1991 in literature

The year 1991 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

*Douglas Coupland publishes the novel "", popularizing the term Generation X as the name of the generation.

New books

*Martin Amis - "Time's Arrow, or The Nature of the Offense"
*Jeffrey Archer - "As the Crow Flies"
*Beryl Bainbridge - "The Birthday Boys"
*Clive Barker - "Imajica"
*Pat Barker - "Regeneration"
*Louis Begley - "Wartime Lies"
*A. S. Byatt - ""
*Tom Clancy - "The Sum of All Fears"
*Mary Higgins Clark - "Loves Music, Loves to Dance"
*Hugh Cook - "The Werewolf and the Wormlord"
*Paul Cornell - ""
*Bernard Cornwell - "Stormchild"
*Douglas Coupland - ""
*L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp - "The Pixilated Peeress"
*Don DeLillo - "Mao II"
*Terrance Dicks - ""
*Stephen R. Donaldson - ""
*Stephen R. Donaldson - ""
*Roddy Doyle - "The Van"
*Bret Easton Ellis - "American Psycho"
*Stephen Fry - "The Liar"
*Jostein Gaarder - "Sophie's World (Sofies verden)"
*John Gardner - "The Man from Barbarossa
*David Gates - "Jernigan"
*Ann Granger - "Say It With Poison"
*John Grisham - "The Firm"
*Josephine Hart - "Damage"
* Elisabeth Harvor, "Our Lady of All Distances" 11 stories (revision of "Women and Children", published in 1973), Canada
*Mark Jacobson - "Gojiro"
*John le Carré - "The Secret Pilgrim"
*Morgan Llywelyn - "Druids"
*James A. Michener - "Mexico"
*Rohinton Mistry - "Such a Long Journey"
*John Peel - ""
*Marge Piercy - "He, She and It"
*Terry Pratchett - "Reaper Man" and "Witches Abroad"
*Alexandra Ripley - "Scarlett"
*Nigel Robinson - ""
*Bernice Rubens - "A Solitary Grief"
*Michael Shaara - "For Love of the Game" (posthumously published)
*Sidney Sheldon - "The Doomsday Conspiracy"
*Jane Smiley - "A Thousand Acres"
*Danielle Steel - "Heartbeat"
*James B. Stewart - "Den of Thieves"
*Michael Swanwick - "Gravity's Angels"
*Amy Tan - "The Kitchen God's Wife"
*Andrew Vachss - "Sacrifice"
*Bernard Werber - "Empire of the Ants (in orig. French "Les Fourmis")
*Tim Winton - "Cloudstreet"
*Helen Zahavi - "Dirty Weekend"
*Timothy Zahn - "Heir to the Empire"
*Haifa Zangana - "Through the Vast Halls of Memory"
*Roger Zelazny - "Prince of Chaos"

New drama

*Ariel Dorfman - "Death and the Maiden"
*Philip Ridley - "The Pitchfork Disney"
*Neil Simon - "Lost in Yonkers"

Non-fiction

*Henry Steele Commager - "Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples", arranged for one volume
*Dave Foreman - "Confessions of an Eco-Warrior"
*Madonna - "SEX"
*Robert K. Massie - ""
*John Richardson - "A Life of Picasso"
*Simon Schama - "Dead Certainties"
*Naomi Wolf - "The Beauty Myth"
*Zhang Chengzhi - "History of the Soul"

Births

* September 21 - Lewis Sowerby, Ultimate Poonage.

Deaths

* January 22 - Robert Choquette, Canadian novelist and poet
* January 23 - Northrop Frye, literary critic
* January 29 - Yasushi Inoue, historian
* February 24 - John Daly, journalist, game show host
*March - Paul Engle, novelist
* April 3 - Graham Greene
* April 12 - James Schuyler, poet
* April 29 - Claude Gallimard, French publishing magnate
* July 24 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
* September 24 - Dr. Seuss
* October 11 - Steven Jesse Bernstein, performance poet
* October 12 - Arkady Strugatsky, Russian science fiction writer
* October 27 - George Barker, poet
* November 29 - Frank Yerby, historical novelist
*"date unknown" - Dante Milano, poet

Awards

* Nobel Prize for Literature: Nadine Gordimer

Australia

* The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Andrew McGahan, "Praise"
* C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Jennifer Maiden, "The Winter Baby"
* Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Jennifer Maiden, "The Winter Baby"
* Mary Gilmore Prize: Jean Kent - "Verandahs"

Canada

* See 1991 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

* Prix Goncourt: Pierre Combescot, "Les Filles du Calvaire"
* Prix Décembre: Raphaël Confiant, "Eau de café"
* Prix Médicis: Pierre Simon, "La Dérive des sentiments"

United Kingdom

* Booker Prize: Ben Okri, "The Famished Road"
* Cholmondeley Award: James Berry, Sujata Bhatt, Michael Hulse, Derek Mahon
* Eric Gregory Award: Roddy Lumsden, Glyn Maxwell, Stephen Smith, Wayne Burrows, Jackie Kay
* Guardian Fiction Award: Alan Judd, The Devil's Own Work
* James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Iain Sinclair, "Downriver"
* James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Adrian Desmond and James Moore, "Darwin"
* Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Judith Wright
* Whitbread Best Book Award: John Richardson, "A Life of Picasso"
* The Sunday Express Book of the Year: Michael Frayn, "A Landing on the Sun"

United States

* Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Julia Kasdorf, "Sleeping Preacher"
* Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: John Frederick Nims
* Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Donald Hall, "Museum of Clear Ideas"
* American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, Richard Wilbur
* Compton Crook Award: Michael Flynn, "In the country of the Blind"
* Frost Medal: Donald Hall
* Nebula Award: Michael Swanwick, "Stations of the Tide"
* Newbery Medal for children's literature: Jerry Spinelli, "Maniac Magee"
* Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Neil Simon, "Lost in Yonkers"
* Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Updike: "Rabbit At Rest"
* Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction: Edward O. Wilson: "The Ants"
* Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mona Van Duyn: "Near Changes"

Elsewhere

*Premio Nadal: Alfredo Conde Cid, "Los otros días"