2004 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2004.

Events

 * January
 * The poet Jang Jin-sung, in trouble with the North Korean authorities, defects to South Korea.
 * The Richard & Judy Book Club is launched on UK daytime television.
 * February – Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation.
 * February 16 – Edwin Morgan becomes Scotland's first official national poet, the Scots Makar, appointed by the Scottish Parliament.
 * May 23 – Seattle Central Library, designed by Rem Koolhaas, opens to the public.
 * June 1 – Controversy surrounds Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (高見広春), when an 11-year-old fan of the story in Sasebo, Nagasaki, murders her classmate, 12-year-old Satomi Mitarai, in a way that mimics a scene from the story.
 * October 14 – Edinburgh becomes UNESCO's first City of Literature.
 * October 31 – Denoël in Paris publishes Irène Némirovsky's Suite française, consisting of two novellas, Tempête en juin and Dolce, written and set in 1940–1941, from a sequence left unfinished on the author's death in Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942.
 * December 18 – The première of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's play Behzti (Dishonour) at England's Birmingham Repertory Theatre is cancelled after violent protests by members of the Sikh community.
 * unknown dates
 * Kansas City Public Library's Community Bookshelf is built.
 * The typeface Calibri, designed by Luc(as) de Groot, is introduced.

Fiction

 * Cecelia Ahern – PS, I Love You
 * C. C. Allentini – Dead of Winter
 * Germano Almeida – O mar na Lajinha
 * John Ames – Wake Up Sir!
 * R. Scott Bakker – The Darkness That Comes Before
 * Blue Balliett – Chasing Vermeer
 * Iain M. Banks – The Algebraist
 * Steven Barnes – The Cestus Deception
 * Alistair Beaton – A Planet for the President
 * Thomas Berger – Adventures of the Artificial Woman
 * Louis de Bernières – Birds Without Wings
 * Roberto Bolaño (posthumous) – 2666
 * Xurxo Borrazás – Ser ou non
 * T. C. Boyle – The Inner Circle
 * Anthony Cartwright – The Afterglow
 * Gennifer Choldenko – Al Capone Does My Shirts
 * Kate Christensen – The Epicure's Lament: A Novel
 * Stephen Clarke – A Year in the Merde
 * Susanna Clarke – Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
 * Wendy Coakley-Thompson – Back to Life
 * Allison Hedge Coke – Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer
 * Suzanne Collins – Gregor the Overlander
 * J. J. Connolly – Layer Cake
 * Afua Cooper – The Hanging of Angelique
 * Bernard Cornwell
 * Sharpe's Escape
 * The Last Kingdom
 * Douglas Coupland – Eleanor Rigby
 * Stevie Davies – Kith & Kin
 * L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg – Sagas of Conan
 * Michel Déon – Your Father's Room
 * Cory Doctorow – Eastern Standard Tribe
 * Ben Elton – Past Mortem
 * Gustav Ernst – Grado. Süße Nacht
 * Giorgio Faletti – Niente di vero tranne gli occhi
 * Jon Fosse – Det er Ales (Aliss at the Fire)
 * Karen Joy Fowler – The Jane Austen Book Club
 * Ge Fei (格非) – 人面桃花 (Renmian Taohua, Peach Blossom Beauty)
 * Robert Goddard – Play to the End
 * Adrien Goetz – La Dormeuse de Naples
 * Helon Habila – Waiting for an Angel
 * Margaret Peterson Haddix – Among the Brave
 * Elisabeth Harvor, All Times Have Been Modern (Canada)
 * Michael Helm – In the Place of Last Things
 * Carl Hiaasen – Skinny Dip
 * Alan Hollinghurst – The Line of Beauty
 * Jiang Rong – Wolf Totem
 * Cynthia Kadohata – Kira-Kira
 * Mitsuyo Kakuta (角田 光代) – Woman on the Other Shore
 * Peg Kehret – Escaping the Giant Wave
 * Thomas Keneally – The Tyrant's Novel
 * Stephen King
 * The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
 * The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
 * John Kiriamiti – My Life in Prison
 * Karl Ove Knausgård – A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven (En tid for alt)
 * László Krasznahorkai – Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens (Rombolás és bánat az Ég alatt)
 * Thor Kunkel – Endstufe
 * David Leavitt – The Body of Jonah Boyd
 * Tanith Lee – Piratica
 * David Lodge – Author, Author
 * Andreï Makine – The Woman Who Waited (La femme qui attendait)
 * Henning Mankell – Depths
 * David Michaels – Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
 * David Mitchell – Cloud Atlas
 * Aka Morchiladze – Santa Esperanza
 * Bharati Mukherjee – The Tree Bride
 * Alice Munro – Runaway
 * V. S. Naipaul – Magic Seeds
 * Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o – Mũrogi wa Kagogo (Wizard of the Crow)
 * Garth Nix – Grim Tuesday
 * Cees Nooteboom – Lost Paradise (Paradijs verloren)
 * Daniel Olivas – Devil Talk: Stories
 * Linda Sue Park – When My Name Was Keoko
 * Jodi Picoult – My Sister's Keeper
 * Terry Pratchett
 * A Hat Full of Sky
 * Going Postal
 * Michael Reaves and Steve Perry – MedStar I: Battle Surgeons and MedStar II: Jedi Healer
 * Marilynne Robinson – Gilead
 * Philip Roth – The Plot Against America
 * Edward Rutherfurd – Dublin: Foundation
 * Nick Sagan – Edenborn
 * Andrzej Sapkowski – Warriors of God
 * David Sherman and Dan Cragg – Jedi Trial
 * Kyle Smith – Love Monkey
 * David Southwell – Conspiracy Files
 * Muriel Spark – The Finishing School
 * Olen Steinhauer – The Confession
 * Neal Stephenson
 * The Confusion (Vol. II of the Baroque Cycle)
 * The System of the World (Vol. III of the Baroque Cycle)
 * Sean Stewart – Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
 * Thomas Sullivan – Dust of Eden
 * Michel Thaler – Le Train de Nulle Part
 * Colm Tóibín – The Master
 * Zlatko Topčić – Bare Skin
 * Karen Traviss – Star Wars Republic Commando: Hard Contact
 * Jonathan Trigell – Boy A
 * Andrew Vachss – Down Here
 * Vivian Vande Velde – Heir Apparent
 * Bob Weltlich – Crooked Zebra
 * A. N. Wilson – My Name Is Legion
 * Michael Winter – The Big Why
 * Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow of the Wind
 * Juli Zeh – Gaming Instinct
 * Florian Zeller – La Fascination du pire (The Fascination of Evil)

Children and young people

 * David Almond – Kate, the Cat and the Moon
 * Mary Bartek – Funerals and Fly Fishing
 * John Fardell – The Seven Professors of the Far North
 * Mem Fox – Where Is the Green Sheep?
 * Cornelia Funke – When Santa Fell to Earth
 * Virginia Hamilton (with Barry Moser) – Wee Winnie Witch's Skinny: An Original African American Scare Tale
 * E. L. Konigsburg - The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
 * J. Patrick Lewis (with Gary Kelley) – The Stolen Smile
 * Robert Muchamore – The Recruit (first in the CHERUB series)
 * Jenny Nimmo – Charlie Bone and the Blue Boa
 * Liz Pichon – My Big Brother, Boris
 * Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez – The Eyes of My Princess
 * Lemony Snicket – The Grim Grotto
 * Dugald Steer (with Nghiem Ta, etc.) – Egyptology: Search for the Tomb of Osiris

Drama

 * Alan Bennett – The History Boys
 * Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti – Behzti
 * Neil Brand – Stan (radio)
 * Bryony Lavery – Frozen
 * Brent Hartinger – Geography Club
 * Louis Nowra – The Woman with Dog's Eyes
 * John Patrick Shanley – Doubt
 * Florian Zeller – L'Autre (The Other)

Poetry

 * Seamus Heaney – Beacons at Bealtaine

Non-fiction

 * Steve Almond – Candyfreak
 * Thomas P.M. Barnett – The Pentagon's New Map
 * Ingmar and Ingrid Bergman and Maria von Rosen – Tre dagböcker (Three diaries)
 * T. Mike Childs – The Rocklopedia Fakebandica
 * Richard A. Clarke – Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror
 * Jonathan Coe – Like A Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson
 * Allison Hedge Coke – Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer
 * Anne Coleman – I'll Tell You a Secret
 * Flora Fraser – Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III
 * Leonie Frieda – Catherine de' Medici
 * Sheila Hancock – The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw
 * Gareth Stedman Jones – An End to Poverty?
 * Pedro Lemebel – Adiós mariquita linda
 * Doris Lessing – Time Bites: Views and Reviews
 * Lawrence Lessig – Free Culture
 * Mario Vargas Llosa – The Temptation of the Impossible
 * Roger Lowenstein – Origins of the Crash
 * Hugh Masekela – Still Grazing (autobiography)
 * Predrag Miletić – Biciklom do Hilandara
 * Farah Pahlavi – An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah
 * Chuck Palahniuk – Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories
 * Michael Palin – Himalaya
 * Sethy Regenvanu – Laef blong mi (From village to nation: an autobiography)
 * Anita Roddick – Take it Personally: How globalization affects you and powerful ways to challenge it
 * Miranda Seymour – The Bugatti Queen: In Search of a Motor-Racing Legend
 * Owen Sheers – The Dust Diaries
 * Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark
 * Ben Stein – Can America Survive? The Rage of the Left, The Truth, and What to Do About It
 * Jon Stewart and writers of The Daily Show – America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
 * Milt Thomas – Cave of a Thousand Tales
 * J. Maarten Troost – The Sex Lives of Cannibals
 * United Kingdom Government – Delivering Security in a Changing World
 * Francis Wheen – How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World (also Idiot Proof: A Short History of Modern Delusions)
 * Alford A. Young Jr. – The Minds of Marginalized Black Men

Films

 * 2046 - inspired by Liu Yichang's "The Drunkard"
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * The Phantom of the Opera

Deaths

 * January 3 – Lillian Beckwith, English novelist (born 1916)
 * January 4
 * Joan Aiken, English novelist and children's writer (born 1924)
 * Jeff Nuttall, English poet, artist and activist (born 1933)
 * Dorota Terakowska, Polish writer and journalist, author of fantasy books for children and young adults (born 1938)
 * John Toland, American author and historian (born 1912)
 * January 10
 * Alexandra Ripley, American novelist (born 1934)
 * (or January 11) Spalding Gray, American writer and actor (born 1942)
 * January 13 – Zeno Vendler, American philosopher and linguist (born 1921)
 * January 14 – Jack Cady, American fantasy and horror novelist (born 1932)
 * January 15
 * Alex Barris, Canadian actor and writer (born 1922)
 * Olivia Goldsmith, American novelist (complications from cosmetic surgery, born 1949)
 * January 24 – Abdul Rahman Munif, Arab writer (born 1933)
 * January 29
 * Janet Frame, New Zealand novelist, poet and short story writer (born 1924)
 * M. M. Kaye, Indian-born English novelist (born 1908)
 * February 2 – Alan Bullock, English historian (born 1914)
 * February 4 – Hilda Hilst, Brazilian poet, playwright and novelist (born 1930)
 * February 5 – Frances Partridge, English diarist (born 1900)
 * February 7 – Norman Thelwell, English cartoonist (born 1923)
 * February 17 – Bruce Beaver, Australian poet and novelist (born 1928)
 * February 27 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (born 1910)
 * February 28 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian (born 1914)
 * February 29 – Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (born 1915)
 * March 9 – Albert Mol, Dutch author, actor and dancer (born 1917)
 * March 27 – Robert Merle, French novelist (born 1908)
 * March 29 – Peter Ustinov, English actor, dramatist and memoirist (born 1921)
 * March 30
 * Alistair Cooke, English-born American journalist and broadcaster (born 1908)
 * Michael King OBE, New Zealand historian, author and biographer (born 1945)
 * April 19
 * Norris McWhirter, English writer and activist (born 1925)
 * John Maynard Smith, English evolutionary biologist and writer (born 1920)
 * April 25 – Thom Gunn, English poet (born 1929)
 * April 26 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American author (born 1928)
 * May 2 – Paul Guimard, French writer (born 1921)
 * May 12
 * Syd Hoff, American author and illustrator (born 1912)
 * Alexander Skutch, American scientific writer and naturalist (born 1904)
 * May 31 – Lionel Abrahams, South African novelist, poet and essayist (born 1928)
 * July 1 – Peter Barnes, English playwright (born 1931)
 * July 8 – Paula Danziger, American children's and young adult novelist (born 1945)
 * August 8 – Farida Diouri, Moroccan novelist (born 1953)
 * August 12 – Humayun Azad, Bangladeshi author, poet, scholar and linguist (born 1947)
 * August 14 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish writer and Nobel laureate (born 1911)
 * August 30 – Mario Levrero, Uruguayan novelist (born 1940)
 * September 18 – Norman Cantor, Canadian historian (born 1929)
 * September 24 – Françoise Sagan, French novelist (born 1935)
 * September 28 – Mulk Raj Anand, Indian novelist in English (born 1905)
 * October – Natalya Baranskaya, Russian short-story writer (born 1908)
 * October 8 – Jacques Derrida, Algerian-born French literary critic (born 1930)
 * October 13 – Bernice Rubens, Welsh-born novelist (born 1928)
 * October 16
 * Vincent Brome, English biographer and novelist (born 1910)
 * Harold Perkin, English social historian (born 1926)
 * October 20 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (born 1923)
 * November 9 – Stieg Larsson, Swedish journalist and crime novelist (heart attack, born 1954)
 * November 24 – Arthur Hailey, Canadian novelist (born 1920)
 * December 2 – Mona Van Duyn, American poet (born 1921)
 * December 8 – Jackson Mac Low, American poet (born 1922)
 * December 12 – Phaswane Mpe, South African novelist (born 1970)
 * December 13 – Jón frá Pálmholti (Jón Kjartansson), Icelandic writer and journalist (born 1930)
 * December 18 – Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (born 1926)
 * December 28 – Susan Sontag, American novelist (born 1933)

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Elfriede Jelinek
 * Camões Prize: Agustina Bessa-Luís

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Julienne van Loon, Road Story
 * Victorian Premier's Literary Award C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Judith Beveridge, Wolf Notes
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Pam Brown, Dear Deliria: New & Selected Poems
 * Mary Gilmore Prize: David McCooey, Blister Pack; Michael Brennan, Imageless World
 * Miles Franklin Award: Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire
 * Victorian Premier's Literary Award Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction: Annamarie Jagose, Slow Water

Canada

 * Giller Prize: Alice Munro, Runaway
 * Governor General's Awards: See 2004 Governor General's Awards
 * Griffin Poetry Prize: Anne Simpson, Loop and August Kleinzahler, The Strange Hours Travelers Keep
 * Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Andrea Curtis, Into the Blue

Sweden

 * Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award: Lygia Bojunga Nunes

United Kingdom

 * Caine Prize for African Writing: Brian Chikwava, "Seventh Street Alchemy"
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Millions
 * Cholmondeley Award: John Agard, Ruth Padel Lawrence Sail, Eva Salzman
 * Eric Gregory Award: Nick Laird, Elizabeth Manuel, Abi Curtis, Sophie Levy, Saradha Soobrayen
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Jonathan Bate, John Clare: A Biography
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: David Peace, GB84
 * Man Booker Prize: Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty
 * Orange Prize for Fiction: Andrea Levy, Small Island
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Hugo Williams
 * Whitbread Best Book Award: Andrea Levy, Small Island

United States

 * Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Henry Taylor
 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Aaron Smith, Blue on Blue Ground
 * Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Jeremy Glazier, "Conversations with the Sidereal Messenger"
 * Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: B.H. Fairchild, Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest
 * Brittingham Prize in Poetry: John Brehm, Sea of Faith
 * Compton Crook Award: E. E. Knight, Way of the Wolf
 * Frost Medal: Richard Howard
 * Hugo Award for Best Novel: Lois McMaster Bujold, Paladin of Souls
 * Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2004 Lambda Literary Awards.
 * National Book Award for Fiction: to The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck
 * National Book Critics Circle Award: to Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
 * PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: to The Early Stories: 1953–1975 by John Updike
 * Wallace Stevens Award: Mark Strand
 * Whiting Awards:
 * Fiction: Daniel Alarcón, Kirsten Bakis, Victor LaValle
 * Nonfiction: Allison Glock, John Jeremiah Sullivan
 * Plays: Elana Greenfield, Tracey Scott Wilson
 * Poetry: Catherine Barnett, Dan Chiasson, A. Van Jordan

Elsewhere

 * Premio Nadal: Antonio Soler, El camino de los ingleses