2020 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 2020.

List of years in literature (table)
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Events

• April 14 – Bookshops are among the first few premises permitted to reopen on relaxation of restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.[1]
• May 26–July 10 – J. K. Rowling releases her new fairy tale The Ickabog in free online instalments during restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.[2]
• June 25 – Louisa May Alcott's unfinished "Aunt Nellie's Story" (c.1849) is first published, in The Strand Magazine.[3]
• July 31 – 2020 Booker Prize longlisted (later shortlisted) author Tsitsi Dangarembga is arrested in Zimbabwe as part of a government crackdown ahead of anti-corruption protests.[4]
• August – The Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, purchases Das Große Stammbuch, an album amicorum compiled by diplomat Philipp Hainhofer, which the library's patron Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, tried but failed to acquire following Hainhofer's death in 1647.[5]
• October 13 – A first issue first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone sells at auction in the UK for £60,000[6] and a copy of Isaac Newton's The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in the 1729 English translation (the second to sell in recent weeks) for £24,000.[7]
• October 14 – A Shakespeare First Folio sells at auction in New York City for $9.98M (£7.6M) (50% more than the previous copy auctioned in 2001).[8]
• November 25 – Penguin Random House agrees to acquire rival publisher Simon & Schuster from ViacomCBS for US$2.175 billion.[9]

New books

Dates after each title indicate U.S. publication, unless otherwise indicated.

Fiction

• Kaie Kellough – Dominoes at the Crossroads (January 20, Canada)[10]
• William Gibson – Agency (January 21, Canada)[10]
• Lisa Robertson – The Baudelaire Fractal (January 21, Canada)[10]
• Thomas King – Obsidian (January 28, Canada)[10]
• Douglas Stuart – Shuggie Bain (February 11, US)
• Brandon Taylor – Real Life (February 18)
• Marjorie Celona – How a Woman Becomes a Lake (March 3, Canada)[10]
• Shani Mootoo – Polar Vortex (March 3, Canada)[10]
• Hilary Mantel – The Mirror and the Light (March 5, UK)
• David Bergen – Here the Dark (March 10, Canada)[10]
• Terry Watada – The Mysterious Dreams of the Dead (March 15, Canada)[10]
• Emily St. John Mandel – The Glass Hotel (March 24, Canada)[10]
• Maggie O'Farrell – Hamnet (March 31, UK)
• Katrina Onstad – Stay Where I Can See You (March 31, Canada)[10]
• Ingrid Persaud – Love After Love (April 2, UK)[11]
• Monique Roffey – The Mermaid of Black Conch (April 2, UK)[11]
• Marianne Apostolides – I Can't Get You Out of My Mind (April 7, Canada)[10]
• Deni Ellis Béchard – A Song from Faraway (April 7, Canada)[10]
• Vivek Shraya – The Subtweet (April 7, Canada)[10]
• Souvankham Thammavongsa – How to Pronounce Knife (April 7, Canada)[10]
• Cordelia Strube – Misconduct of the Heart (April 21, Canada)[10]
• Lisa Bird-Wilson – Probably Ruby (April 23, Canada)[10]
• Kathy Lette – HRT: Husband Replacement Therapy (April 28, Australia)
• Maria Mutch – Molly Falls to Earth (April 28, Canada)[10]
• Kate Pullinger – Forest Green (April 28, Canada)[10]
• Tim Wynne-Jones – War at the Snow White Motel and Other Stories (May 1, Canada)[12]
• John Gould – The End of Me (May 2, Canada)[12]
• Gil Adamson – Ridgerunner (May 12, Canada)[12]
• Clifford Jackman – The Braver Thing (May 12, Canada)[10]
• Pasha Malla – Kill the Mall (May 12, Canada)[10]
• Aislinn Hunter – The Certainties (May 19, Canada)[10]
• Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half (June 2, US)[13]
• Eva Crocker – All I Ask (June 2, Canada)[10]
• Dianne Warren – The Diamond House (June 2, Canada)[10]
• Becky Albertalli – Love, Creekwood (June 30)[14]
• Evan Winter – The Fires of Vengeance (July 14, Canada)[10]
• Diane Cook – The New Wilderness (July 30)
• Farzana Doctor – Seven (August 1, 2020)[10]
• André Alexis – The Night Piece (August 4)[10]
• Ali Smith – Summer (August 6, UK)
• Richard Owain Roberts – Hello Friend We Missed You (August 18, Wales)
• Raphaël Enthoven – Le Temps gagné (Time Saved; August 19, France)
• John Banville – Snow (September 29, UK)
• Zoe Sugg and Amy McCulloch – The Magpie Society: One for Sorrow (October 29, UK)[15]

Children and young people

• Natasha Farrant – Voyage of the Sparrowhawk (September 3, UK)[11]
• J. K. Rowling – The Ickabog (November, UK, book publication)
• Trung Le Nguyen – The Magic Fish (graphic novel)
• Jacqueline Wilson – Love Frankie (August 20, UK)[16]

Poetry

• Eavan Boland (died 2020) – The Historians (October 29, UK)[11]
• Lana Del Rey – Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass (September 29)
• Carolyn Forché – In The Lateness of The World: Poems (March 10)
• Srikanth Reddy – Underworld Lit (August 4)

Drama

• David Hare – Beat the Devil

Non-fiction

• Dara McAnulty – Diary of a Young Naturalist (May 21, UK)
• Camilla Pang – Explaining Humans: What Science Can Teach Us about Life, Love and Relationships (March 12, UK)
• Jay Parini – Borges and Me: An Encounter
• Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig – A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America
• Peter Sloterdijk – Den Himmel zum Sprechen bringen (October 26, Germany)
• Mary Trump – Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man (August 11)

Biography and memoirs

• Lee Lawrence – The Louder I Will Sing (September 17, UK)[11]

Deaths

• January 7 – Elizabeth Wurtzel, 52, American author (Prozac Nation) (born 1967)[17]
• January 9 – Chukwuemeka Ike, 88, Nigerian writer (born 1931)[18]
• January 12 – Roger Scruton, 75, English philosopher and writer (born 1944)[19]
• January 16 – Christopher Tolkien, 95, British academic and editor (born 1924)[20]
• January 17 – Charles Carrère, 91, Senegalese poet.[21]
• January 23 – Armando Uribe, 86, Chilean writer (winner of the National Prize for Literature 2004) (born 1933)[22]
• January 30 – Jörn Donner, 86, Finland-Swedish writer, film director and politician (born 1933).[23]
• January 31 – Mary Higgins Clark, 92, American best-selling author, known as the Queen of Suspense (born 1927)[24]
• February 3 – George Steiner, 90, French-American literary critic and essayist (After Babel) (born 1929)[25]
• February 4 – Kamau Brathwaite, 89, Barbadian poet and academic (born 1930)[26]
• February 12 – Christie Blatchford, 68, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist, writer and broadcaster (born 1951)[27]
• February 17 – Charles Portis, 86, American author (True Grit, Norwood, Gringos) (born 1933)[28]
• February 22 – Kiki Dimoula, 88, Greek poet (born 1931)[29]
• February 24 – Clive Cussler, 88, American adventure novelist (Raise the Titanic!, Sahara) and underwater explorer, founder of the NUMA (born 1931)[30]
• March 13 – Yang Mu, 79, Taiwanese poet and essayist (born 1940)[31]
• March 24 – Terrence McNally, 81, American playwright, screenwriter, and librettist (born 1938)[32]
• March 30 – Tomie dePaola, American author and illustrator (born 1934)[33]
• April 1 – Bruce Dawe, 90, Australian poet (born 1930)[34]
• April 2 – Patricia Bosworth, 86, American biographer, journalist, and memoirist (born 1933)[35]
• April 6 – Jean Little, 88, Canadian children's fiction author (born 1932)[36]
• April 16 – Luis Sepúlveda, 70, Chilean author and journalist (The Old Man Who Read Love Novels, The Story of A Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her To Fly) (born 1949)[37]
• April 25 – Per Olov Enquist, 85, Swedish author (The Visit of the Royal Physician) (born 1934)[38]
• April 29 – Yahya Hassan, Danish poet and political activist (born 1995)[39]
• May 4 – Michael McClure, 87, American poet and writer (born 1932)
• May 12 – Carolyn Reidy, 71, American publisher, CEO of Simon & Schuster, heart attack (born 1949)
• May 27 – Larry Kramer, 84, American playwright (The Normal Heart) and LGBT rights activist (born 1935)
• June 2 – Hiber Conteris, 86, Uruguayan literary critic, writer and playwright (born 1933)
• June 28 – Rudolfo Anaya, 82, American Chicano author (born 1937)[40]
• July 7 – Elizabeth Harrower, 92, Australian novelist (born 1928)
• August 5 – Pete Hamill, 85, American journalist and author (born 1935)
• August 10 – Jacobo Langsner, 93, Transylvanian-born Uruguayan screenwriter and playwright (born 1927)
• August 24 – Gail Sheehy, 83, American author (Hillary's Choice) (born 1936)
• September 23 – Sir Harold Evans, 92, English-born American author (The American Century), newspaper editor and journalist (The Sunday Times, The Week, The Guardian) (born 1928)
• September 23 – Emyr Humphreys, 101, Welsh-language writer (born 1919)[41]
• October 1 – Derek Mahon, 78, Irish poet and journalist (born 1941)[42]
• October 25 – Diane Di Prima, 86, American poet (born 1934)[43]
• November 6
  • Nathan Zach, 89, Israeli poet[44]
  • Mikhail Zhvanetsky, 86, Soviet and Russian writer and satirist[45]
• November 29 – Ben Bova, 88, American writer and magazine editor (Analog), Hugo Award winner (born 1932)[46]
• December 1 – Miguel Algarín, 79, Puerto Rican writer, co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (born 1941)[47]
• December 3 – Alison Lurie, 94, American novelist (Foreign Affairs, The War Between the Tates), Pulitzer Prize winner (born 1926)[48]
• December 12 – John le Carré, 89, English author (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager, The Little Drummer Girl) (born 1931)[49]

Awards

The following list is arranged alphabetically:

• Akutagawa Prize: Haneko Takayama, Shuri no Uma (首里の馬)[50]
• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award: Namwali Serpell, The Old Drift[51]
• Baillie Gifford Prize:
• Booker Prize: Douglas Stuart for Shuggie Bain[52]
• Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year: A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path: Animal Metaphors in Eastern Indonesian Society by Gregory Forth.[53]
• Caine Prize for African Writing: Irenosen Okojie, "Grace Jones"[54]
• Camões Prize:
• Carnegie Medal: Anthony McGowan, Lark
• Costa Book Awards: Monique Roffey, The Mermaid of Black Conch (novel prize and overall Book of the Year)
• Danuta Gleed Literary Award: Zalika Reid-Benta, Frying Plantain
• David Cohen Prize: not awarded this year
• Desmond Elliott Prize: Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me[55]
• Dylan Thomas Prize: Bryan Washington, Lot[56]
• Edgar Award
• European Book Prize: Pavol Rankov, Stalo sa prvého septembra (alebo inokedy) and Kapka Kassabova, Border: a journey to the edge of Europe
• Folio Prize: Valeria Luiselli, Lost Children Archive
• German Book Prize: Anne Weber, Annette, ein Heldinnenepos[57]
• Goldsmiths Prize:
• Gordon Burn Prize:
• Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: delayed until 2021
• Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: delayed until 2021
• Governor General's Awards, other categories: See 2020 Governor General's Awards
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française:
• Hugo Award for Best Novel:
• International Booker Prize:
• International Dublin Literary Award:
• International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Abdelouahab Aissaoui, The Spartan Court
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction:
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography:
• Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award:
• Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 32nd Lambda Literary Awards.
• Legion of Honour, Chevalier:
• Miguel de Cervantes Prize:
• Miles Franklin Award:
• National Biography Award:
• National Book Award for Fiction:
• National Book Critics Circle Award:
• Newbery Medal: Jerry Craft, New Kid
• Nike Award: Joanna Gierak-Onoszko: 27 śmierci Toby'ego Obeda
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Louise Gluck[58]
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Chloe Aridjis, Sea Monsters
• PEN Center USA Fiction Award:
• Premio Planeta de Novela:
• Premio Strega: Sandro Veronesi, Il colibrì[59]
• Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing: David M. Glantz[60]
• Prix Goncourt: Hervé Le Tellier "L'anomolie"[61]
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Colson Whitehead The Nickel Boys[62]
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Jericho Brown The Tradition [63]
• Queen's Birthday Honours (UK)
• RBC Taylor Prize: Mark Bourrie, Bush Runner
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: Gil Adamson Ridgerunner[64]
• Russian Booker Prize:
• SAARC Literary Award:
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Souvankham Thammavongsa, How to Pronounce Knife
• Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings: Amir Or[65]
• Walter Scott Prize: Christine Dwyer Hickey, The Narrow Land[66]
• Whiting Awards:

Drama: Will Arbery[67]

Fiction: Andrea Lawlor,[68] Ling Ma,[69] and Genevieve Sly Crane[70]

Nonfiction: Jaquira Díaz [71] and Jia Tolentino[72]

Poetry: Aria Aber,[73] Dianely Antigua,[74] Jake Skeets,[75] and Genya Turovskaya[76]

• Women's Prize for Fiction: Maggie O'Farrell for Hamnet[77]
• W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction: Ralph Peterson for "Darkness at Chancellorsville"[78]
• Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Durs Grünbein[79]

References

1. "Coronavirus: Austria and Italy reopen some shops as lockdown eased". BBC News. 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
2. "JK Rowling unveils The Ickabog, her first non-Harry Potter children's book". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
3. Italie, Hillel (2020-06-25). "Early, rarely seen Alcott story published in Strand Magazine". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
4. Flood, Alison (2020-07-31). "Booker prize-longlisted author Tsitsi Dangarembga arrested in Zimbabwe". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
5. Flood, Alison (2020-08-28). "German library pays £2.5m for 'friendship book', 400 years after it first tried to buy it". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
6. "Harry Potter first edition fetches £60,000 at auction". BBC News. 2020-10-13. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
7. "Rare Sir Isaac Newton book sells for £24k at auction". BBC News. 2020-10-13. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
8. "Shakespeare First Folio fetches a record $10m at auction". BBC News. 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
9. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/25/viacomcbs-sells-simon-schuster-to-penguin-random-house-for-2-billion.html
10. "47 works of Canadian fiction to watch for in spring 2020". CBC Books. February 5, 2020.
11. "Costa Book Awards". Costa Coffee. 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
12. "12 Canadian books coming out in May we can't wait to read". CBC Books, May 5, 2020.
13. "The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett: 9780525536291". Penguin Random House. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
14. "'Love, Creekwood' is the Simonverse Epilogue We've Been Waiting For". Epic Reads. April 21, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
15. Deen, Sarah. "Zoella turns to crime as she introduces new book series The Magpie Society". Metro. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
16. Flood, Alison (2020-04-20). "Jacqueline Wilson reveals publicly that she is gay". The Guardian. London. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
17. Elizabeth Wurtzel, ‘Prozac Nation’ author who spurred a memoir boom, dies at 52
18. "Breaking News: Chukwuemeka Ike is dead". Sun News Online. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
19. Sir Roger Scruton, conservative philosopher of wide accomplishments – obituary
20. Garth, John (20 January 2020). "Christopher Tolkien obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
21. Le poète Charles Carrère n'est plus (in French)
22. Fallece el escritor Armando Uribe a los 86 años de edad « Diario y Radio U Chile
23. Författaren och regissören Jörn Donner har dött – blev 86 år, read 29 February 2020.
24. Cohen, Noah (1 February 2020). "Mary Higgins Clark, bestselling mystery author who called N.J. home, dies at 92". nj.com. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
25. Eminent man of letters George Steiner dead at age 90
26. Noted Barbadian poet and historian Brathwaite dies
27. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-veteran-journalist-christie-blatchford-was-known-for-her-work-ethic/
28. 'True Grit' Novelist Charles Portis Dies at 86
29. Prominent Greek Poet Kiki Dimoula Died - The National Herald
30. Clive Cussler: Dirk Pitt novels author dies aged 88 - BBC News
31. Noted Taiwanese poet Yang Mu dies at 79
32. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/legendary-broadway-playwright-terrence-mcnally-remembered-for-bringing-the-complexity-of-gay-life-to-the-stage-2020-03-30
33. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/books/tomie-de-paola-dead.html
34. Romei, Stephen (2 April 2020). "Australian poet Bruce Dawe dies, aged 90". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
35. Dixler, Elsa (April 3, 2020). "Patricia Bosworth, Actress-Turned-Author, Dies at 86". The New York Times. New York City: The New York Times Company. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
36. "Renowned Guelph children's author Jean Little passes away". GuelphToday. Village Media. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
37. Aguilar, Andrea (April 16, 2020). "El escritor chileno Luis Sepúlveda muere de coronavirus en Oviedo". EL PAÍS.
38. "Författaren PO Enquist är död" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
39. Yahya Hassan er død (in Danish)
40. Famed Chicano author Rudolfo Anaya dies at age 82
41. "Cofio'r llenor a'r 'cawr diwylliannol' Emyr Humphreys". BBC Cymru Fyw (in Welsh). Retrieved 30 September 2020.
42. "Derek Mahon, one of Ireland's leading poets, has died, aged 78". Irish Times. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
43. https://allenginsberg.org/2020/10/diane-di-prima-1934-2020/
44. המשורר וחתן פרס ישראל נתן זך מת בגיל 89 (in Yiddish)
45. "Умер Михаил Жванецкий". РБК (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-11-06.
46. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/books/ben-bova-dies.html
47. Nuyorican Poets Cafe Co-Founder Miguel Algarín Dies at 79
48. Alison Lurie, Tart-Voiced Novelist of Manners, Dies at 94
49. A statement from Jonny Geller, CEO, The Curtis Brown Group
50. "第163回芥川賞　高山羽根子さん『首里の馬』と遠野遥『破局』がダブル受賞". bunshun.jp (in Japanese). 15 July 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
51. Ibeh, Chukwuebuka (4 April 2020), "Namwali Serpell Wins the 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Award for The Old Drift", Brittle Paper.
52. Flood, Alison (19 November 2020). "Douglas Stuart wins Booker prize for debut Shuggie Bain". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
53. "Let it flow: A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path wins 42nd Diagram Prize". The Bookseller. 27 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
54. "Caine Prize 2020: British Nigerian author Irenosen Okojie". BBC News. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
55. "Merky author Derek Owusu wins Desmond Elliott prize for 'profound' debut".
56. "Dylan Thomas prize £30,000 winner named". BBC News. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
57. "Deutscher Buchpreis 2020 für Anne Weber". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Frankfurt. dpa. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
58. https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2020/10/08/opinions/nobel-prize-literature-louise-gluck-matters-hofmann/index.html
59. https://www.affaritaliani.it/libri-editori/il-colibri-di-veronesi-premiato-anche-in-francia-presto-uscita-in-26-paesi-717670.html
60. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/22/2065975/0/en/Pritzker-Military-Museum-Library-Announces-2020-Literature-Award-Recipient.html
61. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/30/herve-le-tellier-wins-prix-goncourt-france-books-world-reopen-l-anomalie
62. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/05/colson-whitehead-awarded-second-pulitzer-prize/
63. https://www.them.us/story/2-black-queer-writers-awarded-2020-pulitzer-prizes?intcid=inline_amp
64. https://nowtoronto.com/culture/books/gil-adamson-jessica-j-lee-win-writers-trust-2020-literary-prizes
65. https://mia.mk/amir-or-named-struga-poetry-evenings-laureate/?lang=en
66. "Irish author wins Walter Scott fiction prize". BBC News. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
67. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/will-arbery#/
68. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/andrea-lawlor#/
69. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/ling-ma#/
70. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/genevieve-sly-crane#/
71. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/jaquira-d%C3%ADaz#/
72. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/jia-tolentino#/
73. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/aria-aber#/
74. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/diannely-antigua#/
75. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/jake-skeets#/
76. https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/genya-turovskaya#/
77. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/09/maggie-o-farrell-wins-womens-prize-for-fiction-with-exceptional-hamnet
78. http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/wy-boyd-literary-award-excellence-military-fiction
79. https://www.tvp.info/49878546/durs-grnbein-laureatem-nagrody-literackiej-im-zbigniewa-herberta