2008 in literature

Events

*"None at present"

Books

Literature

*"The Painter of Battles" (January 8) by Arturo Perez-Reverte
*"The Delivery Man" (January 15) by Joe McGinniss Jr.
*"The Expeditions" (January 15) by Karl Iagnemma
*"Beautiful Children" (January 22) by Charles Bock
*"How the Dead Dream" (January 25) by Lydia Millet
*"Song Yet Sung" (February 5) by James McBride
*"The Monsters of Templeton" (February 5) by Lauren Groff
*"The Invention of Everything Else" (February 7) by Samantha Hunt
*"Feuchtgebiete" (February 25) by Charlotte Roche
*"Lush Life" (March 4) by Richard Price
*"Change of Heart" (March 4) by Jodi Picoult
*"Our Story Begins" (March 25) by Tobias Wolff
*"The Sorrows of an American" (April 1) by Siri Hustvedt
*"Unaccustomed Earth" (April 1) by Jhumpa Lahiri
*"All the Sad Young Literary Men" (April 10) by Keith Gessen
*"Deaf Sentence" (May 1) by David Lodge
*"Snuff" (May 20) by Chuck Palahniuk
*"The Enchantress of Florence" (June 3) by Salman Rushdie
*"My Sister, My Love" (June 24) by Joyce Carol Oates
*"Home" (September 2) by Marilynne Robinson
*"American Wife" (September 2) by Curtis Sittenfeld
*"Supreme Courtship" (September 3) by Christopher Buckley
*"Indignation" (September 16) by Philip Roth
*"Le violoncelliste sourd" (September 29) by Francis Malka
*"Pretty Monsters" (October 2) by Kelly Link
*"The Widows of Eastwick" (October 28) by John Updike
*"A Mercy" (November 11) by Toni Morrison
*Ralph Ellison's posthumously published manuscript "Three Days Before the Shooting", edited by John F. Callahan

Horror Fiction

*"Duma Key" (January 22) by Stephen King

Children's and Young Adult fiction

*Young Bond: By Royal Command (September 3) by Charlie Higson
*"Queste" (April 8) by Angie Sage
*"Superior Saturday" (May 5) by Garth Nix
*"Raven Rise" (May 20) by D.J. MacHale
*"Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock" (June 1) by Jenny Nimmo
*"" (July 15) by Eoin Colfer
*"Brisingr" (September 20) by Christopher Paolini
*"Breaking Dawn" (August 2) by Stephenie Meyer

cience Fiction and Fantasy

*"Blasphemy" (January 8) by Douglas Preston
*"Small Favor" (April 1) by Jim Butcher (Harry Dresden #10)
*"A Dance with Dragons" (Spring) by George R. R. Martin
*"Inkdeath" (October 7) by Cornelia Funke

New drama

*"Where Are You Now?" by Mary Higgins Clark

Poetry

"See 2008 in poetry"

Non-fiction

*"One for the Road" (January 31) by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen
*" [http://www.predictablyirrational.com/ Predictably Irrational: the Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions] " (February 19) by Dan Ariely
*" [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0786720913 Quiet, Please] " (March 24) by Scott Douglas
*"" (April 1) by Julie Andrews
*"I Was Told There'd Be Cake" (April 1) by Sloane Crosley
*"A Wolf at the Table" (April 29) by Augusten Burroughs
*"Maps and Legends" (May 1) by Michael Chabon
*"Audition: A Memoir" (May 6) by Barbara Walters
*"When You Are Engulfed in Flames" (June 3) by David Sedaris
*"What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" (July 29) by Haruki Murakami, trans. Philip Gabriel

Awards and honors

*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction - Kate Christensen, "The Great Man"
*"Canada Reads" - Paul Quarrington, "King Leary"
*IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - Rawi Hage, "De Niro's Game"

Deaths

January

* January 2 - George MacDonald Fraser, 82, British author "(Flashman)"
* January 3 - Henri Chopin, 85, French poet
* January 11 - Nancy Phelan, 94, Australian writer
* January 13 - Patricia Verdugo, 60, Chilean journalist and writer
* January 16 - Hone Tuwhare, 85, New Zealand poet
* January 17 - Edward D. Hoch, 77, American pulp writer
* January 26 - John Ardagh, 79, British journalist and writer
* January 26 - Abraham Brumberg, 81, American writer and editor
* January 29 - Margaret Truman, 83, American writer
* January 30 - Miles Kington, 66, British journalist and writer

February

* February 4 - Rose Hacker, 101, British writer and journalist
* February 7 - Richard Altick, 92, American literary scholar
* February 8 - Phyllis A. Whitney, 104, American mystery writer
* February 10 - Steve Gerber, 60, American comic book writer "(Howard the Duck)"
* February 18 - Alain Robbe-Grillet, 85, French novelist
* February 21 - Archie Hind, 80, British novelist
* February 21 - Robin Moore, 82, American writer
* February 22 - Stephen Marlowe, 79, American sci-fi and crime writer
* February 28 - Suzanne Goodwin, 91, British novelist
* February 28 - Julian Rathbone, 73, British novelist
* c. February 28 - Val Plumwood, 68, Australian philosopher

March

* March 3 - Maria Gabriela Llansol, 76, Portuguese writer
* March 16 - Jonathan Williams, 79, American poet
* March 19 - Arthur C. Clarke, 90, British science-fiction writer and futurist
* March 19 - Hugo Claus, 78, Belgian writer
* March 23 - E. A. Markham, 68, Montserratian poet

April

* April 1 - Arturo Vivante, 84, Italian novelist
* April 3 - Andrew Crozier, 64, British poet and editor
* April 7 - Ludu Daw Amar, 92, Burmese writer and journalist
* April 13 - Robert Greacen, 87, Irish poet
* April 17 - Aimé Césaire, 94, French-Martinican poet
* April 17 - Zoya Krakhmalnikova, 79, Russian writer and editor
* April 18 - Michael de Larrabeiti, 63, British novelist
* April 18 - William W. Warner, 88, American biologist and Pulitzer Prize winning writer

May

* May 1 - Elaine Dundy, 86, American novelist
* May 9 - Nuala O'Faolain, Irish Journalist, novelist and critic
* May 11 - Jeff Torrington, 72, British novelist
* May 12 - Oakley Hall, 87, American novelist
* May 14 - Roy Heath, 81, Guyanese novelist
* May 19 - Vijay Tendulkar, 80, Indian playwright
* May 23 - Alan Brien, 83, British journalist and novelist
* May 28 - Elinor Lyon, 86, British children's writer

June

* June 2 - Ferenc Fejtő, 98, French-Hungarian historian and journalist
* June 4 - Matthew Bruccoli, 76, American biographer and editor
* June 5 - Angus Calder, 65, British writer and editor
* June 8 - Peter Rühmkorf, 78, German poet
* June 9 - Algis Budrys, 77, Lithuanian-American science fiction writer and editor
* June 10 - Chinghiz Aitmatov, 79, Kyrgyz writer
* June 10 - Eliot Asinof, 88, American sportswriter
* June 16 - Mario Rigoni Stern, 86, Italian novelist
* June 18 - Tasha Tudor, 92, American children's writer and illustrator
* June 22 - Albert Cossery, 94, French-Egyptian novelist
* June 24 - Ruth Cardoso, 77, Brazilian anthropologist and writer
* June 25 - Lyall Watson, 69, South African new age writer
* June 27 - Lenka Reinerová, 92, Czech writer

July

* July 1 - Clay Felker, 82, American magazine editor and journalist, founder of "New York"
* July 1 - Robert Harling, 98, British typographer, editor and novelist
* July 2 - Simone Ortega, 89, Spanish cookery writer
* July 4 - Thomas M. Disch, 68, American science fiction author and poet.
* July 4 - Janwillem van de Wetering, 77, Dutch novelist
* July 27 - Bob Crampsey, 78, British writer
* July 30 - Peter Coke, 95, British playwright

August

* August 3 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 89, Russian writer and Nobel Prize laureate
* August 7 - Simon Gray, 71, British playwright
* August 9 - Mahmoud Darwish, 67, Palestinian poet
* August 11 - George Furth, 75, American playwright
* August 17 - Dave Freeman, 47, American travel writer
* August 23 - John Russell, 89, British-American art critic
* August 25 - Ahmed Faraz, 77, Pakistani poet
* August 31 - Ken Campbell, 66, British novelist and playwright

eptember

* September 5 - Robert Giroux, 94, American editor and publisher
* September 7 - Gregory Mcdonald, 71, American mystery writer
* September 12 - David Foster Wallace, 46, American novelist
* September 17 - James Crumley, 68, American crime writer
* September 20 - Duncan Glen, 75, British poet, critic and literary historian
* September 23 - William Woodruff, 92, British historian and autobiographer
* September 29 - Hayden Carruth, 87, American poet and literary critic

October

* October 4 - Peter Vansittart, 88, British historical novelist

ee also

* Literature
* List of literary awards
* List of years in poetry
* Poetry
* List of poetry awards