1982 in literature

Events

February 17 – Philip K. Dick ignores advice to go immediately to hospital. A fortnight later, after two strokes, he is pronounced brain-dead and disconnected from his life-support machine.^[1]
March 18 – A legal case brought on behalf of Mary Whitehouse against theater director Michael Bogdanov concerning alleged indecency in a performance of Howard Brenton's play The Romans in Britain at the National Theatre in London is dropped after the Attorney General intervenes.^[2]^[3]
June 25 – In Island Trees School District v. Pico (457 U.S. 853 (1982)), the Supreme Court of the United States concludes that "local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to 'prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.'"
September – Banned Books Week is instituted in the United States.
October 7 – After Sue Townsend's comic character Adrian Mole is introduced (as Nigel Mole,^[4] aged 13¼, living in the East Midlands of England) in a BBC Radio 4 play, the book The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾, is released; it sells 1.9 million copies in three years.^[5]
unknown dates
- La Bicyclette bleue (The Blue Bicycle) by Régine Deforges is a runaway success and becomes one of France's all-time bestselling novels.^[6]
- The Oxford Shakespeare, under the general editorship of Stanley Wells, begins publication.
- Dorling Kindersley, formerly a book packager, begins publishing.

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Births

January 14
- Joe Dunthorne, Welsh novelist and poet
- Luke Wright, English poet
February 5 – Lauren Gunderson, American playwright
February 23 – Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, Ukrainian poet, children's writer, translator and editor
March 24 – Bryndís Björgvinsdóttir, Icelandic children's fiction writer^[22]
April 21 – Claybourne Elder, American actor, singer and writer^[23]
May 10 – Jeremy Gable, English-American playwright
June 29
- Colin Jost, American actor, screenwriter and comedian^[24]
- Ott Sepp, Estonian actor, singer, writer and television presenter
July 8 – James Graham, English playwright
July 16 – Angel David Revilla, Venezuelan journalist and writer

Deaths

January 16 – Ramón J. Sender, Spanish novelist (b. 1901)^[25]
February 5 – Ronald Welch (Ronald Oliver Felton) Welsh novelist and children's writer writing in English (born 1909)^[26]
February 11 – Albert Facey, Australian autobiographer (born 1894)
February 13 – Barbara Sleigh, English children's writer (born 1906)^[27]
February 18 – Dame Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand crime writer and theatre director (born 1895)^[28]
February 23 – Elisabeth Kyle, Scottish novelist (born 1901)
March 2 – Philip K. Dick, American writer (stroke; born 1928)^[29]
March 3 – Georges Perec, French novelist (lung cancer; born 1936)^[30]
March 6 – Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist, playwright and screenwriter (born 1905)^[31]
March 11 – Edmund Cooper, English writer and poet (born 1926)
March 25
- Goodman Ace, American humorist (born 1899)^[32]
- Hugo Huppert, Austrian poet, writer and translator (born 1902)
March 27
- Harriet Adams, American novelist (born 1892)^[33]
- Ted Lewis, English crime novelist (born 1940)^[34]
April 12 – Norman Denny, English writer and translator (born 1901)
May 10 – Peter Weiss, German writer and artist (born 1916)^[35]
May 30 – Doris Leslie, English novelist (born 1891)
June 6 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet and critic (born 1905)^[36]
June 18
- Djuna Barnes, American writer (born 1892)^[37]
- John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer (born 1912)^[38]
June 30 – Malcolm Saville, English children's writer (born 1901)
July 3 – Engvald Bakkan, Norwegian novelist and children's writer (born 1897)
August 6 – S. K. Pottekkatt, Indian writer (born 1913)^[39]
September 14 – John Gardner, American novelist (motorcycle accident, born 1933)^[40]
October 7 – Alejandro Núñez Alonso, Spanish novelist (born 1905)
October 22 – Savitri Devi, French-born writer and philosopher (born 1905)^[41]
October 30 – Iryna Vilde, Ukrainian writer (born 1907)
November 5 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Korean-American novelist (murdered; born 1951)^[42]
November 6 – Frank Swinnerton, English novelist (born 1884)
December 5 – Caryl Brahms, English critic, novelist and journalist (born 1901)^[43]
December 21 – Ants Oras, Estonian writer (born 1900)
December 24 – Louis Aragon, French poet and writer (born 1897)^[44]

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1982 in literature

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

Australia

Canada

France

Spain

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

References

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