1983 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1983.

Events

• April – The Russian samizdat poet Irina Ratushinskaya is sentenced to imprisonment in a labor camp for dissident activity. While there she continues to write poetry clandestinely.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• June 2 – The Francophone Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor becomes the first black African writer elected as a member of the Académie française.
• July – Barbara Cartland, who reaches the age of 82, writes 23 romantic novels this year.
• November – Bruce Bethke's short story "Cyberpunk", written in 1980, is published in Amazing Stories magazine in the United States, giving a name to the science fiction subgenre of cyberpunk.
• unknown date – Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published, as the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris creation "The Saint", which started in 1928. (An attempt to revive the series in 1997 is unsuccessful.)

New books

Fiction

• Nelson Algren (posthumous) – The Devil's Stocking
• Isaac Asimov – The Robots of Dawn
• Greg Bear – The Wind from a Burning Woman
• Samuel Beckett – Worstward Ho<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Thomas Bernhard – The Loser (Der Untergeher)
• Jorge Luis Borges – Shakespeare's Memory (La memoria de Shakespeare, short stories)
• Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Mists of Avalon
• Morley Callaghan – A Time for Judas
• Raymond Carver – Cathedral
• J. M. Coetzee – Life and Times of Michael K
• Jackie Collins – Hollywood Wives
• Basil Copper – The House of the Wolf
• Bernard Cornwell
  • Sharpe's Sword
  • Sharpe's Enemy
• Bernard and Judy Cornwell (as Susannah Kells) – A Crowning Glory
• György Dalos – 1985
• L. Sprague de Camp
  • The Reluctant King
  • The Unbeheaded King
• Jim Dodge – Fup
• Stephen R. Donaldson – White Gold Wielder: Book Three of The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
• Nora Ephron – Heartburn
• Ken Follett – On Wings of Eagles
• Ernest J. Gaines – A Gathering of Old Men
• John Gardner – Icebreaker
• Mark Helprin – Winter's Tale
• Susan Hill – The Woman in Black
• Elizabeth Jolley – Woman in a Lamp Shade
• Ernst Jünger – Aladdin's Problem
• William Kennedy – Ironweed
• Stephen King
  • Christine
  • Pet Sematary
• Dean R. Koontz – Phantoms
• Louis L'Amour – The Lonesome Gods
• Derek Lambert – The Judas Code
• John le Carré – The Little Drummer Girl<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Mary Mackey – The Last Warrior Queen
• Norman Mailer – Ancient Evenings
• James A. Michener – Poland
• R. K. Narayan – A Tiger for Malgudi
• Robert B. Parker – The Widening Gyre
• Ellis Peters
  • The Sanctuary Sparrow
  • The Devil's Novice
• Tim Powers – The Anubis Gates
• Terry Pratchett – The Colour of Magic
• Salman Rushdie – Shame
• Joanna Russ – The Zanzibar Cat
• Danielle Steel – Changes
• Peter Straub – Floating Dragon
• Walter Tevis – The Queen's Gambit
• Gore Vidal – Duluth
• Evangeline Walton – The Sword Is Forged
• Fay Weldon – The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
• A. N. Wilson – Scandal
• Robert Anton Wilson – Prometheus Rising
• Christa Wolf – Cassandra (Kassandra)
• Roger Zelazny – Unicorn Variations (stories and essays)

Children and young people

• Chris Van Allsburg – The Wreck of the Zephyr
• Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (with Willi Glasauer) – Beauty and the Beast
• Roald Dahl – The Witches
• Lynley Dodd – Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy (first of the Hairy Maclary and Friends series)
• Mem Fox – Possum Magic
• Dick King-Smith – The Sheep-Pig (also as Babe, the Gallant Pig)
• Harold Lamb (with George Barr and Alicia Austin) - The Sea of the Ravens
• Jean Giono (with Willi Glasauer) – The Man Who Planted Trees
• Julian F. Thompson - The Grounding of Group 6

Drama

• Samuel Beckett – Nacht und Träume (television play, first broadcast)
• Ray Cooney – Run for Your Wife
• David Mamet – Glengarry Glen Ross
• Tom Murphy – The Gigli Concert
• Christina Reid – Tea in a China Cup
• Larry Shue – The Foreigner
• Neil Simon – Brighton Beach Memoirs
• Botho Strauß – The Park (Der Park)

Poetry

• Paul Durcan – Jumping the Train Tracks with Angela
• Grace Nichols – I is a long-memoried woman

Non-fiction

• Benedict Anderson – Imagined Communities
• Pascal Bruckner – The Tears of the White Man
• L. Sprague de Camp – The Fringe of the Unknown
• L. Sprague de Camp, Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin – Dark Valley Destiny
• Tom Dardis – Harold Lloyd: The Man on the Clock
• Joan Didion – Salvador
• Terry Eagleton – Literary Theory: An Introduction
• Anthony Grey – The Prime Minister Was a Spy
• Susan Oliver – Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey
• Renée Richards – Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story
• Colin Thubron – Among the Russians
• A. N. Wilson – The Life of John Milton: A Biography

Births

• November 17 – Christopher Paolini, American fantasy novelist<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• December 6 – Jason Reynolds, African American children's novelist and poet<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• unknown date – Sarah Howe, Hong Kong-born poet writing in English<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Deaths

• January 5 – Chapman Grant, American historian and publisher (born 1887)
• January 18 – Colin Watson, English crime fiction writer (born 1920)
• February 14 – Brita von Horn, Swedish theater director, dramatist and novelist (born 1886)
• February 18 – Robert Payne, English author, poet and biographer (born 1911)
• February 25 – Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams III), American playwright (born 1911)
• March 3 – Hergé (Georges Prosper Remi), Belgian comics creator (born 1907)
• March 15 – Dame Rebecca West, British writer (born 1892)
• April 12 – Desmond Bagley, English novelist (complications from stroke, born 1923)
• May 4 – Shūji Terayama (寺山 修司), Japanese poet, dramatist, and film director (cirrhosis, born 1935)
• May 21 – Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol, Egyptian poet (born 1940)
• May 26 – Jack Hilton, British writer (born 1900)
• June 19 – Vilmundur Gylfason, Icelandic historian, poet and politician (suicide, born 1948)
• June 27 – Alden Nowlan, Canadian poet, novelist and playwright (born 1933)
• July 27 – Gladys Mitchell, English crime fiction writer (born 1901)
• August 12 – Mikey Smith, Jamaican dub poet (stoned to death; born 1954)
• August 18 – Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, German-born British art historian (born 1902)
• September 15 – Beverley Nichols, English writer and playwright (born 1898)
• September 16 – Roy Andries De Groot, English-born American food writer (born 1910)
• November 30 – Richard Llewellyn, British novelist (heart attack, born 1906)
• December 5 – John Robinson, English religious writer and bishop (born 1919)
• December 13 – Mary Renault, British novelist (born 1905)
• December 27 – Wilson Starbuck, American playwright and author (born 1897)

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: William Golding<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jenny Summerville, Shields Of Trell
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Vivian Smith, Tide Country<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Miles Franklin Award: No award presented<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Canada

• See 1983 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Goncourt: Frédérick Tristan, Les Égarés<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Prix Médicis French: Jean Echenoz, Cherokee
• Prix Médicis International: Kenneth White, La Route bleue

Spain

• Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Rafael Alberti<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee -Life and Times of Michael K<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Jan Mark, Handles
• Cholmondeley Award: John Fuller,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Craig Raine,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Anthony Thwaite<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Eric Gregory Award: Martin Stokes, Hilary Davies, Michael O'Neill, Lisa St Aubin De Teran, Deidre Shanahan
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jonathan Keates, Allegro Postillions<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years
• Newdigate prize: Peter McDonald
• Whitbread Best Book Award: John Fuller, Flying to Nowhere

United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kate Daniels, The White Wave
• Nebula Award: David Brin, Startide Rising
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Voigt, Dicey's Song
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Marsha Norman, 'Night, Mother
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Alice Walker – The Color Purple
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Galway Kinnell – Selected Poems<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Pulitzer Prize for History: The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790 by Rhys Isaac
• Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction: Is There No Place on Earth for Me? by Susan Sheehan

Elsewhere

• Hugo Award for Best Novel: Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov
• Premio Nadal: Salvador García Aguilar, Regocijo en el hombre