1998 in literature

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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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

New books

Seamus Heaney
- Beowulf (translation)
- Opened Ground: Poems 1966–1996
Ted Hughes – Birthday Letters
Dejan Stojanović – Krugovanje: 1978–1987 (Circling; 2nd edition)<ref>Web page titled Krugovanje, Dejan Stojanović at the Internet Archive</ref>

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<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- 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)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
October 22 – Eric Ambler, English spy novelist (born 1909)
October 28 – Ted Hughes, English poet and Poet Laureate (born 1930)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
November 3 – Bob Kane (Robert Kahn), American comics artist and writer (born 1915)
November 8 – Rumer Godden, English novelist (born 1907)<ref>Template:Cite ODNB Template:Subscription required</ref>
November 17 – Alexandru Talex, Romanian journalist, critic and biographer (born 1909)
December 16 – William Gaddis, American novelist (born 1922)