1999 in literature

	… 1989; 1990; 1991; 1992; 1993; 1994; 1995; ; 1996; 1997; 1998; 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; ; 2003; 2004; 2005; 2006; 2007; 2008; 2009 …;
	In poetry 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
	Art; Archaeology; Architecture; Literature; Music; Philosophy; Science; +...

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1999.

Events

May 1 – Andrew Motion is appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom for ten years.
June 19 – Stephen King is hit by a van while taking a walk. He is hospitalized for three weeks and only resumes writing his next book, On Writing, in July.
Persephone Books founded in Bloomsbury, London, by Nicola Beauman to reprint mid-20th century fiction and non-fiction mainly by women.

New books

Poetry

Dejan Stojanović – Sunce sebe gleda (The Sun Watches Itself)^[1]

Non-fiction

David Cairns – Berlioz: Volume 2, Servitude and Greatness 1832–1869
Wayson Choy – Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood
The Dalai Lama – Ancient Wisdom, Modern World
Samuel R. Delany – Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
Freeman Dyson – The Sun, the Genome and the Internet
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke – Paracelsus: Essential Readings.
Brian Greene – The Elegant Universe
Deborah Harkness – John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature
Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster – The Century
S.T. Joshi – Sixty Years of Arkham House
Winona LaDuke – All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life
W. G. Sebald – Luftkrieg und Literatur ("Air War and Literature", translated as On the Natural History of Destruction)
David Southwell – Conspiracy Theories
Dejan Stojanović – Razgovori ("Conversations")^[2]

Births

Deaths

January 11 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish novelist and poet (born 1897)
January 16 – Dadie Rylands (George Rylands), English Shakespearean scholar (born 1902)
February 8 – Iris Murdoch, Irish-born novelist and philosopher (born 1919)
February 20 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (suicide, born 1971)^[3]
February 22 – William Bronk, American poet (born 1918)
February 24 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist and autobiographer (born 1936)^[4]
March 4 – Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (born 1921)
March 5 – John Figueroa, Jamaican poet (born 1920)
March 8 – Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine author (born 1914)
March 13 – Garson Kanin, American playwright and screenwriter (born 1912)
March 28 – Jim Turner, American editor (born 1945)
April 13 – Knut Hauge, Norwegian novelist, dramatist and children's writer (born 1911)
May 8 – Soeman Hs, Indonesian novelist (born 1904)
May 10 – Shel Silverstein, American children's poet (born 1930)
June 14 – J. F. Powers, American writer (born 1917)
July 2 – Mario Puzo, American writer (born 1920)
September 22 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American writer (born 1930)
October 3 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German novelist (born 1921)
October 19
- Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-born French writer and lawyer (born 1900)
- Penelope Mortimer, Welsh-born English novelist and biographer (born 1918)
November 11 – Jacobo Timerman, Soviet-born Argentinian journalist and publisher (born 1923)
November 18 – Paul Bowles, American novelist (born 1910)
December 2 – Matt Cohen, Canadian novelist (born 1942)
December 8 – Rupert Hart-Davis, English editor and publisher (born 1907)
December 12 – Joseph Heller, American novelist (born 1923)
Unknown date – E. J. Scovell, English poet (born 1907)

Awards

Australia

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Hsu-Ming Teo, Love and Vertigo
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Gig Ryan, Pure and Applied
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Lee Cataldi, Race Against Time
Miles Franklin Award: Murray Bail, Eucalyptus

Canada

Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Bonnie Burnard, A Good House
See 1999 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Michael Poole, Romancing Mary Jane

France

Prix Femina: Maryline Desbiolles, Anchise
Prix Goncourt: Jean Echenoz, Je m'en vais
Prix Décembre: Claude Askolovitch, Voyage au bout de la France: Le Front National tel qu'il est
Prix Médicis French: Michel Del Castillo, Colette, une certaine France
Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: Christian Oster, Mon grand appartement
Prix Médicis International: Bjorn Larsson, Le capitaine et les rêves

United Kingdom

Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Aidan Chambers, Postcards from No Man's Land
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Timothy Mo, Renegade, or Halo2
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Kathryn Hughes, George Eliot: The Last Victorian
Cholmondeley Award: Vicki Feaver, Geoffrey Hill, Elma Mitchell, Sheenagh Pugh
Eric Gregory Award: Ross Cogan, Matthew Hollis, Helen Ivory, Andrew Pidoux, Owen Sheers, Dan Wyke
Orange Prize for Fiction: Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood
Samuel Johnson Prize (first award): Antony Beevor, Stalingrad
Whitbread Best Book Award: Seamus Heaney, Beowulf

United States

Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Daisy Fried, She Didn't Mean To Do It
Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: George Garrett
Arthur Rense Prize awarded to James McMichael by the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: J.D. McClatchy, "Tattoos"
Compton Crook Award: James Stoddard, The High House
Frost Medal: Barbara Guest
Hugo Award for Best Novel: Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog
National Book Award for Fiction: to Waiting by Ha Jin
National Book Critics Circle Award: to Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Nebula Award: Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Louis Sachar, Holes
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: to The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Margaret Edson, Wit
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Michael Cunningham, The Hours
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mark Strand, Blizzard of One
Wallace Stevens Award: Jackson Mac Low
Whiting Awards:

Fiction: Ehud Havazelet, Ben Marcus, Yxta Maya Murray, ZZ Packer

Nonfiction: Gordon Grice, Margaret Talbot

Plays: Naomi Iizuka

Poetry: Michael Haskell, Terrance Hayes, Martha Zweig

Elsewhere

Finlandia Prize: 1999 Kristina Carlson, Maan ääreen
Premio Nadal: Gustavo Martín Zarzo, Las historias de Marta y Fernando
Viareggio Prize: Ernesto Franco, Vite senza fine
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain

Notes

^ Belgrade: Književna reč. Stojanović, Dejan (2009). "Sunce sebe gleda". Open Library. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
^ Belgrade: Književna reč. Stojanović, Dejan (2010). "Razgovori". Open Library. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
^ Hattenstone, Simon. The Guardian (London) 1 July 2000.
^ Dubus, Andre, III. "Andre Dubus III: "What I'm working on now, I can't think about anyone liking"". Beatrice (Interview). Ron Hogan. Retrieved 2009-03-21.{{cite interview}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[1] Belgrade: Književna reč. Stojanović, Dejan (2009). "Sunce sebe gleda". Open Library. Retrieved 2013-12-20.

[2] Belgrade: Književna reč. Stojanović, Dejan (2010). "Razgovori". Open Library. Retrieved 2013-12-20.

[3] Hattenstone, Simon. The Guardian (London) 1 July 2000.

[Beatrice-4] Dubus, Andre, III. "Andre Dubus III: "What I'm working on now, I can't think about anyone liking"". Beatrice (Interview). Ron Hogan. Retrieved 2009-03-21.{{cite interview}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

Australia

Canada

France

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

Notes