1980 in literature

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This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1980.

Events

June 5 – Opening of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, adapted from Charles Dickens' novel by David Edgar, at the Aldwych Theatre, London.
June 5 – Opening of Willy Russell's comedy Educating Rita with Julie Walters in the title rôle at the Donmar Warehouse in London in a Royal Shakespeare Company production.
August 25 – Pramoedya Ananta Toer's This Earth of Mankind (Bumi Manusia), the first of his tetralogy of historical novels, the Buru Quartet, is published in Indonesia following his release from ten years of political imprisonment; it is prohibited in the country the following year.
September – Performance of Shakespeare's Macbeth with Peter O'Toole in the lead opens at the Old Vic Theatre, London, often considered one of the greatest disasters in theatre history.^[1]^[2]
September 23 – Field Day Theatre Company presents its first production, the premiere of Brian Friel's Translations at the Guildhall, Derry in Northern Ireland.
November 27 – English playwright Harold Pinter marries biographer and novelist Lady Antonia Fraser following his divorce from the actress Vivien Merchant.
Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer (published 1979), reaches #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Vasily Grossman's novel Life and Fate (Жизнь и судьба, completed 1959) is first published, in Western Europe.
Marguerite Yourcenar becomes the first woman elected to the Académie française.
The National Library of Indonesia is created by merger.

New books

Births

Deaths

January 3
- Joy Adamson, Silesian-born conservationist and writer living in Kenya (murdered, born 1910)^[3]^[4]
- George Sutherland Fraser, Scottish poet and critic (born 1915)
January 11 – Barbara Pym, English novelist (cancer, born 1913)
February 25 – Caradog Prichard, Welsh poet and novelist in Welsh (born 1904)
March 25 – James Wright, American poet (born 1927)
March 26 – Roland Barthes, French literary theorist (born 1915)
April 15 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, novelist and dramatist (born 1905)
April 24 – Alejo Carpentier, French Cuban novelist and writer (cancer, born 1904)
May 7 – Margaret Cole, English political writer, biographer and activist (born 1893)
May 16 – Marin Preda, Romanian novelist (asphyxiation, born 1922)^[5]
June 7 – Henry Miller, American novelist (born 1891)
July 1 – C. P. Snow, English novelist and scientist (born 1905)
July 6 – Mart Raud, Estonian poet, playwright and writer (born 1903)
July 9 – Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and songwriter (born 1913)
July 26 – Kenneth Tynan, English-born theater critic (pulmonary emphysema, born 1927)
August 8 – David Mercer, English dramatist (born 1928)
August 10 – Gareth Evans, British philosopher (lung cancer (born 1946)
September 18 – Katherine Anne Porter, American novelist and essayist (born 1890)
November 9 – Patrick Campbell, Irish journalist and wit (born 1913)
December 2 – Romain Gary (Roman Kacew), French novelist (suicide, born 1914)^[6]
December 8 – John Lennon, English musician, songwriter and author (murdered, born 1940)
December 12 – Ben Travers, English playwright, screenwriter and novelist (born 1886)
December 27 – Todhunter Ballard, American genre novelist (born 1903)
December 31 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher (born 1911)

Awards

Nobel Prize for Literature: Czesław Miłosz

Australia

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Inaugural award to Archie Weller, The Day Of The Dog; the award is initially given to Paul Radley, who, in 1996, admits that his manuscript was actually written by his uncle.^[7]
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: David Campbell, Man in the Honeysuckle
Miles Franklin Award: Jessica Anderson, The Impersonators

Canada

See 1980 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

Prix Goncourt: Yves Navarre, Le Jardin d'acclimatation
Prix Médicis French: Jean-Luc Benoziglio, Cabinet-portrait who refused the prize, thus it was given to Jean Lahougue's Comptine des Height
Prix Médicis International: Andre Brink, Une saison blanche et sèche

United Kingdom

Booker Prize: William Golding, Rites of Passage
Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Peter Dickinson, City of Gold
Cholmondeley Award: George Barker, Terence Tiller, Roy Fuller
Eric Gregory Award: Robert Minhinnick, Michael Hulse, Blake Morrison, Medbh McGuckian
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Robert B. Martin, Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart
Whitbread Best Book Award: David Lodge, How Far Can You Go?

United States

Elsewhere

Hugo Award for Best Novel: Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains of Paradise
Premio Cervantes : Juan Carlos Onetti
Premio Nadal: Juan Ramón Zaragoza, Concerto grosso

References

^ Tribute to Peter O'Toole. films42.com. 2003. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
^ Parsons, Nicholas (1981). Dipped in Vitriol. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-26556-3.
^ "Around the World Kenyan is Convicted in Death of Joy Adamson".
^ Interview with Paul Nakware Ekai.
^ Scriitorul Marin Preda, moartea ca o povara (Romanian).
^ Bona, D. (1987). Romain Gary. Paris: Mercure de France-Lacombe. pp. 397-398.
^ "Australian of the Year Awards".

[1] Tribute to Peter O'Toole. films42.com. 2003. Retrieved 2009-01-03.

[2] Parsons, Nicholas (1981). Dipped in Vitriol. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-26556-3.

[3] "Around the World Kenyan is Convicted in Death of Joy Adamson".

[4] Interview with Paul Nakware Ekai.

[5] Scriitorul Marin Preda, moartea ca o povara (Romanian).

[6] Bona, D. (1987). Romain Gary. Paris: Mercure de France-Lacombe. pp. 397-398.

[7] "Australian of the Year Awards".

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Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young adults

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

Australia

Canada

France

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

References