1997 in literature
See also: 1996 in literature, other events of 1997, 1998 in literature, list of years in literature.
Contents |
Events
- Tom Clancy signs a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. (both part of Pearson Education), giving him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . A second agreement gives him another US$25 million for a four-year book/multimedia deal. Clancy follows this up with an agreement with Berkley Books for 24 paperbacks to tie in with the an ABC television miniseries in an agreement worth US$22 million bringing the total value of the package to US$97 million.
- The memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, is removed from the ninth-grade English curriculum in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, because it "portrays white people as being horrible, nasty, stupid people."
New books
- Mitch Albom - Tuesdays With Morrie
- Martin Amis - Night Train
- John Banville - The Untouchable
- Marie Bashkirtseff - I Am the Most Interesting Book of All (translation)
- Raymond Benson
- Candace Bushnell - Sex and the City
- Mary Higgins Clark - Pretend You Don't See Her
- Patricia Cornwell
- Hornet's Nest
- Unnatural Exposure
- Ann C. Crispin
- Don DeLillo - Underworld
- Anita Diamant - The Red Tent
- Fernanda Eberstadt - When the Sons of Heaven Meet the Daughters of the Earth
- Charles Frazier - Cold Mountain
- Anthony Frewin - London Blues
- John Grisham - The Partner
- Barbara Hambly - Planet of Twilight
- Nancy Huston - Instruments of Darkness
- Sebastian Junger - The Perfect Storm
- Winona LaDuke - Last Standing Woman
- Ann-Marie MacDonald - Fall On Your Knees
- James Patterson - Cat and Mouse
- Cyril Pearl - Morisson of Peking
- Terry Pratchett - Jingo
- Philip Pullman - The Subtle Knife
- Thomas Pynchon - Mason & Dixon
- Kathy Reichs - Déjâ Dead
- Mordecai Richler - Barney's Version
- Philip Roth - American Pastoral
- J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- Sarah Ferguson - Budgie the Little Helicopter
- Carol Shields - Larry's Party
- Sidney Sheldon - The Best Laid Plans
- Michael Stackpole - The Bacta War
- Danielle Steel
- The Ghost
- The Ranch
- Special Delivery
- William Sutcliffe - Are You Experienced?
- Kurt Vonnegut - Timequake
- Timothy Zahn - Specter of the Past
New drama
- Thomas Kilroy - The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde
- Peter Whelan - The Herbal Bed
Poetry
Non-fiction
- Karen Armstrong -
- Dave Barry - Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs
- Jean-Dominique Bauby - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Cari Beauchamp -
- Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods
- Michael Drosnin - The Bible Code
- Gerina Dunwich - A Wiccan's Guide to Prophecy and Divination
- Stephen Fry - Moab Is My Washpot (autobiography)
- Reinhold Heller -
- James McBride - The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
- Maria Todorova - Imagining the Balkans
Births
Deaths
- January 19 - James Dickey, poet, novelist
- February 3 - Bohumil Hrabal, author
- April 5 - Allen Ginsberg, poet
- August 2 - William S. Burroughs, novelist
- October 14 - Harold Robbins, novelist
Awards
Australia
- The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Eva Sallis, Hiam
- C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Les Murray, Subhuman Redneck Poems
- Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Anthony Lawrence, The Viewfinder
- Mary Gilmore Prize: Emma Lew - The Wild Reply
Canada
- Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Mordecai Richler: - Barney's Version
- See 1997 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
France
- Prix Goncourt: Patrick Rambaud, La Bataille
- Prix Décembre: Lydie Salvayre, La Compagnie des spectres
- Prix Médicis International: T. Coraghessan Boyle, America
- Prix Médicis French: Les Sept Noms du peintre - Philippe Le Guillou
United Kingdom
- Booker Prize: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
- Cholmondeley Award: Alison Brackenbury, Gillian Clarke, Tony Curtis, Anne Stevenson
- Eric Gregory Award: Matthew Clegg, Sarah Corbett, Polly Clark, Tim Kendal, Graham Nelson, Matthew Welton
- Orange Prize for Fiction: Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
- Whitbread Best Book Award: Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid
United States
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Richard Blanco, City of a Hundred Fires
- Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Fred Chappell
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, John Ashbery
- Compton Crook Award: Richard Garfinkle, Celestial Matters
- Nebula Award: Vonda McIntyre, The Moon and the Sun
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: E. L. Konigsburg, The View from Saturday
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Steven Millhauser - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Lisel Mueller: Live Together: New and Selected Poems
- Wallace Stevens Award: Anthony Hecht
Elsewhere
- IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: Javier Marias, A Heart So White
Categories
1997 books