1983 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1983.

April – The Russian samizdat poet Irina Ratushinskaya is sentenced to imprisonment in a labor camp for dissident activity. While there she continues to write poetry clandestinely.^[1]
June 2 – The Francophone Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor becomes the first black African writer elected as a member of the Académie française.
July – Barbara Cartland, who reaches the age of 82, writes 23 romantic novels this year.
November – Bruce Bethke's short story "Cyberpunk", written in 1980, is published in Amazing Stories magazine in the United States, giving a name to the science fiction subgenreofcyberpunk.
unknown date – Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published, as the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris creation "The Saint", which started in 1928. (An attempt to revive the series in 1997 is unsuccessful.)

Paul Durcan – Jumping the Train Tracks with Angela
Grace Nichols – I is a long-memoried woman

Non-fiction

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Benedict Anderson – Imagined Communities
Pascal Bruckner – The Tears of the White Man
L. Sprague de Camp – The Fringe of the Unknown
L. Sprague de Camp, Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin – Dark Valley Destiny
Tom Dardis – Harold Lloyd: The Man on the Clock
Terry Eagleton – Literary Theory: An Introduction
Anthony Grey – The Prime Minister Was a Spy
Susan Oliver – Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey
Renée Richards – Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story
Colin Thubron – Among the Russians
A. N. Wilson – The Life of John Milton: A Biography

November 17 – Christopher Paolini, American fantasy novelist^[4]
December 6 – Jason Reynolds, African American children's novelist and poet^[5]
unknown date – Sarah Howe, Hong Kong-born poet writing in English^[6]

January 5 – Chapman Grant, American historian and publisher (born 1887)
January 18 – Colin Watson, English crime fiction writer (born 1920)
February 14 – Brita von Horn, Swedish theater director, dramatist and novelist (born 1886)
February 18 – Robert Payne, English author, poet and biographer (born 1911)
February 25 – Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams III), American playwright (born 1911)
March 3 – Hergé (Georges Prosper Remi), Belgian comics creator (born 1907)
March 15 – Dame Rebecca West, British writer (born 1892)
April 12 – Desmond Bagley, English novelist (complications from stroke, born 1923))
May 4 – Shūji Terayama (寺山修司), Japanese poet, dramatist, and film director (cirrhosis, born 1935)
May 21 – Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol, Egyptian poet (born 1940)
May 26 – Jack Hilton, British writer (born 1900)
June 19 – Vilmundur Gylfason, Icelandic historian, poet and politician (suicide, born 1948)
June 27 – Alden Nowlan, Canadian poet, novelist and playwright (born 1933)
July 27 – Gladys Mitchell, English crime fiction writer (born 1901)
August 12 – Mikey Smith, Jamaican dub poet (stoned to death; born 1954)
August 18 – Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, German-born British art historian (born 1902)
September 15 – Beverley Nichols, English writer and playwright (born 1898)
September 16 – Roy Andries De Groot, English-born American food writer (born 1910)
November 30 – Richard Llewellyn, British novelist (heart attack, born 1906)
December 5 – John Robinson, English religious writer and bishop (born 1919)
December 13 – Mary Renault, British novelist (born 1905)

Nobel Prize for Literature: William Golding^[7]

Australia

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The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jenny Summerville, Shields Of Trell
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Vivian Smith, Tide Country^[8]
Miles Franklin Award: No award presented^[9]

Canada

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See 1983 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

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Prix Goncourt: Frédérick Tristan, Les Égarés^[10]
Prix Médicis French: Jean Echenoz, Cherokee
Prix Médicis International: Kenneth White, La Route bleue

Spain

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Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Rafael Alberti^[11]

United Kingdom

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Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee -Life and Times of Michael K^[12]
Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Jan Mark, Handles
Cholmondeley Award: John Fuller,^[13] Craig Raine,^[14] Anthony Thwaite^[15]
Eric Gregory Award: Martin Stokes, Hilary Davies, Michael O'Neill, Lisa St Aubin De Teran, Deidre Shanahan
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jonathan Keates, Allegro Postillions^[16]
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years
Newdigate prize: Peter McDonald
Whitbread Best Book Award: John Fuller, Flying to Nowhere

United States

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Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kate Daniels, The White Wave
Nebula Award: David Brin, Startide Rising
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Voigt, Dicey's Song
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Marsha Norman, 'Night, Mother
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Alice Walker – The Color Purple
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Galway Kinnell – Selected Poems^[17]
Pulitzer Prize for History: The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790byRhys Isaac
Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction: Is There No Place on Earth for Me?bySusan Sheehan

Elsewhere

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Hugo Award for Best Novel: Foundation's EdgebyIsaac Asimov
Premio Nadal: Salvador García Aguilar, Regocijo en el hombre

^ "Irina Ratushinskaya: Soviet dissident who turned captivity into poetry". The Independent. 12 July 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 4 April 2020.

^ "Samuel Beckett, the maestro of failure". the Guardian. 7 July 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2022.

^ John Le Carré (16 October 2008). The Little Drummer Girl: Soon to be a major TV series. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-84456-910-6.

^ "Literary Birthday - 17 November - Christopher Paolini". Writers Write. 17 November 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2020.

^ "Jason Reynolds named Library of Congress' national ambassador for young people's literature". CBS News. 2020-01-13. Archived from the original on 2020-05-23. Retrieved 2020-05-23.

^ "Sarah Howe - Biography". Sarah Howe. Retrieved 1 January 2021.

^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1983". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 4 April 2020.

^ Neil James (1999). Writers on Writing. Halstead Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-875684-27-4.

^ Australian Book Review. Australian Book Review. 2001. p. 49.

^ Douglas W. Alden (December 1985). French XX Bibliography. Associated University Presse. p. 9598. ISBN 978-0-933444-45-4.

^ Lumea. 1984. p. 29.

^ Luke Strongman (2002). The Booker Prize and the Legacy of Empire. Rodopi. p. 78. ISBN 90-420-1488-1.

^ The Publishers Weekly. F. Leypoldt. 1984. p. 45.

^ Ed. Mohit K. Ray (September 2007). The Atlantic Companion to Literature in English. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 435. ISBN 978-81-269-0832-5.

^ Europa Publications (2 August 2004). International Who's Who in Poetry 2005. Routledge. p. 1551. ISBN 978-1-135-35519-7.

^ Jenny Stringer; John Sutherland (1996). The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Literature in English. Oxford University Press. p. 355. ISBN 978-0-19-212271-1.

^ Elizabeth A. Brennan; Elizabeth C. Clarage (1999). Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 542. ISBN 978-1-57356-111-2.

1983 in literature

Contents

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

Australia

Canada

France

Spain

United Kingdom

United States

Elsewhere

References

Languages