1979 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1979.

Events

• April 13 – The Adventure of Sudsakorn, the only cel-animated feature film ever made in Thailand, is released to cinemas. It is based on Phra Aphai Mani, a 30,000-line epic written by Thailand's best-known poet, Sunthorn Phu.^[1]
• May – Première of the Merchant Ivory Productions film The Europeans, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, based on Henry James' novel The Europeans (1878).
• October 25 – The London Review of Books is first issued by its founding editors Karl Miller, Mary-Kay Wilmers and Susannah Clapp. For its first six months it appears as an insert to The New York Review of Books.^[2]
• K. W. Jeter's novel Morlock Night pioneers full-length fiction in the genre he will later call steampunk.
• August Wilson's Jitney is first produced; it will become the eighth of his "Pittsburgh Cycle".
• Dambudzo Marechera's The House of Hunger wins the Guardian Fiction Prize.

New books

Births

• February 4 – Ben Lerner, American poet, novelist and critic
• February 10 – Johan Harstad, Norwegian novelist^[4]
• March 28 – Benjamin Percy, American short story writer
• June 28 – Florian Zeller, French novelist and dramatist
• Unknown dates
  • D.D. Johnston, Scottish political novelist and university lecturer
  • Emily St. John Mandel, Canadian-born novelist

Deaths

• January – Dilys Cadwaladr, Welsh-language poet (born 1902)
• January 27 – Victoria Ocampo, Argentine publisher, writer and critic (born 1890)
• February 9 – Allen Tate, American poet and essayist (born 1899)
• February 25 – John L. Wasserman, American entertainment critic (car accident, born 1938)
• February 27 – Sir George Clark, English historian (born 1890)
• March 26 – Jean Stafford, American short story writer and novelist (heart failure, born 1915)
• April 8 – Breece D'J Pancake, American short story writer (suicide, born 1952)
• May 10 – J. B. Morton (Beachcomber), English humorous newspaper columnist (born 1893)
• May 14 – Jean Rhys, Dominica, West Indies-born English novelist (born 1890)
• June 1 – Eric Partridge, New Zealand/British lexicographer (born 1894)
• June 3 – Arno Schmidt, German novelist (born 1914)
• June 7 – Forrest Carter, American genre novelist (heart failure, born 1925)
• July 6 – Malcolm Hulke, English TV writer (born 1924)
• July 15 – Juana de Ibarbourou, Uruguayan poet (born 1892)
• July 21 – Eugène Vinaver, Russian-born English literary scholar (born 1899)
• July 23 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and novelist (born 1898)
• July 29 – Herbert Marcuse, German Jewish philosopher (born 1898)
• August 8 – Nicholas Monsarrat, English novelist (born 1910)
• August 16 – Jerzy Jurandot (Jerzy Glejgewicht), Polish poet and dramatist (born 1911)
• September 25 – Zhou Libo (周立波), Chinese novelist and translator (born 1908)
• October 6 – Elizabeth Bishop, American poet (born 1911)
• October 17 – S. J. Perelman, American humorist (born 1904)
• October 18 – Virgilio Piñera, Cuban poet and short-story writer (born 1912)
• December 12 – Goronwy Rees, Welsh journalist and academic (born 1909)
• December 19 – Donald Creighton, Canadian historian (born 1902)

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Odysseus Elytis

References