2001 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2001.

Events

February 15 – The author Michael Crichton signs a new deal with HarperCollins Publishers that reportedly earns him $40 million for two books.
April 1 – The BookCrossing scheme for leaving books for strangers to find is launched.
April 13 – The film version of Helen Fielding's 1996 novel Bridget Jones's Diary has uncredited cameo roles as themselves for Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes and Jeffrey Archer, at a literary party.
July 19 – The English popular novelist and politician Jeffrey Archer, having been found guilty of perjury in a libel trial, is sentenced to imprisonment.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
September 19 – Amiri Baraka reads his poem "Somebody Blew Up America?" at a poetry festival in New Jersey, eight days after the September 11 attacks.
November 4 – Film premiere of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, first in the commercially successful Harry Potter film series based on the novels of J. K. Rowling.
December 10 – The live-action film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson, opens in London. Its appearance has a strong impact on readership of the trilogy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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New books

Poetry

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Anne Carson – The Beauty of the Husband

Non-fiction

David Allen – Getting Things Done
Tom Allen – Rolling Home<ref>Faculty of Arts, 2002, Edna Staebler Award Template:Webarchive, Wilfrid Laurier University, Previous winners, Tom Allen. Retrieved 2012-11-26.</ref>
Jan Bondeson – Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear
Dionne Brand – A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging
Edwin Bryant – The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture
Joan Didion – Political Fictions
Eamon Duffy – The Voices of Morebath. Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village
Barbara Ehrenreich – Nickel and Dimed
Koenraad Elst – The Saffron Swastika
Mem Fox – Reading Magic
Antonia Fraser – Marie Antoinette: The Journey
Dorothy Gallagher – How I Came Into My Inheritance and Other True Stories
Stephen Hawking – The Universe in a Nutshell
Laura Hillenbrand – Seabiscuit: An American Legend
Christopher Hitchens – The Trial of Henry Kissinger
Gary Lachman – Turn Off Your Mind
Lawrence Lessig – The Future of Ideas
Normand Lester – Le Livre noir du Canada Anglais (The Black Book of English Canada)
Steven Levy – Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government—Saving Privacy in the Digital Age
Margaret MacMillan – Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War
Michael Moore – Stupid White Men
Mumtaz Mufti – Ali Pur Ka Aeeli
Pavel Polian – Against Their Will... A History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR
E. Hoffmann Price – Book of the Dead
Eric Schlosser – Fast Food Nation
Miranda Seymour – Mary Shelley
Andrew Solomon – The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
Ben Thompson - Ways of Hearing
Türkmenbaşy – Ruhnama (The Book of the Soul, first part)
Ivan Vladislavic – The Restless Supermarket
Frans de Waal – The Ape and the Sushi Master
Benjamin Woolley – The Queen's Conjuror: The Science and Magic of Dr. Dee

Deaths

January 5 – G. E. M. Anscombe, English analytic philosopher (died 2001)
January 8 – Catherine Storr, English children's writer (born 1913)
January 11 – Lorna Sage, English scholar (born 1943)
January 31 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-born American science fiction writer (born 1923)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
February 7 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and aviator (born 1906)
February 14
- Alan Ross, Indian-born English poet and editor (born 1922)
- Richard Laymon, American horror fiction writer (born 1947)
March 1 – Mahmud Arif, Saudi Arabian poet (born 1909)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
March 12 – Robert Ludlum, American novelist (born 1927)
May 11 – Douglas Adams, English writer, humorist and dramatist (born 1952)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
May 13
- Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (born 1939)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- R. K. Narayan, Indian novelist writing in English (born 1906)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
June 1 – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (born 1920)
June 27 – Tove Jansson, Finnish children's author writing in Swedish (born 1914)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
July 3 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author, screenwriter and essayist (born 1931)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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July 18 – James Hatfield, American author (born 1958)
July 31 – Poul Anderson, American fantasy and sci-fi author (born 1926)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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August 6 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (born 1912)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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August 20 – Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and science fiction writer (born 1915)
November 10 – Ken Kesey, American author (born 1935)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
November 25 – David Gascoyne, English surrealist poet (born 1916)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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December 21 – Dick Schaap, American journalist and author (born 1934)<ref name="la obit">Template:Cite news</ref>
December 14 – W. G. Sebald, German novelist and academic (born 1944)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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