2008 in literature

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This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 2008.

Events

January 1 – In the UK's 2008 New Year Honours List, Hanif Kureishi (CBE), Jenny Uglow (OBE), Peter Vansittart (OBE) and Debjani Chatterjee (MBE) are all rewarded for "services to literature."
February 29 – Belgian-born "Misha Defonseca" admits that her bestselling Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years (1997) is a literary forgery.
April – Signet Books announce they will cease to publish the American historical romance novelist Cassie Edwards after a dispute over plagiarism.
May 7–11 – The first Palestine Festival of Literature is held.
June 15 – Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times interview how he felt about the death of his rival William F. Buckley, Jr., replies: "I thought hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred."
July – Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children (1981) is the winner of a poll to select the "Best of the Booker".

Uncertain date

The first Twitter novels appear.

New books

Fiction

Aravind Adiga
- The White Tiger
- Between the Assassinations (November 1)
Uwem Akpan – Say You're One of Them
Paul Auster – Man in the Dark
Sebastian Barry – The Secret Scripture (September 29)
Henry Bauchau – Le Boulevard périphérique
John Berger – From A to X
Charles Bock – Beautiful Children (January 22)
Roberto Bolaño – 2666: A Novel (November 11)
Christopher Buckley – Supreme Courtship (September 3)
Alastair Campbell – All in the Mind (October 30)
Martín Caparrós – A quien corresponda
Eleanor Catton – The Rehearsal
Wendy Coakley-Thompson – Triptych (December 18)
Robert Crais – Chasing Darkness
Debra Dean – Confessions of a Falling Woman
Klaus Ebner – Hominid (October 1)
Ralph Ellison (posthumous, ed. John F. Callahan) – Three Days Before the Shooting...
Mathias Énard – Zone (August 15)
Sebastian Faulks – Devil May Care (James Bond continuation novel)
Keith Gessen – All the Sad Young Literary Men (April 10)
Shanta Gokhale – Tyā varshī (Crowfall)
Juan Goytisolo – Exiled from Almost Everywhere
Paul Griffiths – let me tell you
Lauren Groff – The Monsters of Templeton (February 5)
Peter Handke – The Moravian Night (January 12, Germany)
Johan Harstad – DARLAH
Zoë Heller – The Believers (September 24)
Aleksandar Hemon – The Lazarus Project (May 1)
M. H. Herlong – The Great Wide Sea (October 2)
Samantha Hunt – The Invention of Everything Else (February 7)
Siri Hustvedt – The Sorrows of an American (April 1)
Karl Iagnemma – The Expeditions (January 15)
Robert Juan-Cantavella – El Dorado
Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs (posthumous) – And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (November 1; written 1945)
Christian Kracht – Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten (September)
László Krasznahorkai – Seiobo There Below
Jhumpa Lahiri – Unaccustomed Earth (April 1)
Paul Laurendeau – Femmes fantastiques
Kelly Link – Pretty Monsters (October 2)
David Lodge – Deaf Sentence (May 1)
James McBride – Song Yet Sung (February 5)
Joe McGinniss Jr. – The Delivery Man (January 15)
Ronit Matalon – The Sound of Our Steps (Kol Tsa'adenu)
Lydia Millet – How the Dead Dream (January 25)
Toni Morrison – A Mercy (November 11)
Nunoe Mura – GeGeGe no Nyōbō (ゲゲゲの女房)
Joyce Carol Oates – My Sister, My Love (June 24)
Sofi Oksanen – Puhdistus[1]
Chuck Palahniuk – Snuff (May 20)
Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Painter of Battles (January 8)
Jodi Picoult – Change of Heart (March 4)
José Luis Rodríguez Pittí – Sueños urbanos
Richard Price – Lush Life (March 4)
Ruth Rendell – Portobello (November 20)
Nina Revoyr – The Age of Dreaming
Nathaniel Rich – The Mayor's Tongue (April 8)
Marilynne Robinson – Home (September 2)
Charlotte Roche – Feuchtgebiete (February 25)
Mary Ann Rodman – Jimmy's Stars
Philip Roth – Indignation (September 16)
Salman Rushdie – The Enchantress of Florence (June 3)
Will Self – The Butt
Curtis Sittenfeld – American Wife (September 2)
Sjón – Rökkurbýsnir (From the Mouth of the Whale) (October 23)
Elizabeth Strout – Olive Kitteridge (March 25)
Tom Rob Smith – Child 44
Joan Thomas – Reading by Lightning
David Turashvili – Flight from the USSR
John Updike – The Widows of Eastwick (October 28)
Tobias Wolff – Our Story Begins (March 25)

Genre fiction

Jim Butcher – Small Favor (April 1) (Harry Dresden #10)
Matthew J. Costello – Doom 3: Worlds on Fire (February 26)
Cornelia Funke – Inkdeath (October 7)
Stephen King – Duma Key (January 22)
Patricia A. McKillip – The Bell at Sealey Head (September 2)
Stephenie Meyer – Breaking Dawn (August 2)
Douglas Preston – Blasphemy (January 8)
Matthew Stover – Caine Black Knife (October 14)
Brent Weeks – The Way of Shadows

Children and young people

David Almond
- The Savage
- Jackdaw Summer
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson – Science Fair
Nick Bland – The Very Cranky Bear
Frank Cottrell-Boyce – Desirable
Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (July 15)
Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games (September 14)
John Fardell – Manfred the Baddie
Mem Fox – Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
John Green – Paper Towns (October 16)
Brian Greene – Icarus At The Edge Of Time
Charlie Higson – Young Bond: By Royal Command (September 3)
Minoru Kawakami and Satoyasu – Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere
D. J. MacHale – Raven Rise (May 20)
Patricia Martin - Lulu Atlantis and the Quest for True Blue Love (January 8)
Jenny Nimmo – Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock (June 1)
Garth Nix – Superior Saturday (May 5)
Christopher Paolini – Brisingr (September 20)
Rick Riordan – The Maze of Bones
Angie Sage – Queste (April 8)
Michael Salzhauer – My Beautiful Mommy

Drama

Salvatore Antonio – In Gabriel's Kitchen
Howard Brenton – Never So Good
Mary Higgins Clark – Where Are You Now?
Paul Dwyer – The Bougainville Photoplay Project
Nicholas de Jongh – Plague Over England
Johan Heldenbergh and Mieke Dobbels – The Broken Circle Breakdown featuring the cover-ups of Alabama
Ella Hickson – Eight
Sam Holcroft – Cockroach
Elaine Murphy – Little Gem
Lynn Nottage – Ruined
Tyler Perry – The Marriage Counselor
Taavi Vartia – Kaikkien aikojen Pertsa ja Kilu

Poetry

Non-fiction

The Academi – Encyclopaedia of Wales (Gwyddoniadur Cymru) (January)
Julie Andrews – Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (April 1)
Kwame Anthony Appiah – Experiments in Ethics
Dan Ariely – Predictably Irrational (February 19)
Margaret Atwood – Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (October 1)
Mary Beard – Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town
Dionne Brand – A Kind of Perfect Speech (Ralph Gustafson Lecture)
Augusten Burroughs – A Wolf at the Table (April 29)
Michael Chabon – Maps and Legends (May 1)
D. K. Chakrabarti – The Battle for Ancient India: An essay in the sociopolitics of Indian archaeology
Sloane Crosley – I Was Told There'd Be Cake (April 1)
John Duignan – The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology (October 7)
Eminem – The Way I Am (October 21)
Richard Florida – Who's Your City? (March)
Raymond Geuss – Philosophy and Real Politics
Philip Hoare – Leviathan, or The Whale (September 16)
Chloe Hooper – The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island
B. B. Lal – Rāma, His Historicity, Mandir, and Setu: Evidence of Literature, Archaeology, and Other Sciences
Scholastique Mukasonga – La femme aux pieds nus (The Barefoot Woman)
Haruki Murakami (translated by Philip Gabriel) – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (July 29)
Shuja Nawaz – Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within
Frances Osborne – The Bolter: Idina Sackville
Chris Pash – The Last Whale
Peter Rees – The Other ANZACs
David Sedaris – When You Are Engulfed in Flames (June 3)
Vaclav Smil – Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems
Chunghee Sarah Soh – The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan
Kate Summerscale – The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, or The Murder at Road Hill House (April)
Ronnie Thompson (pseudonym) – Screwed: The Truth About Life as a Prison Officer (January 24)
Bjørn Christian Tørrissen – One for the Road (January 31; translation of I pose og sekk!, 2005)
Barbara Walters – Audition: A Memoir (May 6)
Russell Wangersky – Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself[2]
Meralda Warren and others – Mi Base side orn Pitcairn (My Favourite Place on Pitcairn, first book published in Pitkern creole)
Dagmar S. Wodtko, Britta Irslinger and Carolin Schneider (eds.) – Nomina im Indogermanischen Lexikon
Jim Holt – Stop Me If You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes
Thomas Cairns Livingstone – Tommy's War: A First World War Diary 1913–1918

Deaths

Margaret Truman

January 2 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish novelist and screenplay writer (born 1925)
January 3 – Henri Chopin, French poet (born 1922)
January 11 – Nancy Phelan, Australian writer (born 1913)
January 13 – Patricia Verdugo, Chilean journalist and writer (born 1947)
January 16 – Hone Tuwhare, New Zealand poet (born 1922)
January 17 – Edward D. Hoch, American detective fiction writer (born 1930)
January 26
- John Ardagh, Nyasaland-born English journalist and writer (born 1928)
- Abraham Brumberg, American writer and editor (born 1926)
January 29 – Margaret Truman, American crime novelist and singer (born 1924)
January 30 – Miles Kington, Northern Irish-born English journalist and writer (born 1941)

Steve Gerber

February 4 – Rose Hacker, English writer and journalist (born 1906)
February 7 – Richard Altick, American literary historian (born 1915)
February 8 – Phyllis A. Whitney, Japan-born American mystery writer (born 1903)
February 10 – Steve Gerber, American comic book writer (born 1947)
February 18 – Alain Robbe-Grillet, French novelist (born 1922)
February 21
- Archie Hind, Scottish novelist (born 1928)
- Robin Moore, American novelist and memoirist (born 1925)
February 22 – Stephen Marlowe, American science fiction and crime writer (born 1928)
February 28 – Julian Rathbone, English novelist (born 1935)
February 29 – Val Plumwood (Val Routley), Australian philosopher (born 1939)

Arthur C. Clarke

March 16 – Jonathan Williams, American poet (born 1929)
March 19
- Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction writer and futurologist (born 1917)
- Hugo Claus, Belgian writer in Flemish and English (born 1929)
March 23 – E. A. Markham, Montserrat poet, writer and activist (born 1939)
April 3 – Andrew Crozier, English poet and scholar (born 1943)
April 7 – Ludu Daw Amar, Burmese writer and journalist (born 1915)
April 13 – Robert Greacen, Irish poet (born 1920)
April 17
- Aimé Césaire, Martinique poet and writer in French (born 1913)
- Zoya Krakhmalnikova, Russian writer and editor (born 1929)
April 18
- Michael de Larrabeiti, English young-adult novelist and travel writer (born 1934)
- William W. Warner, American biologist and Pulitzer Prize writer (born 1920)
May 1 – Elaine Dundy, American novelist, biographer and playwright (born 1921)
May 9 – Nuala O'Faolain, Irish critic and writer (born 1940)
May 11 – Jeff Torrington, Scottish novelist (born 1935)
May 12 – Oakley Hall, American novelist (born 1920)
May 14 – Roy Heath, Guyanese novelist (born 1926)
May 19 – Vijay Tendulkar, Indian playwright (born 1928)
May 23 – Alan Brien, English journalist and novelist (born 1925)
May 28 – Elinor Lyon, British children's writer (born 1921)

Chinghiz Aitmatov

June 2 – Ferenc Fejtő, Hungarian-born French historian and journalist (born 1909)
June 4 – Matthew Bruccoli, American biographer and scholar (born 1931)
June 5 – Angus Calder, British writer and scholar (born 1942)
June 8 – Peter Rühmkorf, German poet and writer (born 1929)
June 9 – Algis Budrys (John A. Sentry), American science fiction writer of Lithuanian origin (born 1931)
June 10
- Chinghiz Aitmatov, Kyrgyz writer in Kyrgyz and Russian (born 1928)
- Eliot Asinof, American novelist and baseball writer (born 1919)
June 16 – Mario Rigoni Stern, Italian novelist (born 1921)
June 18 – Tasha Tudor, American children's writer and illustrator (born 1915)
June 22 – Albert Cossery, Egyptian-born French novelist (born 1913)
June 24 – Ruth Cardoso, Brazilian anthropologist and writer (born 1930)
June 25 – Lyall Watson, South African scientist and new age writer (born 1939)
June 27 – Lenka Reinerová, Czech writer in German (born 1916)

Thomas M. Disch

July 1
- Clay Felker, American magazine editor and journalist (born 1925)
- Robert Harling, English typographer and novelist (born 1910)
July 2 – Simone Ortega, Spanish cookery writer (born 1919)
July 4
- Thomas M. Disch, American science fiction author and poet. (born 1940)
- Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch novelist and writer in Dutch and English (born 1931)
July 20 – Roger Wolcott Hall, American memoirist and novelist (born 1919)
July 27 – Bob Crampsey, Scottish writer (born 1930)
July 30 – Peter Coke, English playwright (born 1913)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

August 3 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer and Nobel laureate (born 1918)
August 7 – Simon Gray, English playwright and memoirist (born 1936)
August 9 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet (born 1942)
August 11 – George Furth, American playwright (born 1932)
August 17 – Dave Freeman, American writer and advertising executive (born 1961)
August 23 – John Russell, English art critic (born 1919)
August 25 – Ahmed Faraz (Syed Akhmad Shah), Pakistani poet in Urdu (born 1931)
August 31 – Ken Campbell, English novelist and playwright (born 1941)

David Foster Wallace

September 5 – Robert Giroux, American editor and publisher (born 1914)
September 7 – Gregory Mcdonald, American mystery writer (born 1937)
September 12 – David Foster Wallace, American novelist (born 1962)
September 17 – James Crumley, American crime writer (born 1939)
September 20 – Duncan Glen, Scottish poet, critic and literary historian (born 1933)
September 23 – William Woodruff, English historian and autobiographer (born 1916)
September 24 – Bengt Anderberg, Swedish poet, novelist and children's writer (born 1920)
September 29 – Hayden Carruth, American poet and literary critic (born 1921)
October 4 – Peter Vansittart, English novelist and historical writer (born 1920)
October 14 – Barrington J. Bayley, English science fiction writer (born 1937)
October 26 – Tony Hillerman, American mystery writer (born 1925)
October 27 – Es'kia Mphahlele, South African writer in English (born 1919)
October 29 – William Wharton (Albert William Du Aime), American novelist (born 1925)
October 31 – Studs Terkel, American historian and broadcaster (born 1912)
November 4 – Michael Crichton, American writer and scholar (born 1942)
November 13 – Jules Archer, American historian and author (born 1915)
November 14 – Kristin Hunter, American author and academic (born 1931)
December 1 – Dorothy Sterling, American non-fiction writer for children and historian (born 1913)[3]
December 15 – Anne-Catharina Vestly, Norwegian children's book author (born 1920)[4]
December 24 – Harold Pinter, English playwright and screenwriter (born 1930).
December 31 – Donald E. Westlake, American novelist (born 1933)[5]

Awards and honors

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References

Sihvonen, Lauri (September 24, 2008). "Lauri Sihvonen on Sofi Oksanen's novel: A Body and a Blowfly". FILI. Archived from the original on July 9, 2009. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
Faculty of Arts, 2009, Edna Staebler Award Archived June 6, 2014, at Archive-It, Wilfrid Laurier University, Previous winners, Russell Wangersky, Retrieved 11/16/2012
Staino, Rocco (January 5, 2009). "In Memoriam: Children's Authors and Illustrators Who Died in 2008". School Library Journal. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
Hedeman, Anders (December 15, 2008). "Anne-Cath. Vestly er død". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
The New York Times 2009-01-01.
Faculty of Arts, March 20, 2009, Edna Staebler Award Archived December 8, 2012, at Archive.today, Wilfrid Laurier University Headlines (News Releases). Retrieved 11/27/2012