2017 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2017.

List of years in literature (table)
… 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 …
In poetry 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

Events

• March – Emulating Kerouac's On the Road, Ross Goodwin drives from New York to New Orleans with an artificial intelligence device in a laptop hooked up to various sensors, whose output it turns into words printed on rolls of thermal paper; the result is published unedited as 1 the Road in 2018.
• August – The Chinese crime novelist Liu Yongbiao is arrested and eventually sentenced to death for four murders committed 22 years before.[1]
• August 30 – A hard disk drive containing unfinished work by the English comic fantasy novelist Sir Terry Pratchett (died 2015) is crushed by a steamroller on his instructions.[2]
• December – Kristen Roupenian's short story "Cat Person" is published in The New Yorker and becomes a viral phenomenon online, with more than 2.6 million hits.[3][4]

Anniversaries

• Tercentenary of the Aberbaijani poet Molla Panah Vagif's birth in 1717[5]
• 600th anniversary of the death of the Turkic mystical poet Imadaddin Nasimi in 1417[5]
• March 19 – Bicentenary of the Slovak writer Jozef Miloslav Hurban's birth[5]
• May 8 – The American novelist Thomas Pynchon turns 80.[6]
• June 18 – Centenary of the death of the Romanian literary critic and former prime minister Titu Maiorescu[5]
• June 26 – 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (U.K. edition)[7]
• July 12 – 200th birthday of Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden
• July 14 – Bicentenary of the early French salonnière Madame de Staël's death[5]
• July 18 – Bicentenary of the novelist Jane Austen's death in 1817[8]
• Nov 30 – 350th anniversary of the Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift's birth in 1667[9]
• December 4 – Bicentenary of the birth of Nikoloz Baratashvili's in 1817, who introduced European style into Georgian literature.[5]

New books

Dates after each title indicate U.S. publication, unless otherwise indicated.

Fiction

• Ayobami Adebayo – Stay With Me (March 2, UK)
• Paul Auster – 4 3 2 1 (January 31)
• Brunonia Barry – The Fifth Petal: a novel
• Darcey Bell – A Simple Favor (March 1)
• Dan Brown – Origin (October 3)
• Peter Carey – A Long Way From Home (October 30, Australia)
• J. M. Coetzee – The Schooldays of Jesus (February 21)
• Curtis Dawkins – The Graybar Hotel (July 4)
• Didier Decoin – Le bureau des jardins et des étangs (The Office of Gardens and Ponds) (France)
• Steve Erickson – Shadowbahn
• Christine Féret-Fleury – La fille qui lisait dans le Métro (The Girl who Read on the Metro) (March 9, France)
• Karl Geary – Montpelier Parade (August 31)
• John Grisham – Camino Island (June 6)
• Mohsin Hamid – Exit West (March 2, UK)
• Alan Hollinghurst – The Sparsholt Affair (September 26, UK)
• Gail Honeyman – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (UK)
• N. K. Jemisin – The Stone Sky (August 15)
• Lisa Jewell – Then She Was Gone (July 27, UK)
• The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty) – 2023 (August 23, UK)
• Ian McDonald – Luna: Wolf Moon (March 23, UK)
• Jon McGregor – Reservoir 13 (April 6, UK)
• Claude McKay (died 1948) – Amiable with Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of Harlem (February 7; written 1941)
• Robert Menasse – Die Hauptstadt (The Capital) (Germany)
• Denise Mina – The Long Drop (March 2, UK)
• Fiona Mozley – Elmet (August 10, UK)
• Neel Mukherjee – A State of Freedom (July 6, UK)
• Timothy Ogene – The Day Ends Like Any Day (April 6, UK)
• Tim Pears – The Horseman (January, UK)
• Gwendoline Riley – First Love (February, UK)
• Sally Rooney – Conversations with Friends (June, UK)
• George Saunders – Lincoln in the Bardo (February 14)
• Rachel Seiffert – A Boy in Winter (June 1, UK)
• Kamila Shamsie – Home Fire (August 15, UK)
• Joss Sheldon – Money Power Love (October 7, UK)
• Elizabeth Strout – Anything is Possible (April 25)
• J. R. R. Tolkien (died 1973), edited by Christopher Tolkien – Beren and Lúthien (June 1, UK; original version written 1917)
• Zlatko Topčić – zavrsna.rijec & Dagmar
• Éric Vuillard – The Order of the Day (L'Ordre du jour) (April 29, France)
• Jesmyn Ward – Sing, Unburied, Sing (September 5)
• Sarah Winman – Tin Man (July 27, UK)
• Kathleen Winter – Lost in September

Children and young people

• Sarah Crossan – Moonrise (September 1, UK)
• Lissa Evans – Wed Wabbit (January 5, UK)
• Connie Glynn – Undercover Princess (October 30, UK)
• Kiran Millwood Hargrave – The Island at the End of Everything (May 4, UK)
• Amanda Hocking – Freeks (January 3)[10]
• Philip Pullman – La Belle Sauvage, first volume in The Book of Dust trilogy (October 19, UK)
• Katherine Rundell – The Explorer (August 10, UK)
• Angie Thomas – The Hate U Give (September 28)
• Jacqueline Wilson – Wave Me Goodbye (May 18, UK)

Poetry

• Helen Dunmore (died June 5) – Inside the Wave (April 27, UK)
• Robert Macfarlane (illustrated by Jackie Morris) – The Lost Words: A Spell Book (October, UK)
• Sinéad Morrissey – On Balance (May 25)

Drama

• Jez Butterworth – The Ferryman
• Inua Ellams – Barber Shop Chronicles

Non-fiction

• Howard W. French – Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power
• David Grann – Killers of the Flower Moon
• Michel Houellebecq – En présence de Schopenhauer (January 11, France)
• Christine Hyung-Oak Lee – Tell Me Everything You Don't Remember (February 14)
• Obi Kaufmann – The California Field Atlas (September 1)
• Jamie Oliver – 5 Ingredients – Quick and Easy Food (August 24, UK)
• Walter Scheidel – The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
• Matt Taibbi – Insane Clown President (January 17)
• Hedi Yahmed – I Was in Raqqa (كنت في الرقة)

Biography and memoirs

• Craig Brown – Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret (September 21, UK)
• Richard Ford – Between Them: Remembering My Parents (May 2)
• Adam Kay – This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor (September 7, UK)
• Caroline Moorehead – A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Rossellis and the Fight Against Mussolini (June 15)
• Rebecca Stott – In the Days of Rain: a daughter, a father, a cult (June 1, UK)
• Stephen Westaby – Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon's Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table (February 9, UK)
• Xiaolu Guo – Once Upon a Time in the East (January 26)

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in literature" article:

• January 2 – John Berger, English novelist, painter, art critic and poet, 90 (born 1926)[11]
• January 12 – William Peter Blatty, American author (The Exorcist), 89 (born 1928)[12]
• January 25:
  • Buchi Emecheta, Nigerian novelist and children's writer (The Bride Price, The Joys of Motherhood), 72 (born 1944)[13]
  • Harry Mathews, American novelist and poet, 86 (born 1930)[14]
• January 29 – Howard Frank Mosher, American novelist (Where the Rivers Flow North), 74 (born 1942)
• January 30 - Teresa Amy, Uruguayan poet and translator, 66 (born 1950)[15]
• February 1 – William Melvin Kelley, African-American novelist, 79 (born 1937)[16]
• February 8 – Tom Raworth, English poet, 78 (born 1938)
• March 10 – Robert James Waller, American novelist (The Bridges of Madison County), 77 (b. 1939)[17]
• March 16 – Torgny Lindgren, Swedish writer, 78 (born 1938)[18]
• March 17 – Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright, Nobel Laureate in 1992, 87 (b. 1930)[19]
• April 1 – Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Russian poet, 84 (b. 1933)[20]
• May 1:
  • Anatoly Aleksin, Russian writer and poet, 92[21]
  • Mohamed Talbi, Tunisian historian, 95[22]
• May 24 – Denis Johnson, American poet, novelist (Tree of Smoke), and short story writer (Jesus' Son), 67 (born 1949).[23]
• June 2
  • Jaroslav Kořán, Czech translator, writer and politician, 77[24]
  • Barrie Pettman, English author, publisher and philanthropist, 73[25]
  • S. Abdul Rahman, Indian poet, 79[26]
• June 4
  • Juan Goytisolo, Spanish essayist, poet and novelist, 86[27]
  • Jack Trout, American marketer and author, 82[28]
• June 5
  • Helen Dunmore, English poet, novelist and children's writer, 64 (born 1952)
  • Anna Jókai, Hungarian writer, 84[29]
• June 8 – Naseem Khan, British journalist, 77[30]
• June 12 – C. Narayana Reddy, Indian poet and writer, Jnanpith Awardee, 85[31]
• June 27 – Michael Bond, English author (Paddington Bear), 91 (born 1926)[32]
• June 28 – Bruce Stewart, New Zealand author and playwright, 80[33]
• July 2
  • Tony Bianchi, Welsh-language author, 65[34]
  • Jack Collom, American poet, essayist and poetry teacher, 85[35]
  • Abiola Irele, Nigerian literary critic, 81[36]
  • Fay Zwicky, Australian poet, 83[37]
• July 5 – Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian poet, 63 (cancer)[38]
• July 9
  • Miep Diekmann, Dutch writer of children's literature, 92 (born 1925)[39]
  • Anton Nossik, Russian writer and internet entrepreneur, 51 (heart attack)[40]
• September 23 – Harvey Jacobs, American author, 87[41]
• November 20 - Amir Hamed, Uruguayan writer, essayist and translator, 55 (born 1962)[42]
• December 28 – Sue Grafton, American mystery author, 77[43]

Awards

In alphabetical order of prize names:

• Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction: Naomi Alderman for The Power[44]
• Baillie Gifford Prize: David France for How to Survive a Plague[45]
• Booker Prize: George Saunders for Lincoln in the Bardo[46]
• Caine Prize for African Writing: Bushra Elfadil, "The Story of the Girl Whose Bird Flew Away"
• Camões Prize: Manuel Alegre[47]
• Costa Book Awards: Helen Dunmore (died June 5) for Inside the Wave (poetry)[48]
• Danuta Gleed Literary Award: Kris Bertin, Bad Things Happen
• David Cohen Prize: Tom Stoppard
• Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Kai Cheng Thom[49]
• Desmond Elliott Prize: Francis Spufford, Golden Hill[50]
• DSC Prize for South Asian Literature:
• Dylan Thomas Prize: Fiona McFarlane for The High Places[51]
• Folio Prize: Hisham Matar for The Return[52]
• German Book Prize: Robert Menasse for Die Hauptstadt[53]
• Goldsmiths Prize: Nicola Barker for H(a)ppy[54]
• Gordon Burn Prize: Denise Mina for The Long Drop[55]
• Governor General's Award for English-language fiction: Joel Thomas Hynes, We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night[56]
• Governor General's Award for French-language fiction: Christian Guay-Poliquin, Le Poids de la neige[56]
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française:
• Hugo Award for Best Novel: N. K. Jemisin for The Obelisk Gate[57]
• International Booker Prize: David Grossman for A Horse Walks Into a Bar[58]
• International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Mohammed Hasan Alwan for A Small Death[59]
• International Dublin Literary Award: José Eduardo Agualusa for A General Theory of Oblivion[60]
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction:
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography:
• Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award:
• Lambda Literary Awards: Various categories, see 29th Lambda Literary Awards
• Miguel de Cervantes Prize:
• Miles Franklin Award: Josephine Wilson for Extinctions[61]
• National Biography Award:
• National Book Award for Fiction:
• National Book Critics Circle Award:
• Newdigate Prize: Dominic Hand[62]
• Nike Award:
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Kazuo Ishiguro
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Imbolo Mbue for Behold the Dreamers[63]
• PEN Center USA Fiction Award:
• Premio Planeta de Novela:
• Premio Strega:
• Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing:
• Prix Goncourt:
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Colson Whitehead for The Underground Railroad[64]
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Tyehimba Jess for Olio[64]
• RBC Taylor Prize: Ross King for Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies[65]
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: David Chariandy, Brother[66]
• Russian Booker Prize:
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Michael Redhill, Bellevue Square[67]
• Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings:
• Walter Scott Prize: Sebastian Barry for Days Without End[68]
• W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction:
• Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Breyten Breytenbach[69]

References

1. Qin, Amy (2017-08-17). "Chinese Novelist Is Arrested in 4 Murders From 2 Decades Ago". The New York Times.
2. "Terry Pratchett's unpublished works crushed by steamroller". BBC News. BBC. 2017-08-30. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
3. Garber, Megan (2017-12-11). "'Cat Person' and the Impulse to Undermine Women's Fiction". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
4. Bromwich, Jonah (2017-12-11). "'Cat Person' in The New Yorker: A Discussion With the Author". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
5. "Anniversaries 2017" UNESCO.
6. "The elusive Thomas Pynchon turns 80". Retrieved 27 November 2017.
7. "Harry Potter at 20: What the critics originally thought of the Philosopher's Stone". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
8. "Jane Austen 200". Jane Austen 200. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
9. Wikisource:Anniversaries  – via Wikisource.
10. "Freeks by Amanda Hocking". www.barnesandnoble.com. Retrieved 2017-01-09.
11. "John Berger obituary". The Guardian. 2 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
12. "Exorcist writer Blatty dies aged 89". 27 November 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via www.bbc.com.
13. Danuta Kean, "Buchi Emecheta, pioneering Nigerian novelist, dies aged 72", The Guardian, 26 January 2017.
14. Review, The Paris (25 January 2017). "Harry Mathews, 1930–2017". Retrieved 27 November 2017.
15. Fressia, Alfredo (2017-02-10). "Un viaje a la poesía" [A Journey into Poetry]. Brecha (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-07-10.
16. Grimes, William (8 February 2017). "William Melvin Kelley, Who Explored Race in Experimental Novels, Is Dead at 79". Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via www.nytimes.com.
17. "Bridges of Madison County author dies". 10 March 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
18. "Författaren Torgny Lindgren är död". Retrieved 27 November 2017.
19. Lea, Richard (17 March 2017). "Nobel laureate, poet and playwright Derek Walcott dead, aged 87". Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
20. "Acclaimed Russian Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko Dead At 84". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
21. Скончался классик детской литературы Анатолий Алексин (in Russian)
22. Décès du penseur Mohamed Talbi (in French)
23. Sandomir, Richard (26 May 2017). "Denis Johnson, Who Wrote of the Failed and the Desperate, Dies at 67". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
24. Zemřel Jaroslav Kořán, první polistopadový primátor Prahy (in Czech)
25. "In memoriam – Professor Barrie Pettman (1944-2017) – The University of Auckland". www.creative.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
26. "Tamil poetry loses sufi voice as Kavikko departs". Retrieved 27 November 2017.
27. Muere el escritor Juan Goytisolo a los 86 años en Marrakech (in Spanish)
28. Sandomir, Richard (7 June 2017). "Jack Trout, Who Fought for Consumers' Minds and Money, Dies at 82". Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via www.nytimes.com.
29. Meghalt Jókai Anna író (in Hungarian)
30. Prashar, Usha (30 June 2017). "Naseem Khan obituary". Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
31. "Jnanpith awardee C Narayana Reddy passes away – Times of India". Retrieved 27 November 2017.
32. "Michael Bond obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
33. "On-site burial sought after Wellington marae founder Bruce Stewart dies". Stuff. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
34. "Acclaimed Welsh language writer dies". 3 July 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
35. "Poet Jack Collom: 1931-2017". 3 July 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
36. "Nigerian literary critic, Professor Abiola Irele dies in US – PM NEWS Nigeria". 3 July 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
37. Steger, Jason (4 July 2017). "Much loved Australian poet Fay Zwicky has died aged 83". Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via The Sydney Morning Herald.
38. Smith, Harrison (9 July 2017). "Irina Ratushinskaya, Soviet dissident who turned captivity into poetry, dies at 63". Retrieved 27 November 2017 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
39. "Jeugdboekenschrijfster Diekmann ging zware thema's niet uit de weg" (in Dutch). NRC. 11 July 2017. Archived from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
40. "'Godfather' of Russian Internet Nossik Dies of Heart Attack". Retrieved 27 November 2017.
41. "Harvey Jacobs (1930-2017)". Locus Magazine. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
42. "Uruguayan novelist and essayist Amir Hamed passes away". TV Show (in Spanish). 20 November 2017.
43. Ellis, Ralph (29 December 2017). "Sue Grafton, mystery writer who based titles on the alphabet, dies at 77". CNN. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
44. Kean, Danuta (7 June 2017). "Baileys prize goes to 'classic of the future' by Naomi Alderman". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
45. Flood, Alison (16 November 2017). "Baillie Gifford prize goes to Aids chronicle How to Survive a Plague". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
46. "Man Booker Prize: George Saunders wins for Lincoln in the Bardo". BBC News. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
47. "Poet and activist Manuel Alegre wins prestigious Camoes Award". SBS Your Language. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
48. "Costa Book Awards 2017 Category Winners Announced". Foyles. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
49. "Kai Cheng Thom". www.writerstrust.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
50. Kean, Danuta (21 June 2017). "Golden Hill wins Francis Spufford third major prize in a year". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
51. "The High Places wins £30,000 International Dylan Thomas Prize in partnership with Swansea University". Swansea University. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
52. Kean, Danuta (24 May 2017). "Folio prize goes to Hisham Matar's memoir The Return". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
53. "Robert Menasse wins German Book Prize 2017". DW.COM. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
54. "Illuminated manuscript novel wins Goldsmiths Prize". Independent.ie. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
55. "The winner of the Gordon Burn Prize 2017 is announced". New Writing North. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
56. "Governor General Literary Awards announced: Joel Thomas Hynes wins top English fiction prize". CBC News. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
57. "2017 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. 2016-12-31. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
58. "The Man Booker International Prize 2017 | The Man Booker Prizes". themanbookerprize.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
59. Cain, Sian (25 April 2017). "International prize for Arabic fiction goes to Mohammed Hasan Alwan". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
60. "José Eduardo Agualusa wins €100,000 International Dublin Literary Award". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
61. "Extinctions by Josephine Wilson wins the 2017 Miles Franklin award". The Guardian. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
62. "Oriel Undergraduate Dominic Hand Wins University's Newdigate Prize for Poetry". Oriel College Oxford. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
63. "Announcing the 2017 PEN/Faulkner Award Winner". penfaulkner.org. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
64. "2017 Pulitzer Prizes". Pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
65. "RBC Taylor Prize – Latest News". www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
66. "David Chariandy wins 2017 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize". National Post. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
67. "Michael Redhill wins Scotiabank Giller Prize". CTV News, November 20, 2017.
68. "Sebastian Barry's 'glorious and unusual' novel wins Walter Scott prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
69. "Laureate of the Zbigniew Herbert Literary Award 2017". Retrieved 2019-03-12.