This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1979.
Events May – The Merchant Ivory Productions film The Europeans is released. Its screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala draws on the 1878 Henry James novel of the same name. October 25 – The London Review of Books is first issued, its founding editors being Karl Miller, Mary-Kay Wilmers and Susannah Clapp. For its first six months it appears as an insert to The New York Review of Books. November – Dambudzo Marechera's The House of Hunger wins the Guardian Fiction Prize. unknown dates K. W. Jeter's novel Morlock Night pioneers full-length fiction in the genre he later calls steampunk. August Wilson's Jitney is first produced; it becomes the eighth in his "Pittsburgh Cycle".
New books
Fiction Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy V. C. Andrews – Flowers in the Attic Jeffrey Archer – Kane and Abel Barbara Taylor Bradford – A Woman of Substance Octavia Butler – Kindred Italo Calvino — If on a winter's night a traveler Orson Scott Card – A Planet Called Treason Angela Carter – The Bloody Chamber Eileen Chang – Lust, Caution Agatha Christie – Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter – Conan the Liberator Michael Ende – The Neverending Story (Die unendliche Geschichte) José Pablo Feinmann – Últimos días de la víctima Alan Dean Foster – Alien (movie novelization) Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini — A che punto è la notte Brian Garfield – The Paladin William Golding – Darkness Visible William Goldman – Tinsel Nadine Gordimer – Burger's Daughter Arthur Hailey – Overload Stratis Haviaras – When the Tree Sings Douglas Hill – Galactic Warlord Stephen King – The Dead Zone Russell Kirk – The Princess of All Lands Milan Kundera – The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (first published in French as Le Livre du rire et de l'oubli) John le Carré – Smiley's People Morgan Llywelyn – Lion of Ireland: The Legend of Brian Boru Robert Ludlum – The Matarese Circle Norman Mailer – The Executioner's Song Cormac McCarthy – Suttree Roger McDonald – 1915: a novel Haruki Murakami – Hear the Wind Sing (風の歌を聴け, Kaze no uta o kike) Ellis Peters – One Corpse Too Many Jerry Pournelle – Janissaries Satyajit Ray – Hatyapuri Harold Robbins – Memories of Another Day Philip Roth – The Ghost Writer Scott Spencer – Endless Love Mary Stewart – The Last Enchantment Peter Straub – Ghost Story William Styron – Sophie's Choice Trevanian – Shibumi Kaari Utrio – Rautalilja Jack Vance – The Face Kurt Vonnegut – Jailbird Elizabeth Walter – In the Mist and Other Uncanny Encounters William Wharton – Birdy Kit Williams – Masquerade Raymond Williams – The Fight for Manod Robert Anton Wilson – Schrodinger's Cat Tom Wolfe – The Right Stuff Roger Zelazny – Roadmarks
Children and young people Chris Van Allsburg – The Garden of Abdul Gasazi Katharine Mary Briggs (with Anne Yvonne Gilbert) – Abbey Lubbers, Banshees, & Boggarts: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies Raymond Briggs – Fungus the Bogeyman Roald Dahl – The Twits Colin Dann – The Animals of Farthing Wood Peter Dickinson (with Wayne Anderson) – The Flight of Dragons Gordon Korman – Go Jump in the Pool Elizabeth Laird – Rosy's Garden Robie Macauley – A Secret History of Time to Come Robert Munsch – Mud Puddle Bill Peet – Cowardly Clyde Daniel Pinkwater Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars Yobgorgle: Mystery Monster of Lake Ontario Ellen Raskin – The Westing Game Jane Severance (with Tea Schook) – When Megan Went Away Barbara Sleigh – Carbonel and Calidor Angela Sommer-Bodenburg – Der kleine Vampir Rosemary Wells – Max & Ruby
Drama Bahram Beyzai – Death of Yazdgerd (مرگ یزدگرد) Caryl Churchill – Cloud Nine David Fennario – Balconville Richard Harris – Outside Edge Elfriede Jelinek – Was geschah, nachdem Nora ihren Mann verlassen hatte; oder Stützen der Gesellschaften (What Occurred after Nora Left her Husband, or Supports of Society) Heiner Müller – Hamletmachine (first performance) Mark Medoff – Children of a Lesser God Neil Oram – The Warp Peter Shaffer – Amadeus Sam Shepard – Buried Child Martin Sherman – Bent Tom Stoppard – Undiscovered CountryStoppard plays at http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsS/stoppard-tom.html#33484
Poetry
Kingsley Amis – Collected Poems
Non-fiction Alison Adburgham – Shopping in Style: London from the Restoration to Edwardian Elegance David Attenborough – Life on Earth Harold Walter Bailey – Dictionary of Khotan Saka Ion Biberi – Lumea de azi (World of Today) Jerome Bruner – On Knowing: Essays for the Left Hand L. Sprague de Camp (editor) – The Blade of Conan Joan Didion – The White Album Elizabeth Eisenstein – The Printing Press as an Agent of Change Peter Evans – The Music of Benjamin Britten John Fowles – The Tree Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar – The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination Eloise Greenfield, Lessie Jones Little, Pattie Ridley Jones – Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir Douglas Hofstadter – Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Henry Kissinger – The White House Years Leon Litwack – Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery Jean-François Lyotard – The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (La Condition postmoderne: rapport sur le savoir) Jessica Mitford – Poison Penmanship: the Gentle Art of Muckraking Stephen Pile – The Book of Heroic Failures Clark Ashton Smith – The Black Book of Clark Ashton Smith Margaret Trudeau – Beyond Reason Tom Wolfe – The Right Stuff
Births February 4 – Ben Lerner, American poet, novelist and critic February 10 – Johan Harstad, Norwegian novelist February 27 - Alexander Gordon Smith, British children's and young-adult author March 28 – Benjamin Percy, American short story writer April 14 – Patrick Somerville, American novelist and short story writer May 21 - James Clancy Phelan, American young-adult and thriller writer June 28 – Florian Zeller, French novelist and dramatist July 14 – Yukiko Motoya, Japanese fiction writer, playwright, theatre director and voice actress August 14 - Sayaka Murata, Japanese novelist unknown dates D.D. Johnston, Scottish political novelist and university lecturer Emily St. John Mandel, Canadian-born novelist"Mandel, Emily St. John 1979– --" in Contemporary Authors, v. 301. Gale, 2010.
Deaths January – Dilys Cadwaladr, Welsh-language poet (born 1902) January 27 – Victoria Ocampo, Argentine publisher, writer and critic (born 1890) February 9 – Allen Tate, American poet and essayist (born 1899) February 25 – John L. Wasserman, American entertainment critic (car accident, born 1938) February 27 – Sir George Clark, English historian (born 1890) March 26 – Jean Stafford, American short story writer and novelist (heart failure; born 1915) April 8 – Breece D'J Pancake, American short story writer (suicide, born 1952) May 10 – J. B. Morton (Beachcomber), English humorous newspaper columnist (born 1893) May 14 – Jean Rhys, Dominica-born English novelist (born 1890) June 1 – Eric Partridge, New Zealand/British lexicographer (born 1894) June 3 – Arno Schmidt, German novelist (born 1914) June 7 – Forrest Carter, American genre novelist (heart failure, born 1925) July 6 – Malcolm Hulke, English television writer (born 1924) July 7 – Ahmad Qandil, Saudi Arabian poet (born 1911) July 15 – Juana de Ibarbourou, Uruguayan poet (born 1892) July 21 – Eugène Vinaver, Russian-born English literary scholar (born 1899) July 23 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and novelist (born 1898) July 24 - Edward Stachura, Polish writer (born 1937) July 29 – Herbert Marcuse, German Jewish philosopher (born 1898) August 8 – Nicholas Monsarrat, English novelist (born 1910) August 16 – Jerzy Jurandot (Jerzy Glejgewicht), Polish poet and dramatist (born 1911) August 20 – Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and writer (born 1922) August 22 – James T. Farrell, American novelist (born 1904) September 5 – John Bradburne, English poet and missionary (killed by guerillas; born 1921) September 6 – Guy Bolton, British playwright (born 1884)"Mr Guy Bolton", obituary, The Times, 23 November 1979, p. 11 September 25 – Zhou Libo (周立波), Chinese novelist and translator (born 1908) October 6 – Elizabeth Bishop, American poet (born 1911) October 17 – S. J. Perelman, American humorist (born 1904) October 18 – Virgilio Piñera, Cuban poet and short-story writer (born 1912) December 12 – Goronwy Rees, Welsh journalist and academic (born 1909) December 19 – Donald Creighton, Canadian historian (born 1902)
Awards Nobel Prize for Literature: Odysseus Elytis
Canada See 1979 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
France Prix Goncourt: Antonine Maillet, Pélagie-la-Charrette Prix Médicis: French: Claude Durand, La Nuit zoologique International: Alejo Carpentier, La harpe et l'ombre
Spain Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Jorge Luis Borges and Gerardo Diego
United Kingdom Booker Prize: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Peter Dickinson, Tulku Cholmondeley Award: Guardian Fiction Prize: Neil Jordan, Night in Tunisia and Dambudzo Marechera, The House of Hunger James Tait Black Memorial Prize: Fiction: William Golding, Darkness Visible Biography: Brian Finney, Christopher Isherwood: A Critical Biography
United States American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction: Nebula Award: Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake Hugo Award: Best Novel: Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake Best Novella: John Varley, The Persistence of Vision Locus Award for Best Novel: Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake Bancroft Prize: Christopher Thorne, Allies of a Kind: The United States, Britain, and the War Against Japan, 1941–1945 Anthony F. C. Wallace, Rockdale: The Growth of An American Village in the Early Industrial Revolution Pulitzer Prize: Drama: Sam Shepard, Buried Child Biography or Autobiography: Leonard Baker, Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews Fiction: John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever Poetry: Robert Penn Warren, Now and Then: Poems 1976–1978 History: Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics General Nonfiction: E. O. Wilson, On Human Nature
Elsewhere Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Yehudi Menuhin Miles Franklin Award: David Ireland, A Woman of the Future Premio Nadal: Carlos Rojas, El ingenioso hidalgo y poeta Federico García Lorca asciende a los infiernos Viareggio Prize: Giorgio Manganelli, Centuria
References
External links Popular Books of 1979 at Goodreads Published 1979 Books at Goodreads 1979 Books at Goodreads