1996 in literature

Events

July 8 – Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and 30 other books are struck from an English reading list in Lindale, Texas, as they "conflict with the values of the community."^[1]
July 11 – As requested by Nelson Mandela, Benjamin Zephaniah hosts the President's Two Nations Concert at London's Royal Albert Hall.^[2]
October 3 – The first performance is held in New York of Eve Ensler's episodic feminist play The Vagina Monologues.^[3]
unknown dates
- In the UK, the first Orange Prize for Fiction for female novelists goes to Helen Dunmore for A Spell of Winter.^[4]
- Peter O'Donnell publishes Cobra Trap, a final volume featuring Modesty Blaise. The first appeared in 1965.
- Margaret Mitchell's lost first novella, Lost Laysen, is published, 80 years after it was written.^[5]
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Romance Writings, including her novel Princess Docile, are first published 234 years after her death.^[6]

Deaths

January 5 – Lincoln Kirstein, American writer and impresario (born 1907)
January 8 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (born 1907)
January 11 – Harold Walter Bailey, English linguistics scholar (born 1899)
January 16 – Kaye Webb, English publisher and journalist (born 1914)^[19]
January 21 – Efua Sutherland, Ghanaian dramatist, poet and children's author (born 1924)^[20]
January 27 – Barbara Skelton, English fiction writer, memoirist and literary figure (born 1916)
January 28
- Jerry Siegel, American cartoonist (born 1914)^[21]
- Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (myocardial infarction, born 1940)^[22]
February 11
- Bob Shaw, Northern Irish science fiction writer (born 1931)
- Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet (born 1930)
February 12 – Ryōtarō Shiba, Japanese novelist (born 1923)^[23]
February 18 – Cathal Ó Sándair, Irish-language novelist (born 1922)^[24]
March 3
- Marguerite Duras, French dramatist and film director (born 1914)^[25]
- Léo Malet, French crime novelist and surrealist (born 1909)
March 15 – Wolfgang Koeppen, German novelist (born 1906)^[26]
March 18
- Jacquetta Hawkes (née Hopkins), English writer and archeologist (born 1910)^[27]
- Odysseas Elytis, Greek writer and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)^[28]
March 22
- Claude Mauriac, French novelist and journalist (born 1914)^[29]
- Ian Stephens, Canadian poet (year of birth not known)
March 29 – Frank Daniel, Czech-born screenwriter, director, and teacher (born 1926)
March 31 – Dario Bellezza, Italian poet and dramatist (HIV, born 1944)
April 16 – Leila Mackinlay, British romantic novelist (born 1910)
April 18 – Kalim Siddiqui, Pakistani-born English writer and Islamic activist (born 1931)
April 20 – Christopher Robin Milne, English writer and bookseller (born 1920)^[30]
April 22 – Erma Bombeck, American humorist and writer (born 1927)^[31]
April 23 – P. L. Travers, Australian-born children's writer (born 1899)
May 2 – Emile Habibi, Palestinian Israeli writer and politician (born 1922)
May 8 – Larry Levis, American poet, author, and critic (born 1946)
May 24 – Joseph Mitchell, American journalist (born 1908)
May 26
- Ovidiu Papadima, Romanian critic and essayist (born 1909)
- Margaret Douglas-Home, English writer and musician (born 1906)
May 31 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and writer (born 1920)^[32]
June 2 – Leon Garfield, English children's author (born 1921)^[33]
June 14 – Gesualdo Bufalino, Italian novelist (born 1920)
June 15 – Fitzroy Maclean, Scottish political writer, autobiographer and diplomat (born 1911)
July 10 – Eno Raud, Estonian children's author (born 1928)
July 22 – Jessica Mitford, English author, journalist and campaigner (born 1917)^[34]
September 21 – Henri Nouwen, Dutch priest, theologian and author (born 1932)
September 29 – Shusaku Endo (遠藤周作), Japanese novelist (born 1923)^[35]
October 16 – Eric Malpass, English novelist (born 1910)^[36]
October 24 – Sorley Maclean, Gaelic poet (born 1911)
November 27 – Lili Berger, Yiddish writer, antifascist militant and literary critic (born 1916)
December 7 – José Donoso, Chilean writer (born 1924)^[37]
December 9 – Diana Morgan, Welsh playwright and screenwriter (born 1908)
December 12 – Vance Packard, American journalist and social critic (born 1914)^[38]
December 16 – Quentin Bell, English biographer and art historian (born 1910)
December 20 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist and writer (born 1934)^[39]
December 21 – Margret Rey, American author and illustrator (born 1906)

1996 in literature

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

Australia

Canada

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

References

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