2016 in literature

• May 20 – Writers who sign a letter calling for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union include Hilary Mantel, John le Carré, Philip Pullman and Tom Stoppard;[1] nevertheless, the June 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum endorses Brexit.
• May 24 – Hundreds of US writers, including Stephen King, Robert Polito and Nicole Krauss, sign an "open letter to the American people" urging them not to support Donald Trump as a presidential candidate in the November 2016 United States presidential election.[2]
• November 26 – UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy receives the Wilfred Owen Poetry Award.[3]

• January 10 – Fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
• February 1 – 20th anniversary of the publication of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.[4]
• February 22 – 40th anniversary of the publication of Raymond Carver's Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
• February 28 – Centenary of Henry James's death in 1916
• March 28 – 75th anniversary of the death of Virginia Woolf in 1941
• April 3 – 25th anniversary of Graham Greene's death in 1991
• April 12 – Centenary of the birth of Beverly Cleary, American children's author
• May 21 – Centenary of the birth of Harold Robbins, American novelist dubbed one of "the world's bestselling authors."[5]
• May 28 – Centenary of the birth of Walker Percy, National Book Award-winning American novelist (The Moviegoer, published 55 years ago in 1961)
• April 21 – Bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë's birth in 1816
• April 22 – 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes.[6]
• April 23 – Possible 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death
• April 24 – Centenary of the Easter Rising in Dublin, which inspired W. B. Yeats's poem "Easter, 1916"
• July 1 – Centenary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, in which those fighting included Robert Graves, Ford Madox Ford and JRR Tolkien
• July 14 – Centenary of the birth of Natalia Ginzburg, Italian author
• September 13 – Centenary of the birth of Roald Dahl, Welsh-born children's author
• September 17 – Centenary of the birth of Mary Stewart (Mary Rainbow), English romantic suspense novelist
• September 28 – Fiftieth anniversary of the death of André Breton, French poet, essayist and theorist; the leading exponent of Surrealism in literature
• October 3 – Centenary of the birth of James Herriot (James Alfred Wight), English writer and veterinary surgeon
• October 22 – 90 years ago, Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises is published in a first edition consisting of 5090 copies, selling at $2.00 per copy
• December 14 – Centenary of the birth of Shirley Jackson, American novelist and short story writer
• December 29 – Centenary of the publication in book form of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, in New York

The date after each title indicate the U.S. publication date, unless otherwise stated.

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in literature" article:

• January 11 – Gunnel Vallquist, Swedish writer and translator (born 1918)[44]
• January 18 – Michel Tournier, French writer, 91 (born 1924)[45]
• January 20 – David G. Hartwell, American anthologist, author and critic (b. 1941)
• February 8 – Margaret Forster, English novelist and biographer, 77 (born 1938)[46]
• February 18 – Yūko Tsushima (津島 佑子), Japanese author, 68 (born 1947)[47]
• February 19
  • Umberto Eco – Italian philosopher and novelist (The Name of the Rose), 84 (born 1932)[48]
  • Harper Lee – American author (To Kill a Mockingbird), 89 (born 1926)[49]
• February 29 – Louise Rennison, English author and comedian (born 1951)[50]
• March 4 – Pat Conroy, American novelist (The Prince of Tides), 70 (born 1945)[51]
• March 8 - Enrique Estrázulas, Uruguayan writer, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist and diplomat, 74 (born 1942)[52]
• March 21 – Tomás de Mattos, Uruguayan writer and librarian, 68 (born 1947)[53]
• March 31 – Imre Kertész, Hungarian writer and the 2002 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 86 (born 1929)[54]
• April 3 – Lars Gustafsson, Swedish writer and scholar, novelist and poet, 79 (born 1936)[55]
• April 5 – E. M. Nathanson, American author (The Dirty Dozen), 87 (born 1928)[56]
• April 12 – Sir Arnold Wesker, English dramatist, 83 (born 1932)[57]
• April 30 – Daniel Berrigan, American Jesuit priest, poet, peace activist and recidivist, won the 1957 Lamont Prize in Poetry, 94 (born 1921)[58]
• June 6 – Sir Peter Shaffer, English playwright (Amadeus), 90 (born 1926)[59]
• June 25 – Adam Small, 79, South African writer and poet, winner of the Hertzog Prize (born 1936)[60]
• June 30 – Sir Geoffrey Hill, English poet, 84 (born 1932)[61]
• July 1 – Yves Bonnefoy, French poet, 93 (born 1923)[62]
• July 2 – Elie Wiesel, American Jewish author (Night) and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner (born 1928)[63]
• July 14 – Péter Esterházy, Hungarian writer, 66 (born 1950)[64]
• July 19 – Carlos Gorostiza, Argentine playwright, theatre director and novelist, 96 (born 1920)
• August 24 – Michel Butor, French essayist, novelist, critic and a leading figure of 1950s Nouveau Roman group, 89 (born 1926)[65]
• September 4 :
  • Isidore Okpewho, Nigerian novelist and critic, 74 (born 1941)[66]
  • Cyril C. Perera, Sri Lankan author and translator, 93 (born 1923)
• September 16
  • Edward Albee, American playwright (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), 88 (born 1928)[67]
  • W. P. Kinsella, Canadian author (Shoeless Joe), 81 (born 1935)[68]
• September 28 – Gloria Naylor, African-American novelist and academic (The Women of Brewster Place), 66, (born 1950)[69]
• October 13 – Dario Fo, Italian playwright and the 1997 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 90 (born 1926)[70]
• October 31 – Natalie Babbitt, American author (Tuck Everlasting), 84 (born 1932)[71]
• November 7 – Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet, novelist and songwriter, 82 (born 1934)[72]
• November 10 – Francisco Nieva, Spanish playwright, novelist and short story writer, 91 (born 1924)
• November 11 – Sir James McNeish, New Zealand novelist, playwright and biographer, 85 (born 1931)[73]
• November 20 – William Trevor, Irish novelist, playwright and short story writer, 88 (born 1928)[74]
• December 12 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian novelist and short story writer, 85 (born 1931)[75]
• December 24 – Richard Adams, English author (Watership Down), 96 (born 1920)[76]
• December 28 – Michel Déon, French novelist, 97 (born 1919)

In alphabetical order of prize names:

• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award: Mary Morris for The Jazz Palace
• Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction: Lisa McInerney, The Glorious Heresies[77]
• Baillie Gifford Prize: Philippe Sands, East West Street[78]
• Booker Prize: Paul Beatty, The Sellout (first American winner)[79]
• Caine Prize for African Writing: Lidudumalingani Mqombothi, "Memories We Lost"
• Camões Prize: Raduan Nassar[80]
• Costa Book Awards: Sebastian Barry, Days Without End (novel and overall winner); Francis Spufford, Golden Hill (first novel); Alice Oswald, Falling Awake (poetry); Keggie Carew, Dadland (biography); Brian Conaghan, The Bombs that Brought us Together (children's)
• Danuta Gleed Literary Award: Heather O'Neill, Daydreams of Angels
• Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Leah Horlick[81]
• Desmond Elliott Prize: Lisa McInerney, The Glorious Heresies[82]
• DSC Prize for South Asian Literature: Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy, India
• Dylan Thomas Prize: Max Porter, Grief is the Thing with Feathers[83]
• European Book Prize: Javier Cercas, The Impostor and, Erri De Luca, Le Plus et le Moins
• Folio Prize: No prize awarded[84]
• German Book Prize: Bodo Kirchhoff, Widerfahrnis[85]
• Goldsmiths Prize: Mike McCormack, Solar Bones[86]
• Gordon Burn Prize: David Szalay, All That Man Is[87]
• Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing
• Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: Dominique Fortier, Au péril de la mer
• Governor General's Awards, other categories: See 2016 Governor General's Awards.
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française: Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre Le Dernier des nôtres
• International Booker Prize: Han Kang, The Vegetarian[88]
• International Dublin Literary Award: Family Life by Akhil Sharma
• International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Rabai al-Madhoun, Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Naqba
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction: Eimear McBride, The Lesser Bohemians
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography: Laura Cumming, The Vanishing Man
• Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award: Anne Enright, The Green Road[89]
• Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 28th Lambda Literary Awards.
• Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Eduardo Mendoza
• Miles Franklin Award: A. S. Patrić, Black Rock White City[90]
• National Biography Award: Brenda Niall for Mannix
• National Book Award for Fiction: Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad
• National Book Critics Circle Award: Louise Erdrich, LaRose
• Nike Award: Bronka Nowicka, Nakarmić kamień
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Bob Dylan
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: James Hannaham, Delicious Foods
• PEN Center USA Fiction Award:
• Premio Planeta de Novela:
• Premio Strega: Edoardo Albinati, La scuola cattolica
• Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing: Hew Strachan
• Prix Goncourt: Leïla Slimani, Chanson douce
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer[91]
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Peter Balakian, Ozone Journal[92]
• RBC Taylor Prize: Rosemary Sullivan, Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva[93]
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: Yasuko Thanh, Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains
• Russian Booker Prize:
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing[94]
• Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings:
• Walter Scott Prize: Simon Mawer, Tightrope[95]
• W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction: Ralph Peters, Valley of the Shadow[96]
• Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Lars Gustafsson[97]

• Information on the literary calendar at Books in 2016: a literary calendar |Books |The Guardian