This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2021.
Events January 1 – British writer and illustrator Anthony Browne is appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to literature. September 7 – A Radio-Canada article reveals that 5,000 books from 30 French-language school libraries in Southwestern Ontario were destroyed by the Conseil scolaire catholique Providence because they included racial stereotypes relating to Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Although intended as a "gesture of reconciliation", the action meets with widespread condemnation. October 6 – The National Assembly of France adopts new legislation mandating a minimum price on book deliveries to protect independent bookstores from e-commerce giants including Amazon and Fnac, who have circumvented a 2014 law banning the free delivery of books by offering discounted shipping at €0.01.
New books Fiction +New adult fiction, sorted by author's last nameAuthorTitleDate of Pub.Ref.Razorblade TearsSecond PlaceUnsettled GroundMatrixAbundanceThe Other Black GirlKlara and the SunMy Heart Is a ChainsawYou Love MeBilly SummersLaterSilverview 12Jamie Marina LauGunk BabyApril 28No One Is Talking About ThisEwan MorrisonHow to Survive EverythingMarch 1Hell of a BookOpen Water. OutlawedRemote ControlPeacesFake AccountsGods and EndsBewildermentBeautiful World, Where Are YouLa plus secrète mémoire des hommesGreat CircleNickChronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on EarthLight PerpetualOh William!Harlem ShuffleHarrow
Children and young adults +New books for children and young adults, sorted by date of publicationAuthorTitleDate of Pub.Ref.Himlabrand (translated as Fire From the Sky), SwedenEyes That Kiss in the Corners and Catherine R. Daly - Review is for the January 1, 2021 issue.Mel FellUnspeakable: The Tulsa Race MassacreWhat Big TeethFireflyFirekeeper's DaughterSomething's Wrong!: A Bear, a Hare, and Some UnderwearJohnny the WalrusAndrea WangWatercressWonder WalkersAru Shah and the City of GoldVictories Greater Than DeathToo Bright to SeeHave You Ever Seen a Flower?Jo Jo Makoons and Jason ReynoldsStamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and YouHani and Ishu's Guide to Fake DatingHazel Bly and the Deep Blue SeaAce of SpadesJoy KellerFrankenslimeCheer Up: Love and PompomsMe (Moth)Jordan Ifueko Redemptor Michael G. LongThree Lines in a CircleAugust 31Beasts of PreyAristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the WorldDaughter of the DeepDiary of a Wimpy Kid: Big ShotSkin of the Sea Himawari House and Renée WatsonLove, VioletWhat Is Love?
Poetry +New poetry books, sorted by date of publicationAuthorTitleDate of pub.Ref., US, USCall Us What We Carry, US
Drama Giles Terera – The Meaning of Zong
Non-fiction +New nonfiction books, sorted by date of publicationAuthorTitleDate of pub.Ref.Let Me Tell You What I MeanUnder a White SkyHeather McGheeThe Sum of UsFebruary 9How to Avoid a Climate DisasterBeyond Order: 12 More Rules for LifeThe Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don'tEmpire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler DynastyThe Engagement: America's Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex MarriageThe Plague Year: America in the Time of CovidWhy We Kneel, How We RiseThe Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of ScienceSarah GristwoodThe Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous DynastySeptember 23World War C: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic and How to Prepare for the Next OneOctober 5 and Paul MuldoonThe Lyrics: 1956 to the PresentThe Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: The Transgender Trial That Threatened to Upend the British EstablishmentAtlas of the Heart
Biography and memoirs +New biographies and memoirs, sorted by last nameAuthorTitleDate of pub.Ref.Philip Roth: The BiographyBeautiful ThingsPunch Me Up to the GodsThe Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human RaceRememberingsAftershocks: A MemoirCrying in H MartThe Family Roe: An American Story
Deaths +Deaths sorted by date of deathIndividualBackgroundDate of deathAgeCause of deathRef.Daughter of Margaret Mead, American author and anthropologist81Brain damageAmerican novelist59CancerAmerican journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author84Complications from Parkinson's diseaseJ. K. Rowling's literary agent79CancerMacArthur Fellow, New Yorker writer, influential mentor, and chronicler of India87Complications from Parkinson's diseaseGreek-born French writer and translator77American historian and novelist75PneumoniaMexican poet92COVID-19Swedish playwright, novelist and poet77COVID-19American cookbook editor79Heart diseaseFrench novelist, screenwriter and actor89American essayist and cultural critic59American beat poet, publisher, and co-founder of City Lights Bookstore101Interstitial lung diseaseMexican writer and philosopher92Fallece el pensador, poeta y activista Enrique González Rojo Arthur Indian poet84Russian literary critic and writer81В Пскове скончался член Союза писателей России Валентин Курбатов Guinean writer and historian89COVID-19American writer91Complication from a strokeAmerican poet and children's book author and illustrator95Heart failureAmerican historian91Complication from a strokeEgyptian feminist and writer89Polish poet75American literary critic and cultural historian81Complications from Parkinson's diseaseChildren's book writer104American novelist84Founder of Tyrant Books47American playwright83Irish academic and literary critic92Saved the New York Public Library87English poet and editor90Belgian writer68Spanish poet85Journalist and memoirist, first women to win a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting74Japanese manga artist54Acute aortic dissectionAmerican children's book writer and illustrator91Kidney failureEditorial director of Pantheon Books67Austrian poet and writer96Turned Scholastic into a major children's book publisher84American journalist, biographer, and writer for The New Yorker86Lung cancerAmerican Pulitzer Prize-winning poet82Complications from Parkinson's diseaseAmerican author who jumpstarted the Chicana movement95American historian84PneumoniaItalian novelist, critic, scholar, and publisher80Jamaican dub poet and storyteller65Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)American historian89British children's author and illustrator72CancerAmerican sociologist and author79Bladder cancerAmerican adventure writer78American writer and editor52American philosopher70CancerJapanese manga artist84Pancreatic cancerAmerican author82Cardiac arrestIrish language scholar and poet99Irish poet85American children's book writer and illustrator81Heart attackCuban poet75French literary critic and founder of Semiotexte(e)83Japanese feminist writer99Heart failureAmerican book editor46Pulmonary embolismLebanese-American novelist96American poet, translator, and author96Complications of Alzheimer's diseaseSpanish novelist94CancerAmerican crime writer79Coronary artery diseaseCanadian writer82Czech adventurer, travel writer and film director102American journalist and cultural critic64American author80Complications from a strokeAmerican author and feminist69Kidney failureIndian journalist, novelist, art critic, and reviewer of Hindi literature79Cardiac arrestBelizean writer and activist75Complications from a strokeAmerican author and memoirist87Complications from Parkinson's diseaseNew Zealand writer (The Bone People) and poet74 Chronic medical issues
Awards