Login
Login

1996 in literature

{{Short description|none}}

{{Year nav topic5|1996|literature|poetry}}

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1996.

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."[https://archive.org/details/bannedinusarefer00foer/page/233 Herbert N. Foerstel, Banned in the USA, Greenwood Press, 2002, p. 233.]
  • July 11 – As requested by Nelson Mandela, Benjamin Zephaniah hosts the President's Two Nations Concert at London's Royal Albert Hall.[http://life.royalalberthall.com/2012/07/18/happy-birthday-nelson-mandela/ Life at the Hall – Happy Birthday, Nelson Mandela] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213021905/http://life.royalalberthall.com/2012/07/18/happy-birthday-nelson-mandela/ |date=2014-12-13}}. Accessed 9 December 2014.
  • October 3 – The first performance is held in New York of Eve Ensler's episodic feminist play The Vagina Monologues.{{cite book|author=New York Times Theater Reviews|title=The New York Times Theatre Reviews 1999-2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CcVciO--PkgC&pg=RA3-PA5|date=December 2001|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-93697-2|pages=3}}
  • unknown dates
  • In the UK, the first Orange Prize for Fiction for female novelists goes to Helen Dunmore for A Spell of Winter.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/05/helen-dunmore-obituary |title=Helen Dunmore obituary |author=Kate Kellaway |work=The Guardian |date=5 June 2017 |access-date=9 June 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609075655/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/05/helen-dunmore-obituary |archive-date=9 June 2017}}
  • 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.{{Cite book |author=Victoria Brooks |title=Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbktvlhYdr8C&pg=PA158 |year=2000 |publisher=GreatestEscapes.com Pub. |isbn=978-0-9686137-0-2 |pages=158}}
  • Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Romance Writings, including her novel Princess Docile, are first published 234 years after her death.{{Cite book |author1=David Scott Kastan |author2=George M Bodman Professor of English David Scott Kastan |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DlMUSz-hiuEC&pg=RA3-PA12 |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-516921-8 |pages=12}}

New books

=Fiction=

=Children and young people=

=Drama=

=Poetry=

{{Main article|1996 in poetry}}

=Non-fiction=

Births

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)Julia Eccleshare [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-kaye-webb-1324557.html Obituary: Kaye Webb], The Independent, 18 January 1996.
  • January 21 – Efua Sutherland, Ghanaian dramatist, poet and children's author (born 1924){{cite journal|author=Judith Greenwood|url=https://lucas.leeds.ac.uk/review/the-legacy-of-efua-sutherland-pan-african-cultural-activism/|title=The Legacy of Efua Sutherland: Pan-African Cultural Activism" (review)|publisher=Leeds University Centre for African Studies|journal=African Studies Bulletin|issue=70|date=December 2008|pages=84–86}}
  • January 27 – Barbara Skelton, English fiction writer, memoirist and literary figure (born 1916)
  • January 28
  • Jerry Siegel, American cartoonist (born 1914){{cite news |last=Oliver |first=Myrna |date=January 31, 1996 |title=Jerry Siegel; Co-Creator of Superman |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-01-31-mn-30756-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=December 12, 2016}}
  • Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (myocardial infarction, born 1940){{cite news |last=McFadden |first=Robert Dennis |author-link=Robert D. McFadden |date=29 January 1996 |title=Joseph Brodsky, Exiled Poet Who Won Nobel, Dies at 55 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/29/arts/joseph-brodsky-exiled-poet-who-won-nobel-dies-at-55.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=1 January 2009}}
  • 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){{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/16/nyregion/ryotaro-shiba-72-historical-novelist.html|title=Ryotaro Shiba, 72, Historical Novelist|website=The New York Times|date=February 16, 1996|access-date=July 11, 2009}}
  • February 18 – Cathal Ó Sándair, Irish-language novelist (born 1922){{Cite web |last=Breathnach |first=Diarmuid |last2=Ní Mhurchú |first2=Máire |title=Ó SÁNDAIR, Cathal (1922–1996) |url=https://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=1757 |access-date=22 July 2023 |website=Ainm |language=ga-IE}}
  • March 3
  • Marguerite Duras, French dramatist and film director (born 1914){{cite book|author1=Paul Gifford|author2=Johnnie Gratton|title=Subject Matters: Subject and Self in French Literature from Descartes to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmnYCNrG57wC&pg=PA159|year=2000|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=90-420-0630-7|pages=159}}
  • Léo Malet, French crime novelist and surrealist (born 1909)
  • March 15 – Wolfgang Koeppen, German novelist (born 1906){{cite book|title=Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature|publisher=St. James Press|year=2002|page=167}}
  • March 18
  • Jacquetta Hawkes (née Hopkins), English writer and archeologist (born 1910){{cite book|title=Contemporary Authors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMniAAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Gale Research Company|isbn=978-0-8103-9351-6|page=228}}
  • Odysseas Elytis, Greek writer and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911){{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1979|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1979/summary/|access-date=2020-09-22|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}}
  • March 22
  • Claude Mauriac, French novelist and journalist (born 1914){{cite book|title=Contemporary Authors|publisher=Gale Research Company|year=1997|page=302}}
  • 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){{cite news |author=Ann Thwaite|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-christopher-milne-1306346.html |title=Obituary: Christopher Milne |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=6 June 2017 }}
  • April 22 – Erma Bombeck, American humorist and writer (born 1927){{cite news |author=Oliver, Myrna |title=Erma Bombeck, Columnist, Dies After Transplant; Writers: The homemaker-turned-humor author and speaker succumbs to complications at age 69 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 23, 1996 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-23-mn-61747-story.html |access-date=4 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523022954/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-23/news/mn-61747_1_erma-bombeck |archive-date=23 May 2018 |url-status=live }}
  • 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){{cite news |last=Simons |first=Marlise |title=A Final Turn-On Lifts Timothy Leary Off |date=April 22, 1997 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/22/world/a-final-turn-on-lifts-timothy-leary-off.html |access-date=May 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630021355/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/22/world/a-final-turn-on-lifts-timothy-leary-off.html |archive-date=June 30, 2016 |url-status=live }}
  • June 2 – Leon Garfield, English children's author (born 1921)B. Copson, "Garfield, Leon (1921–1996)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP), September 2004; [http://www.oxforddnb.com/ online edition] January 2007
  • 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){{cite web | last = Severo | first = Richard | date = 23 July 1996 | title = Jessica Mitford, Mordant Critic of American Ways, and a British Upbringing, Dies at 78 | work = The New York Times | url = http://www.mitford.org/nytimes.htm | access-date = 28 October 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071012232315/http://www.mitford.org/nytimes.htm | archive-date = 12 October 2007 | url-status = dead}}
  • September 21 – Henri Nouwen, Dutch priest, theologian and author (born 1932)
  • September 29 – Shusaku Endo (遠藤周作), Japanese novelist (born 1923){{cite book|author=Olive Classe|title=Encyclopedia of literary translation into English: A-L|year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myLDA0_brhcC&pg=PA406|access-date=17 November 2011|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-884964-36-7|pages=406}}
  • October 16 – Eric Malpass, English novelist (born 1910){{Cite news |last1=McLaughlin |first1=John |title=Obituary: Eric Malpass |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-eric-malpass-1359895.html |access-date=2 October 2021 |work=The Independent |date=23 October 1996}}
  • 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){{Cite news|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|date=1996-12-09|title=Jose Donoso, 72, Fantastical Chilean Novelist|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/09/arts/jose-donoso-72-fantastical-chilean-novelist.html|access-date=2020-06-25|issn=0362-4331}}
  • December 9 – Diana Morgan, Welsh playwright and screenwriter (born 1908)
  • December 12 – Vance Packard, American journalist and social critic (born 1914){{cite news|title=Consumerism critic, author Vance Packard|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/167501509/?terms=%22Vance%2BPackard%22|access-date=December 7, 2017|work=The Chicago Tribune|date=December 13, 1996|page=13|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}
  • December 16 – Quentin Bell, English biographer and art historian (born 1910)
  • December 20 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist and writer (born 1934){{cite book|author1=Peggy Saari|author2=Stephen Allison|author3=Marie C. Ellavich|title=Scientists: Their Lives and Works|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=si8UAQAAMAAJ|year=1997|publisher=U*X*L|isbn=978-0-7876-1874-2|page=198}}
  • December 21 – Margret Rey, American author and illustrator (born 1906)

Awards

=Australia=

=Canada=

=United Kingdom=

=United States=

=Elsewhere=

References

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Year in literature article categories}}