This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1998.
Events March 5 – Tennessee Williams' 1938 play Not About Nightingales receives its stage première in London, in a collaboration between the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and Corin and Vanessa Redgrave's Moving Theatre. October The death of the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom Ted Hughes leaves a gap of several months before a successor, Andrew Motion, is designated the following spring. Kinoko Nasu (奈須きのこ) launches the Kara no Kyōkai series, with five chapters released online. November 18 – Alice McDermott wins the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy. December – The Strand Magazine title is revived in the United States.
New books Fiction Turki al-Hamad – Adama (first volume in Atyaf al-Aziqah al-Mahjurah (Phantoms of the Deserted Alley) trilogy) Tariq Ali – The Book of Saladin Aaron Allston Iron Fist Wraith Squadron Hanan al-Shaykh – I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops (أكنس الشمس عن السطوح) Martin Amis – Heavy Water and Other Stories (most stories previously published) Beryl Bainbridge – Master Georgie Iain M. Banks – Inversions Alessandro Barbero – Romanzo russo. Fiutando i futuri supplizi (translated 2010 as The Anonymous Novel. Sensing the Future Torments) Julian Barnes – England, England Greg Bear Dinosaur Summer Foundation and Chaos Raymond Benson – The Facts of Death Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny – Psychoshop Robert Bloch – Flowers from the Moon and Other Lunacies Roberto Bolaño – The Savage Detectives (Los Detectives Salvajes) William Boyd – Armadillo Giannina Braschi – Yo-Yo Boing! Anne Carson – Autobiography of Red (verse novel) Driss Chraïbi – Muhammad Mary Higgins Clark – All Through the Night Tom Clancy – Rainbow Six Paulo Coelho – Veronika Decides to Die Michael Connelly – Blood Work Bernard Cornwell – Sharpe's Triumph Patricia Cornwell – Point of Origin Douglas Coupland – Girlfriend in a Coma Ann C. Crispin – Rebel Dawn Michael Cunningham – The Hours Nelson DeMille – Plum Island August Derleth The Final Adventures of Solar Pons In Lovecraft's Shadow Peter Dickinson – The Kin Allan W. Eckert – Return to Hawk's Hill Bret Easton Ellis – Glamorama Giles Foden – The Last King of Scotland Diana Gabaldon – Hellfire Neil Gaiman – Smoke and Mirrors (mainly reprints) Andrew Greeley – A Midwinter's Tale John Grisham – The Street Lawyer Wolf Haas – Komm, süßer Tod (Come, Sweet Death) Margaret Peterson Haddix - Among the Hidden Ha Jin (哈金) – Waiting Tomson Highway – Kiss of the Fur Queen Nick Hornby – About a Boy Michel Houellebecq – Atomised (Les Particules élémentaires) Marek S. Huberath – Gniazdo światów (Nest of Worlds) John Irving – A Widow for One Year K. W. Jeter The Mandalorian Armor Slave Ship Wayne Johnston – The Colony of Unrequited Dreams Stephen King – Bag of Bones Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible Dean R. Koontz – Seize the Night Joe R. Lansdale Rumble Tumble The Boar Alain Mabanckou – Bleu-Blanc-Rouge Patrick McCabe – Breakfast on Pluto Ian McEwan – Amsterdam Roy MacLaren – African Exploits Steve Martin – Pure Drivel Carol Matas – Greater Than Angels China Miéville – King Rat Alice Munro – The Love of a Good Woman Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹) – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル, Nejimakidori Kuronikuru) Cees Nooteboom – All Souls' Day (Allerzielen) Sigrid Nunez – Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury Tim O'Brien – Tomcat in Love Orhan Pamuk – My Name Is Red (Benim Adım Kırmızı) Tom Perrotta – Election Terry Pratchett Carpe Jugulum The Last Continent Fahmida Riaz – Godavari David Adams Richards – The Bay of Love and Sorrows José Luis Rodríguez Pittí – Crónica de invisibles Philip Roth – I Married a Communist Margit Sandemo – Ensam i världen (Alone in the World) Michael Slade – Shrink (also Primal Scream) Alexander McCall Smith – The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Michael Stackpole – I, Jedi Danielle Steel The Klone and I The Long Road Home Mirror Image Thomas Sullivan – The Martyring Andrew Vachss – Safe House Connie Willis – To Say Nothing of the Dog A. N. Wilson – Dream Children Tom Wolfe – A Man in Full Timothy Zahn – Vision of the Future
Children and young people David Almond – Skellig Melvin Burgess – Junk Denise Fleming – Mama Cat Has Three Kittens Gayle Greeno (with Michael Gilbert) – Sunderlies Seeking Tanya Huff – Summon the Keeper Diana Wynne Jones – Dark Lord of Derkholm Dick King-Smith – The Crowstarver Julius Lester – Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story J. Patrick Lewis (with Gary Kelley) – BoshBlobberBosh: Runcible Poems for Edward Lear J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Louis Sachar – Holes Robert Swindells – Abomination Judy Waite – Mouse, Look Out! Douglas Wood – Rabbit and the Moon
Drama Edward Albee – The Play About the Baby Parv Bancil – Made in England (full-length version) Marina Carr – By the Bog of Cats Michael Frayn – Copenhagen David Hare – The Blue Room Ted Hughes (translator) – Phèdre Elfriede Jelinek – Ein Sportstück (A Sports Piece) Bryony Lavery – Frozen Terrence McNally – Corpus Christi Sol B River The White Witch of Rose Hall River Plays 1 (published) Shelagh Stephenson – An Experiment with an Air Pump Marius von Mayenburg – Fireface (Feuergesicht) Tennessee Williams (died 1983) – Not About Nightingales (first performance; written 1938)
Poetry
Seamus Heaney Beowulf (translation) Opened Ground: Poems 1966–1996 Ted Hughes – Birthday Letters Dejan Stojanović – Krugovanje: 1978–1987 (Circling; 2nd edition)Web page titled Krugovanje, Dejan Stojanović at the Internet Archive
Non-fiction Charlotte Allen – The Human Christ: The Search For The Historical Jesus Andrea Ashworth – Once in a House on Fire Antony Beevor – Stalingrad Harold Bloom – Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human Bill Bryson – Notes from a Big Country Peter Cannon (editor) – Lovecraft Remembered Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd – Dear Friend and Gardener Corinne Debaine-Francfort – La redécouverte de la Chine ancienne Amanda Foreman – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire John Fowles – Wormholes – Essays and Occasional Writings Jonathan Freedland – Bring Home the Revolution Sita Ram Goel – Vindicated by Time Simon Heffer – Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell Adam Hochschild – King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa A. P. J. Abdul Kalam – India 2020 Ryszard Kapuściński – Heban (Ebony, translated as The Shadow of the Sun) B. B. Lal – India 1947–1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization Martin Lee and Marcia Miller – The Mega-fun Multiplication Facts Activity Book Eric Liu – The Accidental Asian Alan I. Marcus – Building Western Civilization: From the Advent of Writing to the Age of Steam Thylias Moss – Tale of a Sky-Blue Dress Inga Muscio – Cunt: A Declaration of Independence V. S. Naipaul – Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples Gilles Perrault (ed.) – Le Livre noir du capitalisme (The Black Book of Capitalism) John Pilger – Hidden Agendas Michael Poole – Romancing Mary Jane Arun Shourie – Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud Marilee Strong – A Bright Red Scream University of Arizona – Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni Adam Zagajewski – Another Beauty
Births March 7 – Amanda Gorman, American poet and activist May 15 – Mohammed El-Kurd, Palestinian writer and poet December 16 – Chloe Gong, Chinese-born New Zealand author unknown dates K-Ming Chang – Taiwanese-American novelist and poet Moses MacKenzie – British novelist
Deaths January 2 – Frank Muir, English comedy writer and broadcaster (born 1920) January 11 – John Wells, English satirist (born 1936) January 18 – Monica Edwards, English children's novelist (born 1912) January 23 – John Forbes, Australian poet (heart attack, born 1950) January 27 – Geoffrey Trease, English children's historical novelist (born 1909) February 7 – Lawrence Sanders, American novelist and short story writer (born 1920) February 15 – Martha Gellhorn, American journalist (suicide, born 1908) February 17 – Ernst Jünger, German novelist and war memoirist (born 1895) February 27 – Alice Rivaz, Swiss writer (born 1901) March 15 – Dr. Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and writer on child care (born 1903) April 11 – Francis Durbridge, English playwright (born 1912) April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914) April 27 Anne Desclos (Pauline Réage), French journalist and novelist (born 1907) Carlos Castaneda, Mexican-born American anthropologist and author (born 1925) May 9 – Nat Perrin, American comedy writer (born 1905) May 11 — Willy Corsari, Dutch author of detective fiction (born 1897) June 10 Joan Adeney Easdale, English poet (born 1913) Hammond Innes, English novelist (born 1913) June 11 – Dame Catherine Cookson, English novelist (born 1906) July 1 – Martin Seymour-Smith, English biographer (born 1928) July 5 – Johnny Speight, English comedy writer (born 1920) July 9 – Ian Wallace (John Wallace Pritchard), American science fiction author (born 1912) July 14 – Miroslav Holub, Czech poet (born 1923) July 23 John Hopkins, English film and television writer (born 1931) Manuel Mejía Vallejo, Colombian novelist (born 1923) August 16 – Dorothy West, American novelist and short story writer (born 1907) August 22 – Grace Paley, American writer (born 1922) September 28 – Eric Malling, Canadian journalist (born 1946) October 15 – Iain Crichton Smith, Scottish writer (born 1928) October 22 – Eric Ambler, English spy novelist (born 1909) October 28 – Ted Hughes, English poet and Poet Laureate (born 1930) November 3 – Bob Kane (Robert Kahn), American comics artist and writer (born 1915) November 8 – Rumer Godden, English novelist (born 1907) November 17 – Alexandru Talex, Romanian journalist, critic and biographer (born 1909) December 16 – William Gaddis, American novelist (born 1922)
Awards Nobel Prize for Literature: José Saramago Europe Theatre Prize: Luca Ronconi Camões Prize: Antonio Candido
Australia The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jennifer Kremmer, Pegasus in the Suburbs C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Coral Hull, Broken Land Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: No awards this year Mary Gilmore Prize: Emma Lew, The Wild Reply Miles Franklin Award: Peter Carey, Jack Maggs
Canada Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award: Talya Rubin See 1998 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists. Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Alice Munro: The Love of a Good Woman Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Charlotte Gray: Mrs. KingFaculty of Arts, 1998, Edna Staebler Award , Wilfrid Laurier University, previous winners, Charlotte Gray, Retrieved 11/24/2012
France Prix Décembre: Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules élémentaires Prix Goncourt: Paule Constant, Prix Médicis French: Prix Médicis International: – Jonathan Coe
United Kingdom Booker Prize: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam Carnegie Medal for children's literature: David Almond, Skellig James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More Cholmondeley Award: Roger McGough, Robert Minhinnick, Anne Ridler, Ken Smith Eric Gregory Award: Mark Goodwin, Joanne Limburg, Patrick McGuinness, Kona Macphee, Esther Morgan, Christiania Whitehead, Frances Williams Orange Prize for Fiction: Carol Shields, Larry's Party Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Les Murray Whitbread Best Book Award: Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters
United States Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Shara McCallum, The Water Between Us Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: X.J. Kennedy American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Horton Foote