1981 in literature
See also: 1980 in literature, other events of 1981, 1982 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
- PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time
- John Gardner successfully revives the James Bond novel series originated by Ian Fleming with Licence Renewed (not counting a faux biography of Bond and a pair of film novelizations, the first original Bond novel since 1968's Colonel Sun). The revived Bond book series would run uninterrupted until 2002.
New books
- Kingsley Amis - The Golden Age of Science Fiction
- Martin Amis - Other People: A Mystery Story
- René Barjavel - Une rose au paradis
- Samuel Beckett - Ill Seen Ill Said
- Pierre Berton - Flames Across the Border
- Peter Carey - Bliss
- Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
- James Clavell - Noble House
- Samuel R. Delany - Distant Star
- Régine Deforges - La Bicyclette Bleue (The Blue Bicycle)
- Joan Finnegan - Giants of the Ottawa Valley
- Cynthia Freeman - No Time for Tears
- John Gardner - Licence Renewed
- Alasdair Gray - Lanark
- Jan Guillou - Ondskan
- Thomas Harris - Red Dragon
- Frank Herbert - God Emperor of Dune
- John Irving - Hotel New Hampshire
- Ismail Kadare - Dosja J (The File on H)
- Stephen King - Cujo
- Colleen McCullough - An Indecent Obsession
- Elliot S! Maggin - Miracle Monday
- Naguib Mahfouz - Arabian Nights and Days
- Toni Morrison - Tar Baby
- Robert B. Parker
- Terry Pratchett - Strata
- Harold Robbins - Goodbye, Janette
- Lawrence Sanders - The Third Deadly Sin
- Martin Cruz Smith - Gorky Park
- Gore Vidal - Creation
- Joseph Wambaugh - The Glitter Dome
- Kit Williams - Masquerade
- Gene Wolfe
New drama
- John Krizanc - Tamara
- Larry Shue - The Nerd
Poetry
- Norman Nicholson - Sea to the West
Non-fiction
- Maya Angelou - The Heart of a Woman
- Hugo Brandt Corstius - Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde
- Timothy Findley - Famous Last Words
- Stephen Jay Gould - The Mismeasure of Man
- Ian Smith - The Great Betrayal
- Viktor Suvorov - The Liberators
Births
Deaths
- January 9 - A.J. Cronin, novelist
- March 7 - Bosley Crowther, film critic
- March 20 - Pedro García Cabrera, poet
- April 26 - Robert Garioch, poet (b. 1909)
- May 9 - Nelson Algren, novelist
- May 18 - William Saroyan, novelist and dramatist
- June 15 - Philip Toynbee, novelist and journalist
- September 3 - Alec Waugh, novelist
- September 12 - Eugenio Montale, poet
Awards
- Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti
- Hugo Award for Best Novel: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Australia
- The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Chris Matthews (writer), Al Jazzar; Tim Winton, An Open Swimmer
- Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Alan Gould, Astral Sea
Canada
- See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
France
- Prix Goncourt: Lucien Bodard, Anne Marie
- Prix Médicis French: François-Olivier Rousseau, L'Enfant d'Édouard
- Prix Médicis International: David Shahar, Le Jour de la comtesse
United Kingdom
- Booker Prize: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children
- Cholmondeley Award: Roy Fisher, Robert Garioch, Charles Boyle
- Eric Gregory Award: Alan Jenkins, Simon Rae, Marion Lomax, Philip Gross, Kathleen Jamie, Mark Abley, Roger Crowley, Ian Gregson
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: D. J. Enright
- Whitbread Best Book Award: William Boyd, A Good Man in Africa
United States
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kathy Calloway, Heart of the Garfish
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres: Malcolm Cowley
- Dos Passos Prize: Gilbert Sorrentino
- Nebula Award: Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Beth Henley, Crimes of the Heart
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Schuyler: The Morning of the Poem
Elsewhere
- Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero