The year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Contents[]
Events[edit][]
- July 21 - Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.
New prose fiction[edit][]
- Kingsley Amis – The Old Devils
- Piers Anthony – Ghost
- Jeffrey Archer – A Matter of Honour
- James Axler – Pilgrimage to Hell and Red Holocaust
- Iain Banks – The Bridge
- Thomas Bernhard – Auslöschung
- Anita Brookner – A Misalliance
- Orson Scott Card – Speaker for the Dead
- Tom Clancy – Red Storm Rising
- James Clavell – Whirlwind
- Jackie Collins – Hollywood Husbands
- Pat Conroy – The Prince of Tides
- Hugh Cook – The Wizards and the Warriors
- Bernard Cornwell – Sharpe's Regiment
- Bernard & Judy Cornwell (as Susannah Kells) – Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats)
- Fernando Del Paso - Noticias del Imperio
- Jenny Diski - Nothing Natural
- Marguerite Duras – Blue Eyes, Black Hair
- Richard Ford – The Sportswriter
- John Gardner – Nobody Lives For Ever
- Jacques Godbout – Une histoire américaine
- Peter Handke – Repetition
- Carl Hiaasen – Tourist Season
- Kazuo Ishiguro – An Artist of the Floating World
- Brian Jacques – Redwall
- Diana Wynne Jones – Howl's Moving Castle
- Stephen King – It
- W. P. Kinsella – The Fence Post Chronicles
- Judith Krantz – I'll Take Manhattan
- Louis L'Amour – Last of the Breed
- Joe R. Lansdale - Dead in the West
- John le Carré – A Perfect Spy
- Tanith Lee – Dreams of Dark and Light: The Great Short Fiction of Tanith Lee
- Gordon Lish – Dear Mr. Capote
- H. P. Lovecraft – Dagon and Other Macabre Tales corrected edition
- Robert Ludlum – The Bourne Supremacy
- Amin Maalouf – Leo Africanus
- Allan Massie – Augustus
- Robert Munsch – Love You Forever
- Patrick O'Brian – The Reverse of the Medal
- Robert B. Parker – Taming a Sea Horse
- Ellis Peters
- Belva Plain – The Golden Cup
- Anthony Powell – The Fisher King
- Terry Pratchett – The Light Fantastic
- Reynolds Price – Kate Vaiden
- James Purdy – In the Hollow of His Hand
- José Saramago – O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis
- Ken Saro-Wiwa – Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English
- Idries Shah – Kara Kush
- Danielle Steel – Wanderlust
- Bruce Sterling - Mirrorshades
- Peter Taylor – A Summons to Memphis
- James Tiptree, Jr. – Tales of the Quintana Roo
- Mario Vargas Llosa - ¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero?
- Roger Zelazny – Blood of Amber
New drama[edit][]
Poetry[edit][]
- Kama Sywor Kamanda – Chants de brumes
Non-fiction[edit][]
- Martin Amis – The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America
- Bernard Bailyn - Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution
- Sidney Blumenthal - The Rise of the Counter-Establishment: From Conservative Ideology to Political Power
- Dionne Brand – Rivers Have Sources, Trees Have Roots: Speaking of Racism
- Richard Dawkins – The Blind Watchmaker
- Adrian Edmondson et al. – How to be a Complete Bastard
- Flora Fraser – Beloved Emma
- Mark Mathabane – Kaffir Boy
- Farley Mowat – My Discovery of America
- Marc Reisner – Cadillac Desert
- Richard Rhodes – The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- Mary Wilson – Dreamgirl: My Life As a Supreme
- Incredibly Strange Films
Births[edit][]
- date unknown - Caroline Bird, English poet and dramatist
Deaths[edit][]
- January 1 – Lord David Cecil, critic and biographer, 83
- January 4 – Christopher Isherwood, novelist, 81
- January 7 - Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer, screenwriter and photographer, 68
- January 24 – L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer, founder of Scientology, 74
- February 11 – Frank Herbert, American science fiction novelist, 65
- March 4 – Elizabeth Smart, Canadian poet and novelist, 72
- March 15 - Pandelis Prevelakis, Greek novelist, poet, dramatist and essayist, 77
- March 18 – Bernard Malamud, novelist, 71
- April 12 - Valentin Kataev, Russian novelist and dramatist, 89
- April 14 – Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher and feminist writer, 78
- April 14 - Jean Genet, French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist and political activist, 75
- May 15 – Theodore H. White, political journalist, historian, and novelist, 71
- June 14 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer, 80
- August 1 – Lena Kennedy, romantic novelist, 72
- August 3 – Beryl Markham, traveller and author, 83
- August 20 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright, 63 (complications of heart condition and diabetes)
- December 17 – J. F. Hendry, poet, 74
- December 19 – V. C. Andrews, novelist, 63
Awards[edit][]
Australia[edit][]
- The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Robin Walton, Glace Fruits
- C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Rhyll McMaster, Washing the Money and John A. Scott, St. Clair
- Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Robert Gray Selected Poems 1963–83
- Mary Gilmore Prize: Stephen Williams – A Crowd of Voices
Canada[edit][]
- See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
France[edit][]
- Prix Goncourt: Michel Host, Valet de nuit
- Prix Médicis French: Pierre Combescot, Les Funérailles de la Sardine
- Prix Médicis International: John Hawkes, Aventures dans le commerce des peaux en Alaska
United Kingdom[edit][]
- Booker Prize: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
- Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Berlie Doherty, Granny Was a Buffer Girl
- Cholmondeley Award: Lawrence Durrell, James Fenton, Selima Hill
- Eric Gregory Award: Mick North, Lachlan Mackinnon, Oliver Reynolds, Stephen Romer
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jenny Joseph, Persephone
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: D. Felicitas Corrigan, Helen Waddell
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Norman MacCaig
- Whitbread Best Book Award: Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World
United States[edit][]
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Robley Wilson, Kingdoms of the Ordinary
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Sidney Kingsley
- Frost Medal: Allen Ginsberg / Richard Eberhart
- Nebula Award: Orson Scott Card, Speaker For the Dead
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Patricia MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall
- Prometheus Award: Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Henry Taylor, The Flying Change
Elsewhere[edit][]
- Premio Nadal: Manuel Vicent, Balada de Caín