1987 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1987 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
- Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the VanitiesThe Bonfire of the VanitiesThe Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City and centers on four main characters: WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish assistant district attorney Larry Kramer, British expatriate...
, the most ever earned by an author, at the time.
Fiction
- Chinua AchebeChinua AchebeAlbert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...
- Anthills of the SavannahAnthills of the SavannahAnthills of the Savannah is a 1987 novel by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. A finalist for the 1987 Booker Prize for Fiction, it has been described as the "most important novel to come out of Africa in the [1980s]."-Plot:... - Peter AckroydPeter AckroydPeter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award...
- Chatterton (shortlisted for Booker Prize 1987) - Douglas AdamsDouglas AdamsDouglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective AgencyDirk Gently's Holistic Detective AgencyDirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a humorous fantasy detective novel by Douglas Adams, first published in 1987. It is described by "the author" on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic".The book was followed by a sequel,... - Martin AmisMartin AmisMartin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...
- Einstein's MonstersEinstein's MonstersEinstein's Monsters is a collection of short stories by British writer Martin Amis. Each of the five stories deals with the subject of nuclear weapons.-Contents:... - Gilles ArchambaultGilles ArchambaultGilles Archambault is a Canadian/Québécois novelist.He studied at the Université de Montréal in 1957, and then worked at Radio-Canada, while working as a journalist...
- L'Obsédante obèse et autres agressions - Paul AusterPaul AusterPaul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
- The New York TrilogyThe New York TrilogyThe New York Trilogy is a series of novels by Paul Auster. Originally published sequentially as City of Glass , Ghosts and The Locked Room , it has since been collected into a single volume.- Plot introduction :...
& In the Country of Last ThingsIn the Country of Last ThingsIn the Country of Last Things is a dystopian epistolary novel written by American author Paul Auster and first published in 1987.- Plot summary :... - Iain BanksIain BanksIain Banks is a Scottish writer. He writes mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks, and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, including the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies...
- Consider PhlebasConsider PhlebasConsider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. Written after a 1984 draft, it is the first to feature the Culture.-Overview:...
(as Iain M. Banks) and Espedair StreetEspedair Street-Plot introduction:The book tells the story of the rise to fame of Dan Weir , a bass guitar player in a rock and roll band called Frozen Gold, and of his struggles to be happy now that he is rich and famous.-Plot summary:... - Clive BarkerClive BarkerClive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
- WeaveworldWeaveworldWeaveworld is a novel by Clive Barker. It was published in 1987 and could be categorized as dark fantasy. It deals with a parallel world, like many of Barker's novels, and contains many horror elements.... - Greg BearGreg BearGregory Dale Bear is an American science fiction and mainstream author. His work has covered themes of galactic conflict , artificial universes , consciousness and cultural practices , and accelerated evolution...
- The Forge of GodThe Forge of GodThe Forge of God is a 1987 science fiction novel by American writer Greg Bear. Earth faces destruction when an inscrutable and overwhelming alien form of life attacks.... - William BoydWilliam Boyd (writer)William Boyd, CBE is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter.-Biography:Of Scottish descent, Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria, in Africa...
- The New ConfessionsThe New ConfessionsThe New Confessions is a novel of the Scottish writer William Boyd. The book follows the life of John James Todd from his birth in Edinburgh up to his final exile on a Mediterranean island, having fled the USA from fear of being implicated in a murder... - Truddi ChaseTruddi ChaseTruddi Chase was the author of the book When Rabbit Howls , an autobiography about her experiences after being diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder...
- When Rabbit Howls - Tom ClancyTom ClancyThomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
- Patriot GamesPatriot GamesPatriot Games is a novel by Tom Clancy. It is chronologically the first book focusing on CIA analyst Jack Ryan, the main character in almost all of Clancy's novels. It is the indirect sequel to Without Remorse... - Hugh CookHugh Cook (science fiction author)Hugh Cook was a cult author whose works blend fantasy and science fiction. He is best-known for his epic series The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.-Biography:...
- The Wordsmiths and the Warguild and The Women and the Warlords - Bernard CornwellBernard CornwellBernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
- Redcoat and Sharpe's RiflesSharpe's Rifles (novel)Sharpe's Rifles was the first prequel novel in the series written by Bernard Cornwell. It tells the story of Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, January 1809... - Robert CraisRobert CraisRobert Crais is an American author of detective fiction. Crais began his career writing scripts for television shows such as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice and L.A. Law. He lists amongst his literary influences the authors Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest...
- The Monkey's RaincoatThe Monkey's RaincoatThe Monkey's Raincoat is a 1987 detective novel by Robert Crais. It is the first in a series of linked novels centering on the private investigator Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike. Cole is a tough, wisecracking ex-Ranger with an irresistible urge to do what is morally right... - L. Sprague de CampL. Sprague de CampLyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction and fantasy books, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors...
and Catherine Crook de CampCatherine Crook de CampCatherine Crook de Camp, was an American science fiction and fantasy author and editor. Most of whose work was done in collaboration with her husband L. Sprague de Camp, to whom she was married for sixty years. Her solo work was largely non-fiction.-Life:Catherine Crook was born Catherine Adelaide...
- The Incorporated KnightThe Incorporated KnightThe Incorporated Knight is a fantasy novel written by L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, the first book in a sequence of two. Chapters 1-5 first appeared as the short stories "Two Yards of Dragon", "The Coronet", "Spider Love" and "Eudoric's Unicorn" in Flashing Swords!, The Magazine... - Jenny DiskiJenny Diski-External links:***...
- RainforestRainforest (novel)Rainforest is a 1987 novel by Jenny Diski about a young female English academic whose ambitions are to lead a sane and sensible life and to contribute to humankind's understanding of the natural world but who eventually has a mental breakdown when faced with too many people surrounding her who,... - Jim DodgeJim DodgeJim Dodge is an American novelist and poet whose works combine themes of folklore and fantasy, set in a timeless present. He has published three novels, Fup, Not Fade Away and Stone Junction and a collection of poetry and prose, Rain on the River.-Biography:Dodge was born in 1945 and grew up as an...
- Not Fade Away - Roddy DoyleRoddy DoyleRoddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
- The CommitmentsThe CommitmentsThe Commitments is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, and is the first episode in The Barrytown Trilogy. It is a tale about a group of unemployed young people in the north side of Dublin, Ireland, who start a soul band.-Plot summary:... - Bret Easton EllisBret Easton EllisBret Easton Ellis is an American novelist and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 different languages. He was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney...
- The Rules of AttractionThe Rules of AttractionThe Rules of Attraction is a dark comedy and satirical novel by Bret Easton Ellis published in 1987. The novel focuses on a handful of rowdy and often sexually promiscuous, spoiled Bohemian college students at a liberal arts college in 1980s New Hampshire, primarily focusing on three of them who... - James EllroyJames EllroyLee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
- Black DahliaBlack Dahlia"The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short is an American woman and the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. She acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly colorful... - John GardnerJohn Gardner (thriller writer)John Edmund Gardner was an English spy novelist, most notably for the James Bond series.-Early life:Gardner was born in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge and did postgraduate study at Oxford...
- No Deals, Mr. BondNo Deals, Mr. BondNo Deals, Mr. Bond, first published in 1987, was the sixth novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape and in the United States by Putnam... - Kaye GibbonsKaye GibbonsKaye Gibbons is an American novelist. Her 1987 debut, Ellen Foster, received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, a Special Citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, and the The Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Prize in Creative Writing from...
- Ellen FosterEllen FosterEllen Foster is a 1987 novel by American novelist Kaye Gibbons. It was a selection of Oprah's Book Club in October 1997.-Plot introduction:The novel follows the story of Ellen, the first person narrator, a young white American girl living under unfavorable conditions somewhere in the rural... - Ken GrimwoodKen GrimwoodKenneth Milton Grimwood was an American author who was born in Dothan, Alabama. In his fantasy fiction Grimwood combined themes of life-affirmation and hope with metaphysical concepts, themes found in his best-known novel, the highly popular Replay...
- ReplayReplay (novel)Replay is a novel by Ken Grimwood first published by Arbor House in 1987. It won the 1988 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.The novel tells of a 43-year-old man who dies and awakens back in 1963 in his 18-year-old body. He then begins to relive his life with intact memories of the previous 25... - Tom HoltTom HoltTom Holt is a British novelist.He was born in London, the son of novelist Hazel Holt, and was educated at Westminster School, Wadham College, Oxford, and The College of Law, London....
- Expecting Someone TallerExpecting Someone TallerExpecting Someone Taller is the first humorous fantasy novel by popular British author Tom Holt. It was first published in hardcover in 1987, by Macmillan Publishers in the UK, and by St. Martin's Press in the US. A UK paperback edition was released in 1988 by Futura Orbit in 1988, and a US... - Josephine HumphreysJosephine HumphreysJosephine Humphreys is an American novelist.A native of Charleston, South Carolina, which is also the setting of her novels Dreams of Sleep, Rich in Love and The Fireman's Fair, Humphreys was educated at Ashley Hall , studied creative writing with Reynolds Price at Duke University , and went on to...
- Rich in LoveRich in LoveRich in Love is a 1993 drama film based on the 1987 novel with the same name by Josephine Humphreys. The film stars Albert Finney, Katherine Erbe, Kyle MacLachlan, Jill Clayburgh, Suzy Amis, and Ethan Hawke.-Plot:... - John JakesJohn JakesJohn William Jakes is an American writer, best known for American historical fiction.-Early life and education:...
- Heaven and Hell - Garrison KeillorGarrison KeillorGary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
- Leaving HomeLeaving HomeLeaving Home is a drama in two acts by Canadian playwright David French."The work is the first presented of what has come to be known as the Mercer Plays and was responsible not only for introducing a unique Canadian voice to the world, but also for proving that Canadian playwrights could write... - Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
- Misery, The TommyknockersThe TommyknockersThe Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.In his...
, and The Eyes of the DragonThe Eyes of the DragonThe Eyes of the Dragon is a novel by Stephen King published in 1987. Previously, it was published as a limited edition hardcover by Philtrum Press in 1984. The mass-market version had been slightly revised for publication. At the time it was a surprising deviation from the norm for King, who is... - Penelope LivelyPenelope LivelyPenelope Lively CBE, FRSL is a prolific, popular and critically acclaimed author of fiction for both children and adults. She has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize, winning once for Moon Tiger in 1987.-Personal:...
- Moon TigerMoon TigerMoon Tiger is a 1987 novel by Penelope Lively which spans the time before, during and after World War II. The novel won the 1987 Booker Prize . It is written from multiple points of view and moves backward and forward through time... - Ian McEwanIan McEwanIan Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
- The Child in TimeThe Child in TimeThe Child in Time is a novel by Ian McEwan. It won the Whitbread Novel Award for that year. The story concerns Stephen, an author of children's books, and his wife, two years after the kidnapping of their three-year-old daughter Kate.-Plot:... - Betty MahmoodyBetty MahmoodyBetty Mahmoody is an American author and public speaker best known for her book, Not Without My Daughter, which was subsequently made into a film of the same name...
- Not Without My DaughterNot Without My DaughterNot Without My Daughter is a film released in 1991 depicting the escape of American citizen Betty Mahmoody and her daughter from her husband in Iran. The film was shot in the United States and Israel, and the main characters are played by Sally Field and Alfred Molina... - James A. MichenerJames A. MichenerJames Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories...
- Legacy (1987 novel) - Toni MorrisonToni MorrisonToni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
- BelovedBeloved (novel)Beloved is a novel by the American writer Toni Morrison, published in 1987. Set in 1873 just after the American Civil War , it is based on the story of the African-American slave, Margaret Garner, who escaped slavery in 1856 in Kentucky by fleeing to Ohio, a free state... - Haruki MurakamiHaruki Murakamiis a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
- Norwegian WoodNorwegian Wood (novel)is a 1987 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.The novel is a nostalgic story of loss and sexuality. The story's protagonist and narrator is Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a college student living in Tokyo... - V. S. NaipaulV. S. NaipaulSir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "V. S." Naipaul, TC is a Nobel prize-winning Indo-Trinidadian-British writer who is known for his novels focusing on the legacy of the British Empire's colonialism...
- The Enigma of ArrivalThe Enigma of ArrivalThe Enigma of Arrival: A Novel in Five Sections is a 1987 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul.Mostly an autobiography, the book is composed of four sections which reflect the growing familiarity and changing perceptions of Naipaul upon his arrival in various countries after leaving his native... - Michael OndaatjeMichael OndaatjePhilip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
- In the Skin of A LionIn the Skin of a LionIn the Skin of a Lion is a novel by Canadian/Sri Lankan writer Michael Ondaatje. It was first published in 1987 by McClelland and Stewart. The novel fictionalises the lives of the immigrants whose contributions to building Toronto in the early 1900s never became part of the city's official history... - Robert B. ParkerRobert B. ParkerRobert Brown Parker was an American crime writer. His most famous works were the novels about the private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the late 1980s; a series of TV movies based on the character were also...
- Pale Kings and PrincesPale Kings and PrincesPale Kings and Princes is a Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The title is taken from John Keats's poem La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad. Following the murder of a reporter, Spenser is hired by a newspaper to investigate drug smuggling around the area of Wheaton, Massachusetts. There he... - Rosamunde PilcherRosamunde PilcherRosamunde Pilcher OBE is a British author of romance novels and mainstream women's fiction. Early in her career she was also published under the pen name Jane Fraser. Pilcher retired from writing in 2000.-Early years:...
- The Shell SeekersThe Shell SeekersThe Shell Seekers is a 1987 novel by Rosamunde Pilcher. It became one of her most famous best-sellers. It was nominated by the British public in 2003 as one of the top 100 novels in the BBC's Big Read... - Peter PohlPeter PohlPeter Pohl, born is a Swedish author and former director and screenwriter of short films.He has received prizes for several of his books and films, as well as for his entire work....
- Vi kallar honom AnnaVi kallar honom AnnaVi kallar honom Anna is a 1987 Swedish novel by Peter Pohl. It is about Anders, a boy visiting a summercamp who is severely bullied... - Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
- Equal RitesEqual RitesEqual Rites is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1987, it is the third novel in the Discworld series and the first in which the main character is not Rincewind. The title is a play on words to "Equal Rights"....
and MortMortMort is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1987, it is the fourth Discworld novel and the first to focus on the Death of the Discworld, who only appeared as a side character in the previous novels... - Paul QuarringtonPaul QuarringtonPaul Lewis Quarrington was a Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator.-Background:...
- King LearyKing LearyKing Leary is a novel by Canadian humorist Paul Quarrington, published in 1987 by Doubleday Canada.-Plot introduction:The novel's protagonist is Percival "King" Leary, a legendary retired ice hockey player living in a smalltown nursing home, who is invited to Toronto by a young hotshot advertising... - Edward RutherfurdEdward RutherfurdEdward Rutherfurd is a pen name for Francis Edward Wintle known primarily as a writer of epic historical novels...
- Sarum - José SaramagoJosé SaramagoJosé de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
- Baltasar and BlimundaBaltasar and BlimundaBaltasar and Blimunda is a novel by the Portuguese author José Saramago.It is a love story set in the 18th century with the construction of the Convent of Mafra, now one of Portugal's chief tourist attractions, as a background... - Leonardo SciasciaLeonardo SciasciaLeonardo Sciascia was an Italian writer, novelist, essayist, playwright and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including Open Doors and Il giorno della civetta .- Biography :Sciascia was born in Racalmuto, Sicily...
- Porte aperte - Michael SheaMichael SheaMichael Shea is an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author living in California. He is a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award.-Life and work:...
- PolyphemusPolyphemus (book)Polyphemus is a collection of Science fiction, fantasy and horror stories by author Michael Shea. It was released in 1987 by Arkham House . It was published in an edition of 3,528 copies and was the author's first hardcover book... - Sidney SheldonSidney SheldonSidney Sheldon was an Academy Award-winning American writer. His TV works spanned a 20-year period during which he created The Patty Duke Show , I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart , but he became most famous after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Game ,...
- Windmills of the GodsWindmills of the GodsWindmills of the Gods is a 1987 thriller novel by American writer Sidney Sheldon.-Plot summary:Mary Ashley, a professor at Kansas State University, is offered an ambassadorship by Paul Ellison, the US president. She rejects the offer because her husband, Dr. Edward Ashley, does not want to leave... - Lucius ShepardLucius ShepardLucius Shepard is an American writer. Classified as a science fiction and fantasy writer, he often leans into other genres, such as magical realism. His work is infused with a political and historical sensibility and an awareness of literary antecedents...
- The Jaguar HunterThe Jaguar HunterThe Jaguar Hunter is a collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror stories by American author Lucius Shepard. Illustrated by J. K. Potter, it was released in May, 1987 and was the author's first book published by Arkham House. It was originally published in an edition of 3,194 copies, with... - Carol ShieldsCarol ShieldsCarol Ann Shields, CC, OM, FRSC, MA was an American-born Canadian author. She is best known for her 1993 novel The Stone Diaries, which won the U.S. Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Governor General's Award in Canada.-Biography:Shields was born in Oak Park, Illinois...
- Swann: A MysterySwann: A MysterySwann: A Mystery is a novel by the late Carol Shields which details the impact of an obscure Canadian poet, Mary Swann, upon four individuals: a feminist literary critic, the poet's biographer, a small-town librarian, and a crusty, brilliant newspaper editor... - Michael SladeMichael SladeMichael Slade is the pen name of Canadian novelist Jay Clarke, a lawyer who has participated in more than 100 criminal cases and who specializes in criminal insanity. Before Clarke entered law school, his undergraduate studies focused on history...
- Ghoul - Danielle SteelDanielle SteelDanielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel , better known as Danielle Steel, is an American romantic novelist and author of mainstream dramas....
- Fine ThingsFine ThingsFine Things is a 1987 romance novel, authored by Danielle Steel. The book was published on February 1, 1987 by Dell Publications. A film adaption was released in 1990.-Plot summary:...
and KaleidoscopeKaleidoscope (novel)Kaleidoscope is a 1987 novel by Danielle Steel, published by Delacorte Press . It was adapted into an NBC television movie in 1990 starring Jaclyn Smith and Perry King.- Plot :... - Ruth ThomasRuth Thomas (children's writer)Ruth Thomas was a children's fiction author. Her debut book The Runaways won the 1988 Guardian Children's Fiction Award....
- The RunawaysThe Runaways (book)The Runaways is a 1987 novel written by Ruth Thomas about two children, Julia Winter and Nathan Browne, who run away from their individual homes once their teachers and parents find out that they have money that does not belong to them.... - Scott TurowScott TurowScott F. Turow is an American author and a practicing lawyer. Turow has written eight fiction and two nonfiction books, which have been translated into over 20 languages and have sold over 25 million copies...
- Presumed InnocentPresumed InnocentPresumed Innocent, published in 1987, is Scott Turow's first novel, which tells the story of a prosecutor charged with the murder of his colleague, an attractive and intelligent prosecutor, Carolyn Polhemus. It is told in the first person by the accused, Rǒzat "Rusty" Sabich... - Andrew VachssAndrew VachssAndrew Henry Vachss is an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths...
- Strega - Barbara Vine - A Fatal InversionA Fatal InversionA Fatal Inversion is a 1987 novel by Ruth Rendell, written under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. The novel won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger in that year and, in 1987, was also shortlisted for the Dagger of Daggers, a special award to select the best Gold Dagger winner of the award's 50...
- Kurt VonnegutKurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
- BluebeardBluebeard"Bluebeard" is a French literary folktale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the... - Gene WolfeGene WolfeGene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the...
- The Urth of the New SunThe Urth of the New SunThe Urth of the New Sun is a 1987 science fiction novel by Gene Wolfe that serves as a sort of coda to his 4-volume Book of the New Sun series. Like Book, it is of the dying earth subgenre... - Tom WolfeTom WolfeThomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
- The Bonfire of the VanitiesThe Bonfire of the VanitiesThe Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City and centers on four main characters: WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish assistant district attorney Larry Kramer, British expatriate... - Roger ZelaznyRoger ZelaznyRoger Joseph Zelazny was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series...
- Sign of ChaosSign of ChaosSign of Chaos is the Locus Award nominated third novel in the second Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny, and the eighth book overall... - Gary PaulsenGary PaulsenGary James Paulsen is an American writer who writes many young adult coming of age stories about the wilderness. He is the author of more than 200 books , 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for young adults and teens.-Biography:Gary Paulsen was born in...
- HatchetHatchetA hatchet is a single-handed striking tool with a sharp blade used to cut and split wood... - Jesse Lee KerchevalJesse Lee KerchevalJesse Lee Kercheval is an American academic and writer. She is a writing teacher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has authored several books of various genres, notably Building Fiction, The Museum of Happiness, and The Dogeater....
- The Dogeater
Non-fiction
- Allan BloomAllan BloomAllan David Bloom was an American philosopher, classicist, and academic. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Yale University, École Normale Supérieure of Paris, and the University...
- The Closing of the American MindThe Closing of the American MindThe Closing of the American Mind, by Allan Bloom , describes "how higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today's students." He focuses especially upon the "openness" of relativism as leading paradoxically to the great "closing" referenced in the book's title... - Bruce ChatwinBruce ChatwinCharles Bruce Chatwin was an English novelist and travel writer. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel On the Black Hill...
- The SonglinesThe SonglinesThe Songlines is a 1986 book written by Bruce Chatwin, combining fiction and non-fiction. Chatwin describes a trip to Australia which he has taken for the express purpose of researching Aboriginal song and its connections to nomadic travel... - Bill CosbyBill CosbyWilliam Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
- Time Flies - Andrea DworkinAndrea DworkinAndrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist and writer best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued was linked to rape and other forms of violence against women....
- IntercourseIntercourse (book)Intercourse is a radical feminist analysis of sexual intercourse in literature and society, written by Andrea Dworkin. Intercourse is often said to argue that "all heterosexual sex is rape", based on the line from the book that says "violation is a synonym for intercourse." However, Dworkin has... - Paul KennedyPaul KennedyPaul Michael Kennedy CBE, FBA , is a British historian at Yale University specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He has published prominent books on the history of British foreign policy and Great Power struggles...
- The Rise and Fall of the Great PowersThe Rise and Fall of the Great PowersThe Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000, by Paul Kennedy, first published in 1987, explores the politics and economics of the Great Powers from 1500 to 1980 and the reason for their decline...
: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000 - Nien ChengNien ChengNien Cheng was a Chinese author who recounted her harrowing experiences of the Cultural Revolution in her memoir Life and Death in Shanghai. In 1966, she became a target of attack by Red Guards due to her former management of a foreign firm in Shanghai, Shell...
- Life and Death in ShanghaiLife and Death in ShanghaiLife and Death in Shanghai is an autobiography published in November 1987 by Nien Cheng from exile in the United States which details Cheng's six-year imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution.... - Salman Rushdie - The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey
- Peter WrightPeter WrightPeter Maurice Wright was an English scientist and former MI5 counterintelligence officer, noted for writing the controversial book Spycatcher, which became an international bestseller with sales of over two million copies...
- SpycatcherSpycatcherSpycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer , is a book written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. It was published first in Australia...
Deaths
- February 2 - Alistair MacLeanAlistair MacLeanAlistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare, all three having been made into successful films...
, British thriller writer, heart attack - February 10 - William RoseWilliam Rose (screenwriter)William Rose was an American screenwriter of British and Hollywood films.Although born in Jefferson City, Missouri, after the 1939 outbreak of World War II, Rose lived in Canada and volunteered to fight overseas with the Black Watch...
, screenwriter - February 22 - Andy WarholAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, artist, director, writer - March 4 - Maria JolasMaria JolasMaria Jolas , born Maria McDonald, was one of the founding members of transition in Paris with her husband Eugene Jolas....
, literary publisher - April 4 - C. L. MooreC. L. MooreCatherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction....
, science fiction author - April 11 - Erskine CaldwellErskine CaldwellErskine Preston Caldwell was an American author. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South like the novels Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre won him critical acclaim, but they also made him controversial among fellow Southerners of the time who felt he was...
, novelist - May 30 - Norman NicholsonNorman NicholsonNorman Cornthwaite Nicholson OBE, , was an English poet, known for his association with the Cumberland town of Millom...
, poet - September 25 - Emlyn WilliamsEmlyn WilliamsGeorge Emlyn Williams, CBE , known as Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh dramatist and actor.-Biography:He was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family in Mostyn, Flintshire....
, dramatist - September 30 - Alfred Bester, science fiction writer
- October 3 - Jean AnouilhJean AnouilhJean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...
, dramatist - October 8 - Roger Lancelyn Green, biographer and children's author
- October 31 - Joseph CampbellJoseph CampbellJoseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
, author and expert on mythologyMythologyThe term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece... - November 29 - Gwendolyn MacEwenGwendolyn MacEwenGwendolyn Margaret MacEwen was a Canadian poet and novelist. A "sophisticated, wide-ranging and thoughtful writer," she published more than 20 books in her brief life. "A sense of magic and mystery from her own interests in the Gnostics, Ancient Egypt and magic itself, and from her wonderment at...
, Canadian poet - December 1 - James BaldwinJames Baldwin (writer)James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,...
, novelist - December 17 - Marguerite YourcenarMarguerite YourcenarMarguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie française, in 1980, and the seventeenth person to occupy Seat 3.-Biography:Yourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie...
, novelist
Australia
- The Australian/Vogel Literary AwardThe Australian/Vogel Literary AwardThe Australian/Vogel Literary Award is an Australian literary award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. The prize money, currently A$20,000, is the richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript in Australia...
: Jim Sakkas, Ilias - C. J. Dennis Prize for PoetryC. J. Dennis Prize for PoetryThe C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, for a significant selection of new work by a poet published in a book. It is named after the early twentieth century vernacular poet C. J...
: Lily BrettLily BrettLily Brett is an award-winning Australian novelist, essayist and poet who now lives in New York City. Much of her writing deals with her Jewish family semi-biographically and with her feelings about the Holocaust....
, The Auschwitz Poems - Kenneth Slessor Prize for PoetryKenneth Slessor Prize for PoetryThe Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form...
: Philip HodginsPhilip HodginsPhilip Ian Hodgins was a prize-winning Australian poet whose work appeared in such major publications as The New Yorker. Peter Rose called him 'probably the most loved [Australian] poet of his generation', noting that 'his admirers ranged from... Alan Hollinghurst to Ron Barassi and Peter Porter...
, Blood and Bone - Mary Gilmore PrizeMary Gilmore PrizeThe Mary Gilmore Prize for the best first book of poetry is given to a first book of poetry from the previous two years; prior to 1998 it was awarded annually...
: Jan OwenJan Owen-Life:Jan Owen was born Janette Muriel Sincock in Adelaide, South Australia, attending school there and in Melbourne, leaving early to work as a laboratory assistant...
- Boy with Telescope
Canada
- See 1987 Governor General's Awards1987 Governor General's AwardsEach winner of the 1987 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $5000 and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners and nominees were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.-Fiction:...
for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
France
- Prix GoncourtPrix GoncourtThe Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
: Tahar ben JellounTahar Ben JellounTahar Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan poet and writer. The entirety of his work is written in French, although his first language is Arabic.-Life:...
, La Nuit sacrée - Prix MédicisPrix MédicisThe Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...
French: Pierre MertensPierre MertensPierre Mertens is a Belgian French-speaking writer and lawyer who specializes in international law, director of the Centre de sociologie de la littérature at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and literary critic with the newspaper Le Soir.Influenced by Franz Kafka, Mertens started to publish...
, Les Éblouissements - Prix Médicis International: Antonio TabucchiAntonio TabucchiAntonio Tabucchi is an Italian writer and academic who teaches Portuguese language and literature at the University of Siena, Italy....
, Nocturne indien
United Kingdom
- Booker Prize: Penelope LivelyPenelope LivelyPenelope Lively CBE, FRSL is a prolific, popular and critically acclaimed author of fiction for both children and adults. She has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize, winning once for Moon Tiger in 1987.-Personal:...
, Moon TigerMoon TigerMoon Tiger is a 1987 novel by Penelope Lively which spans the time before, during and after World War II. The novel won the 1987 Booker Prize . It is written from multiple points of view and moves backward and forward through time... - Carnegie MedalCarnegie MedalThe Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
for children's literatureChildren's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
: Susan PriceSusan PriceSusan Price, born 1955 in Dudley in the West Midlands, is an award-winning English writer of novels for young adults. She also writes for younger children. She still lives in the Black Country.- Writing :...
, The Ghost DrumThe Ghost DrumThe Ghost Drum is a children's fantasy novel by Susan Price, first published in 1987. It is an original fairy tale using elements from Russian history and folklore and, like many traditional tales, is full of cruelty, violence and sudden death. It is the first of the Ghost World Sequence, which... - Cholmondeley AwardCholmondeley AwardThe Cholmondeley Award is an annual award for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966...
: Wendy CopeWendy CopeWendy Cope, OBE is an award-winning contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely with the poet Lachlan Mackinnon.-Biography:...
, Matthew SweeneyMatthew Sweeney-Life:He graduated from Gormanston College, Polytechnic of North London and University of Freiburg, in 1979.He had residencies at the University of East Anglia, and South Bank Centre.He has lived for many years in London.-Awards:...
, George SzirtesGeorge SzirtesGeorge Szirtes is a Hungarian-born British poet, writing in English, as well as a translator from the Hungarian language into English. He has lived in the United Kingdom for most of his life.-Life:... - Eric Gregory AwardEric Gregory AwardThe Eric Gregory Award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under 30 on submission. The awards are up to a sum value of £24000 annually....
: Peter McDonald, Maura Dooley, Stephen Knight, Steve AnthonySteve AnthonySteve Anthony is a Canadian television host. He gained attention throughout Canada as a MuchMusic host, or "VJ" from May 1987 to November 1995....
, Jill Maughan, Paul Munden - James Tait Black Memorial PrizeJames Tait Black Memorial PrizeFounded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for fiction: George Mackay BrownGeorge Mackay BrownGeorge Mackay Brown , was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist, whose work has a distinctly Orcadian character...
, The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories - James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Ruth Dudley Edwards, Victor GollanczVictor GollanczSir Victor Gollancz was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian.-Early life:Born in Maida Vale, London, he was the son of a wholesale jeweller and nephew of Rabbi Professor Sir Hermann Gollancz and Professor Sir Israel Gollancz; after being educated at St Paul's School, London and taking...
: A Biography - Whitbread Best Book Award1987 Whitbread Awards-Book of the Year:-References:*...
: Christopher NolanChristopher Nolan (author)Christopher Nolan was an Irish poet and author, son of Joseph and Bernadette Nolan. He grew up in Mullingar, Ireland, but later moved to Dublin to attend college. He was educated at the Central Remedial Clinic School, Mount Temple Comprehensive School and at Trinity College, Dublin. His first...
, Under the Eye of the Clock - Sunday Express Book of the Year: Brian MooreBrian Moore (novelist)Brian Moore was a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter who emigrated to Canada and later lived in the United States. He was acclaimed for the descriptions in his novels of life in Northern Ireland after the Second World War, in particular his explorations of the inter-communal divisions of The...
, The Colour of BloodThe Colour of BloodThe Colour of Blood, published in 1987, is a novel by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore about a Cardinal in an unnamed East European country who finds himself caught in the middle of an escalating revolution. A political thriller, it won the Sunday Express Book of the Year prize in 1987...
United States
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry PrizeAgnes Lynch Starrett Poetry PrizeThe Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize is a major American literary award for a first full-length book of poetry in the English language.This prize of the University of Pittsburgh Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA was initiated by Ed Ochester and developed by Frederick A. Hetzel. The prize is...
: David RivardDavid RivardDavid Rivard is an American poet.His poems and essays have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including New England Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, and TriQuarterly. David Rivard is Poetry Editor at the Harvard Review, and teaches at the University of New Hampshire, and the Vermont College...
, Torque - Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American PoetryAiken Taylor Award for Modern American PoetryThe Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry is an annual prize, administered by the Sewanee Review and the University of the South, awarded to a writer who has had a substantial and distinguished career. It was established through a bequest by Dr. K.P.A...
: Howard NemerovHoward NemerovHoward Nemerov was an American poet. He was twice appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1963 to 1964, and again from 1988 to 1990. He received the National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and Bollingen Prize for The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov... - American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres: Jacques BarzunJacques BarzunJacques Martin Barzun is a French-born American historian of ideas and culture. He has written on a wide range of topics, but is perhaps best known as a philosopher of education, his Teacher in America being a strong influence on post-WWII training of schoolteachers in the United...
- Frost MedalFrost MedalThe Robert Frost Medal is an award of the Poetry Society of America for "distinguished lifetime service to American poetry." Medalists receive a prize purse of $2,500....
: Robert CreeleyRobert CreeleyRobert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P...
/ Sterling Brown - Nebula AwardNebula AwardThe Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
: Pat Murphy, The Falling WomanThe Falling WomanThe Falling Woman is a 1986 contemporary psychological fantasy novel by Pat Murphy. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1987.-Summary:... - Newbery MedalNewbery MedalThe John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
for children's literatureChildren's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
: Sid FleischmanSid FleischmanAlbert Sidney Fleischman , pen name Sid Fleischman, was a Newbery Medal-winning author of children's books, screenplays, novels for adults, and books on magic. His works for children are known for their humor, imagery, zesty plotting, and exploration of the byways of American history...
The Whipping BoyThe Whipping BoyThe Whipping Boy is a Newbery medal-winning children's book by Sid Fleischman, published in 1987.-Plot summary:The Prince Horace is spoiled and, craving attention from his father, he frequently misbehaves; as a prince, no one may raise a hand against him. Therefore, his family provides him with a... - Pulitzer Prize for DramaPulitzer Prize for DramaThe Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
: August WilsonAugust WilsonAugust Wilson was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama...
, Fences - Pulitzer Prize for FictionPulitzer Prize for FictionThe Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
: Peter Taylor, A Summons to MemphisA Summons to MemphisA Summons to Memphis is a 1986 novel by Peter Taylor which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1987. It is the recollection of Phillip Carver, a middle aged editor from New York City, who is summoned back to Memphis by his two conniving unmarried sisters to help them prevent the marriage of their... - Pulitzer Prize for PoetryPulitzer Prize for PoetryThe Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...
: Rita DoveRita DoveRita Frances Dove is an American poet and author. From 1993-1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now popularly known as "U.S. Poet Laureate"...
, Thomas and BeulahThomas and BeulahThomas and Beulah is a book of poems by American poet Rita Dove that tells the semi-fictionalized chronological story of her maternal grandparents, the focus being on her grandfather in the first half and her grandmother in the second...
Elsewhere
- Premio NadalPremio NadalPremio Nadal is a Spanish literary prize awarded annually by the publishing house Ediciones Destino, part of Planeta. It has been awarded every year on January 6 since 1944...
: Juan José SaerJuan José SaerJuan José Saer was one of the most important Argentine novelists of the last fifty years.Born to Syrian immigrants in Serodino, a small town in the Santa Fe Province, he studied law and philosophy at the National University of the Littoral, where he taught History of Cinematography. Thanks to a...
, La ocasión