1984 in literature

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This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1984.

Events

April 4 – The narrative of George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) begins, causing it to be widely discussed this year. G. K. Chesterton's The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904) is also set in this year.
June 16 – Cirque du Soleil founded in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix.^[1]
July – Tom Wolfe's novel The Bonfire of the Vanities begins serialization in Rolling Stone.
December 19 – Ted Hughes' appointment as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in succession to Sir John Betjeman is announced,^[2] Philip Larkin having turned down the post.
Prvoslav Vujčić's second collection of poems, Kastriranje vetra ("Castration of the wind"), written during a week's imprisonment in Tuzla for criticising the state, is prohibited in Yugoslavia.
Of Mice and Men, the 1937 novel by John Steinbeck, is removed from Tennessee public schools when the School Board Chair promises to remove all "filthy books" from public school curricula and libraries.^[3]
Redu in Belgium becomes a book town.
Saqi Books, independent U.K. publisher, is founded by Mai Ghoussoub.

New books

Poetry

John Ashbery – A Wave
Louise Erdrich – Jacklight
Christopher Gilbert – Across the Mutual Landscape
Paulette Jiles – Celestial Navigation
Sharon Olds – The Dead and the Living

Non-fiction

Morrill Cody & Hugh Ford – The Women of Montparnasse, the Americans in Paris.
Roald Dahl – Boy an autobiography
Louise Hay – You Can Heal Your Life
Lee Iacocca – Iacocca: An Autobiography.
Steven Levy – Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.
Derek Parfit – Reasons and Persons.
Joan Peters – From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine.
Herbert Jay Stern – Judgment in Berlin.

Births

April 16 – Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, American novelist
May 9 – Ezra Klein, American journalist and columnist
May 21 – Jackson Pearce, American young-adult novelist
June 5 – Simon Rich, American humorist, novelist and screenwriter
July 12 – Amanda Hocking, American fantasy novelist
August 8 – Owen Jones, English columnist and author and commentator
November 20 – Halley Feiffer, American playwright and actress
December 10 – Helen Oyeyemi, English novelist and playwright

Deaths

February 12 – Julio Cortázar, Argentine novelist, short story writer and essayist (born 1914)
February 21 – Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905)
February 22 – Jessamyn West, American novelist (born 1902)
March 4 – Odd Bang-Hansen, Norwegian novelist and children's writer (born 1908)
March 8 – Eleanor Graham, English children's writer and editor (born 1896)
March 12 – Arnold Ridley, English playwright and actor (born 1896)
March 26 – Branko Ćopić, Bosnian Serb writer (suicide, born 1915)
April 1 – Elizabeth Goudge, English writer (born 1900)
April 15 – Alexander Trocchi, Scottish writer (born 1925)
April 21
- Marcel Janco, Romanian–Israeli artist, art theorist, essayist and poet (born 1895)
- Manuel Mujica Láinez, Argentine novelist (born 1910)
May 16 – Irwin Shaw, American playwright, screenwriter and novelist (born 1913)
May 19 – John Betjeman, English poet laureate (born 1906)
June 10 – Halide Nusret Zorlutuna, Turkish poet and novelist (born 1901)
June 30 – Lillian Hellman, American playwright (born 1905)
July 6 – Denys Val Baker, Welsh novelist and short story writer (born 1917)
August 14 – J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (born 1894)
August 25 – Truman Capote (Truman Streckfus Persons), American fiction writer (born 1924)
September 7 – Liam O'Flaherty, Irish novelist and short story writer (born 1896)
October 31 – Eduardo De Filippo, Italian playwright (born 1900)
November 6 – Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist and dramatist (born 1929)
November 10 – Xavier Herbert, Australian novelist (born 1901)
November 12 – Chester Himes, American writer (born 1909)
December 6 – Gray Barker, American writer on paranormal (born 1925)
December 14 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1898)

Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature: Jaroslav Seifert

Australia

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Kate Grenville, Lilian's Story
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Les Murray, The People's Other World
Miles Franklin Award: Tim Winton, Shallows

Canada

See 1984 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

Prix Goncourt: Marguerite Duras, L'Amant
Prix Médicis French: Bernard-Henri Lévy, Le Diable en tête
Prix Médicis International: Elsa Morante, Aracoeli

Spain

Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Ernesto Sabato

United Kingdom

Booker Prize: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac
Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Margaret Mahy, The Changeover
Cholmondeley Award: Michael Baldwin, Michael Hofmann, Carol Rumens
Eric Gregory Award: Martyn Crucefix, Mick Imlah, Jamie McKendrick, Bill Smith, Carol Ann Duffy, Christopher Meredith, Peter Armstrong, Iain Bamforth
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun, and Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Lyndall Gordon, Virginia Woolf: A Writer's Life
Whitbread Best Book Award: James Buchan, A Parish of Rich Women

United States

Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Arthur Smith, Elegy on Independence Day
Frost Medal: Jack Stadler
Nebula Award: William Gibson, Neuromancer
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Beverly Cleary, Dear Mr. Henshaw
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: William J. Kennedy – Ironweed
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mary Oliver: American Primitive

Elsewhere

Premio Nadal: José de Tomás García – La otra orilla de la droga

References

^ Bélanger, Brigitte (1999-04-14). "Cirque du Soleil". Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
^ Howard, Philip (1984-12-20). "'True poet' Ted Hughes is Laureate". The Times. No. 62017. London. p. 1.
^ "Of Mice and Men, 1937 – Information about the Book". SwissEduc.

[1] Bélanger, Brigitte (1999-04-14). "Cirque du Soleil". Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

[2] Howard, Philip (1984-12-20). "'True poet' Ted Hughes is Laureate". The Times. No. 62017. London. p. 1.

[3] "Of Mice and Men, 1937 – Information about the Book". SwissEduc.

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Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

Australia

Canada

France

Spain

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

References