2016 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2016.

Events

 * May 20 – Writers who sign a letter calling for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union include Hilary Mantel, John le Carré, Philip Pullman and Tom Stoppard; nevertheless, the June 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum endorses Brexit.
 * May 24 – Hundreds of US writers, including Stephen King, Robert Polito and Nicole Krauss, sign an "open letter to the American people" urging them not to support Donald Trump as a presidential candidate in the November 2016 United States presidential election.
 * November 26 – UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy receives the Wilfred Owen Poetry Award.

Anniversaries

 * January 10 – Fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
 * February 1 – 20th anniversary of the publication of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
 * February 22 – 40th anniversary of the publication of Raymond Carver's Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
 * February 28 – Centenary of Henry James's death in 1916
 * March 28 – 75th anniversary of the death of Virginia Woolf in 1941
 * April 3 – 25th anniversary of Graham Greene's death in 1991
 * April 12 – Centenary of the birth of Beverly Cleary, American children's author
 * May 21 – Centenary of the birth of Harold Robbins, American novelist dubbed one of "the world's bestselling authors."
 * May 28 – Centenary of the birth of Walker Percy, National Book Award-winning American novelist (The Moviegoer, published 55 years ago in 1961)
 * April 21 – Bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë's birth in 1816
 * April 22 – 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes.
 * April 23 – Possible 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death
 * April 24 – Centenary of the Easter Rising in Dublin, which inspired W. B. Yeats's poem "Easter, 1916"
 * July 1 – Centenary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, in which those fighting included Robert Graves, Ford Madox Ford and JRR Tolkien
 * July 14 – Centenary of the birth of Natalia Ginzburg, Italian author
 * September 13 – Centenary of the birth of Roald Dahl, Welsh-born children's author
 * September 17 – Centenary of the birth of Mary Stewart (Mary Rainbow), English romantic suspense novelist
 * September 28 – Fiftieth anniversary of the death of André Breton, French poet, essayist and theorist; the leading exponent of Surrealism in literature
 * October 3 – Centenary of the birth of James Herriot (James Alfred Wight), English writer and veterinary surgeon
 * October 22 – 90 years ago, Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises is published in a first edition consisting of 5090 copies, selling at $2.00 per copy
 * December 14 – Centenary of the birth of Shirley Jackson, American novelist and short story writer
 * December 29 – Centenary of the publication in book form of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, in New York

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)
 * Sebastian Barry – Days Without End (October)
 * Gary Barwin – Yiddish for Pirates (April 8)
 * Mike Binder – Keep Calm (February 2)
 * Pierce Brown – Morning Star (February 9)
 * Graeme Macrae Burnet – His Bloody Project (UK)
 * Marcia Clark – Blood Defense (May 1)
 * J. M. Coetzee – The Schooldays of Jesus (UK, September 27)
 * Jean-Baptiste Del Amo – Règne animal (France, August 18)
 * Emma Donoghue – The Wonder (September)
 * Paul Goldberg – The Yid (February 2)
 * Linda Grant – The Dark Circle (UK only, November 3)
 * Mark Greaney – Back Blast
 * Yaa Gyasi – Homegoing
 * Michael Helm – After James (September 13)
 * Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson – Navigators of Dune (September 13)
 * 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)
 * Édouard Louis – Histoire de la violence (History of Violence, France, January 7)
 * Mike McCormack – Solar Bones (UK, May 5)
 * 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)
 * Chibundu Onuzo – Welcome to Lagos (UK)
 * Stef Penney – Under A Pole Start
 * Sarah Perry – The Essex Serpent (UK, May 27)
 * 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)
 * Joss Sheldon – The Little Voice (UK, November 23)
 * Leïla Slimani – Chanson douce (France, August 18, translated as Lullaby or The Perfect Nanny)
 * Ali Smith – Autumn (UK, October 20)
 * Zadie Smith – Swing Time
 * Botho Strauß – Oniritti Höhlenbilder (Germany, October 10)
 * David Szalay – All That Man Is (linked short stories, UK, April 7)
 * Yasuko Thanh – Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains (Canada)
 * Madeleine Thien – Do Not Say We Have Nothing (October 11)
 * Rose Tremain – The Gustav Sonata (UK, May 19)
 * Katherena Vermette – The Break (Canada)
 * Colson Whitehead – The Underground Railroad
 * Zoe Whittall – The Best Kind of People (August 27)
 * Corrina Wycoff – Damascus House (May 25)

Children and young people

 * Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (with Mahlon F. Craft and Kinuko Y. Craft) – Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête)
 * Jo Ellen Bogart – The White Cat and the Monk
 * Paula Bossio – The Pencil (original El Lapiz, 2011)
 * Maxine Beneba Clarke – The Patchwork Bike
 * Brian Conaghan – The Bombs that Brought Us Together
 * Mem Fox and Judy Horacek – Ducks Away!
 * Denise Fleming – 5 Little Ducks
 * Jory John and Lane Smith – Penguin Problems
 * Dav Pilkey – Dog Man (first in the eponymous series of 10 books)
 * J. Patrick Lewis (with Gary Kelley) – The Navajo Code Talkers
 * Sophie Piper (with Anne Yvonne Gilbert) – Jesus is Born
 * Dave Rudden – Knights of the Borrowed Dark
 * Francesca Simon – The Monstrous Child
 * Maggie Stiefvater – The Raven King (last book in The Raven Cycle series)
 * Jacqueline Wilson – Rent a Bridesmaid
 * Toni Yuly – Cat Nap (Yuly book)

Poetry

 * Matthew and Michael Dickman – Brother
 * Alice Oswald – Falling Awake
 * Jacob Polley – Jackself

Drama

 * Caryl Churchill
 * Escaped Alone (UK, 20 January)
 * Pigs And Dogs (UK, 21 July)
 * Martyna Majok – Cost of Living
 * Suman Pokhrel – Yajnaseni
 * J. T. Rogers – Oslo (June)
 * Zlatko Topčić – Silvertown
 * Alex Vickery-Howe – Out of the Ordinary

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)
 * Nicholas Crane – The Making of the British Landscape: From the Ice Age to the Present
 * Daisy Deomampo – Transnational Reproduction
 * Susan Faludi – In the Darkroom (June 14)
 * Christopher Goscha – The Penguin History of Vietnam
 * John Guy – Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years (UK, May 5)
 * 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)
 * 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
 * Academic Hinduphobia
 * Battle for Sanskrit
 * Hisham Matar – The Return (UK, June 30)
 * Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack – The Index Card (January 5)
 * Patrick Phillips – Blood at the Root
 * John Preston – A Very English Scandal (UK, May 5)
 * Chris Smith – The Daily Show (The Book)
 * Kassia St. Clair – The Secret Lives of Colour
 * J.D. Vance - Hillbilly Elegy
 * 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)
 * January 18 – Michel Tournier, French writer, 91 (born 1924)
 * January 20 – David G. Hartwell, American anthologist, author and critic (b. 1941)
 * February 8 – Margaret Forster, English novelist and biographer, 77 (born 1938)
 * February 18 – Yūko Tsushima (津島 佑子), Japanese author, 68 (born 1947)
 * February 19
 * Umberto Eco – Italian philosopher and novelist (The Name of the Rose), 84 (born 1932)
 * Harper Lee – American author (To Kill a Mockingbird), 89 (born 1926)
 * February 29 – Louise Rennison, English author and comedian (born 1951)
 * March 1 – Carole Achache, French writer, photographer and actress, 63, (born 1952)
 * March 4 – Pat Conroy, American novelist (The Prince of Tides), 70 (born 1945)
 * March 8 - Enrique Estrázulas, Uruguayan writer, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist and diplomat, 74 (born 1942)
 * March 21 – Tomás de Mattos, Uruguayan writer and librarian, 68 (born 1947)
 * March 31 – Imre Kertész, Hungarian writer and the 2002 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 86 (born 1929)
 * April 3 – Lars Gustafsson, Swedish writer and scholar, novelist and poet, 79 (born 1936)
 * April 5 – E. M. Nathanson, American author (The Dirty Dozen), 87 (born 1928)
 * April 12 – Sir Arnold Wesker, English dramatist, 83 (born 1932)
 * April 30 – Daniel Berrigan, American Jesuit priest, poet, peace activist and recidivist, won the 1957 Lamont Prize in Poetry, 94 (born 1921)
 * June 6 – Sir Peter Shaffer, English playwright (Amadeus), 90 (born 1926)
 * June 25 – Adam Small, 79, South African writer and poet, winner of the Hertzog Prize (born 1936)
 * June 30 – Sir Geoffrey Hill, English poet, 84 (born 1932)
 * July 1 – Yves Bonnefoy, French poet, 93 (born 1923)
 * July 2 – Elie Wiesel, American Jewish author (Night) and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner (born 1928)
 * July 14 – Péter Esterházy, Hungarian writer, 66 (born 1950)
 * 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)
 * September 4 :
 * Isidore Okpewho, Nigerian novelist and critic, 74 (born 1941)
 * Cyril C. Perera, Sri Lankan author and translator, 93 (born 1923)
 * September 16
 * Edward Albee, American playwright (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), 88 (born 1928)
 * W. P. Kinsella, Canadian author (Shoeless Joe), 81 (born 1935)
 * September 28 – Gloria Naylor, African-American novelist and academic (The Women of Brewster Place), 66, (born 1950)
 * October 13 – Dario Fo, Italian playwright and the 1997 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 90 (born 1926)
 * October 31 – Natalie Babbitt, American author (Tuck Everlasting), 84 (born 1932)
 * November 7 – Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet, novelist and songwriter, 82 (born 1934)
 * 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)
 * November 20 – William Trevor, Irish novelist, playwright and short story writer, 88 (born 1928)
 * December 12 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian novelist and short story writer, 85 (born 1931)
 * December 24 – Richard Adams, English author (Watership Down), 96 (born 1920)
 * December 28 – Michel Déon, French novelist, 97 (born 1919)

Awards
In alphabetical order of prize names:
 * Anisfield-Wolf Book Award: Mary Morris for The Jazz Palace
 * Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction: Lisa McInerney, The Glorious Heresies
 * Baillie Gifford Prize: Philippe Sands, East West Street
 * Booker Prize: Paul Beatty, The Sellout (first American winner)
 * Caine Prize for African Writing: Lidudumalingani Mqombothi, "Memories We Lost"
 * Camões Prize: Raduan Nassar
 * Costa Book Awards: Sebastian Barry, Days Without End (novel and overall winner); Francis Spufford, Golden Hill (first novel); Alice Oswald, Falling Awake (poetry); Keggie Carew, Dadland (biography); Brian Conaghan, The Bombs that Brought us Together (children's)
 * Danuta Gleed Literary Award: Heather O'Neill, Daydreams of Angels
 * Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Leah Horlick
 * Desmond Elliott Prize: Lisa McInerney, The Glorious Heresies
 * DSC Prize for South Asian Literature: Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy, India
 * Dylan Thomas Prize: Max Porter, Grief is the Thing with Feathers
 * European Book Prize: Javier Cercas, The Impostor and, Erri De Luca, Le Plus et le Moins
 * Folio Prize: No prize awarded
 * German Book Prize: Bodo Kirchhoff, Widerfahrnis
 * Goldsmiths Prize: Mike McCormack, Solar Bones
 * Gordon Burn Prize: David Szalay, All That Man Is
 * Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing
 * Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: Dominique Fortier, Au péril de la mer
 * Governor General's Awards, other categories: See 2016 Governor General's Awards.
 * Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française: Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre Le Dernier des nôtres
 * International Booker Prize: Han Kang, The Vegetarian
 * International Dublin Literary Award: Family Life by Akhil Sharma
 * International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Rabai al-Madhoun, Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Naqba
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction: Eimear McBride, The Lesser Bohemians
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography: Laura Cumming, The Vanishing Man
 * Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award: Anne Enright, The Green Road
 * Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 28th Lambda Literary Awards.
 * Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Eduardo Mendoza
 * Miles Franklin Award: A. S. Patrić, Black Rock White City
 * National Biography Award: Brenda Niall for Mannix
 * National Book Award for Fiction: Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad
 * National Book Critics Circle Award: Louise Erdrich, LaRose
 * Nike Award: Bronka Nowicka, Nakarmić kamień
 * Nobel Prize in Literature: Bob Dylan
 * PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: James Hannaham, Delicious Foods
 * PEN Center USA Fiction Award:
 * Premio Planeta de Novela:
 * Premio Strega: Edoardo Albinati, La scuola cattolica
 * Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing: Hew Strachan
 * Prix Goncourt: Leïla Slimani, Chanson douce
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Peter Balakian, Ozone Journal
 * RBC Taylor Prize: Rosemary Sullivan, Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
 * Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: Yasuko Thanh, Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains
 * Russian Booker Prize:
 * Scotiabank Giller Prize: Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing
 * Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings:
 * Walter Scott Prize: Simon Mawer, Tightrope
 * W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction: Ralph Peters, Valley of the Shadow
 * Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Lars Gustafsson