Jill Jones, Screens Jets Heaven
 * Miles Franklin Award: Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country

Canada

 * Giller Prize: M. G. Vassanji – The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
 * See 2003 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of the winners of those awards.
 * Griffin Poetry Prize: Margaret Avison, Concrete and Wild Carrot and Paul Muldoon, Moy sand and gravel
 * Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Alison Watt, The Last Island

Sweden

 * Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award: Maurice Sendak and Christine Nöstlinger

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little
 * Caine Prize for African Writing: Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, "Weight of Whispers"
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light
 * Cholmondeley Award: Ciarán Carson, Michael Donaghy, Lavinia Greenlaw, Jackie Kay
 * David Cohen Prize: Beryl Bainbridge, Thom Gunn
 * Eric Gregory Award: Jen Hadfield, Zoë Brigley, Paul Batchelor, Olivia Cole, Sasha Dugdale, Anna Woodford
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Janet Browne, Charles Darwin: Volume 2 – The Power of Place
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Andrew O'Hagan, Personality
 * Orange Prize for Fiction: Valerie Martin, Property
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: U. A. Fanthorpe
 * Whitbread Book of The Year Award: Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: David Shumate, High Water Mark
 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry: W. S. Merwin
 * Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Julie Sheehan, "Brown-headed Cow Birds"
 * Bollingen Prize for Poetry: Adrienne Rich
 * Brittingham Prize in Poetry: Brian Teare, The Room Where I Was Born
 * Compton Crook Award: Patricia Bray, Devlin's Luck
 * Frost Medal: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
 * Hugo Award: Robert J. Sawyer, Hominids
 * Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2003 Lambda Literary Awards
 * National Book Award for Fiction: Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire
 * National Book Critics Circle Award: Edward P. Jones, The Known World
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Avi, Crispin: The Cross of Lead
 * PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Sabina Murray, The Caprices
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
 * Wallace Stevens Award: Richard Wilbur
 * Whiting Awards:
 * Fiction: Courtney Angela Brkic (fiction/nonfiction), Alexander Chee, Agymah Kamau, Ann Pancake, Lewis Robinson, Jess Row
 * Nonfiction: Christopher Cokinos, Trudy Dittmar
 * Plays: Sarah Ruhl
 * Poetry: Major Jackson

Other

 * Camões Prize: Rubem Fonseca
 * International Dublin Literary Award: Orhan Pamuk My Name is Red
 * Premio Nadal: Andrés Trapiello, Los amigos del crimen perfecto
 * SAARC Literary Award: Tissa Abeysekara, Laxman Gaikwad