1981 in literature

The year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

 * PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time
 * John Gardner successfully revives the James Bond novel series originated by Ian Fleming with Licence Renewed (not counting a faux biography of Bond and a pair of film novelizations, the first original Bond novel since 1968's Colonel Sun). The revived Bond book series would run uninterrupted until 2002.

New books

 * Kingsley Amis - The Golden Age of Science Fiction
 * Martin Amis - Other People
 * Louis Auchincloss - The Cat and the King
 * René Barjavel - Une rose au paradis
 * Samuel Beckett - Ill Seen Ill Said
 * Pierre Berton - Flames Across the Border
 * Judy Blume - Tiger Eyes
 * Simon Bond- 101 Uses for a Dead Cat
 * William Boyd - A Good Man in Africa
 * Peter Carey - Bliss
 * Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
 * David Case - The Third Grave
 * James Clavell - Noble House
 * Roald Dahl - George's Marvellous Medicine
 * L. Sprague de Camp - The Hand of Zei
 * L. Sprague de Camp & Catherine Crook de Camp - Footprints on Sand
 * Bernard Cornwell
 * Sharpe's Eagle
 * Sharpe's Gold
 * Samuel R. Delany - Distant Star
 * Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children
 * Régine Deforges - La Bicyclette Bleue (The Blue Bicycle)
 * Cynthia Freeman - No Time for Tears
 * John Gardner - Licence Renewed
 * Charles L. Grant - Tales from the Nightside
 * Alasdair Gray - Lanark
 * Jan Guillou - Ondskan
 * Thomas Harris - Red Dragon
 * Frank Herbert - God Emperor of Dune
 * Douglas Hill - Planet of the Warlord
 * Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp - The Flame Knife
 * John Irving - Hotel New Hampshire
 * Alan Judd - A Breed of Heroes
 * Ismail Kadare - The File on H (Dosja J)
 * Stephen King - Cujo
 * Colleen McCullough - An Indecent Obsession
 * Elliot S! Maggin - Miracle Monday
 * Naguib Mahfouz - Arabian Nights and Days
 * Gabriel García Márquez - Chronicle of a Death Foretold
 * Ian McEwan - The Comfort of Strangers
 * Toni Morrison - Tar Baby
 * Robert B. Parker
 * A Savage Place
 * Early Autumn
 * Terry Pratchett - Strata
 * Alain Robbe-Grillet - Djinn
 * Harold Robbins - Goodbye, Janette
 * Lawrence Sanders - The Third Deadly Sin
 * Martin Cruz Smith - Gorky Park
 * Muriel Spark - Loitering with Intent
 * Paul Theroux - The Mosquito Coast
 * D. M. Thomas - The White Hotel
 * Jack Vance - The Book of Dreams
 * Gore Vidal - Creation
 * Joseph Wambaugh - The Glitter Dome
 * Kit Williams - Masquerade
 * Gene Wolfe
 * The Claw of the Conciliator
 * The Sword of the Lictor
 * Roger Zelazny
 * The Changing Land
 * Madwand

New drama

 * John Krizanc - Tamara
 * Larry Shue - The Nerd
 * Tennessee Williams - The Notebook of Trigorin

Poetry

 * L. Sprague de Camp - Heroes and Hobgoblins
 * Norman Nicholson - Sea to the West
 * Richard L. Tierney - Collected Poems

Non-fiction

 * Maya Angelou - The Heart of a Woman
 * Hugo Brandt Corstius - Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde
 * Timothy Findley - Famous Last Words
 * Stephen Jay Gould - The Mismeasure of Man
 * Ian Smith - The Great Betrayal
 * Viktor Suvorov - The Liberators

Births

 * July 10 - Karen Russell

Deaths

 * January 9 - A. J. Cronin, novelist
 * March 7 - Bosley Crowther, film critic
 * March 20 - Pedro García Cabrera, poet
 * April 26 - Robert Garioch, poet (b. 1909)
 * May 9 - Nelson Algren, novelist
 * May 18 - William Saroyan, novelist and dramatist
 * June 15 - Philip Toynbee, novelist and journalist
 * September 3 - Alec Waugh, novelist
 * September 12 - Eugenio Montale, poet

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Chris Matthews, Al Jazzar; Tim Winton, An Open Swimmer
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Alan Gould, Astral Sea

Canada

 * See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

 * Prix Goncourt: Lucien Bodard, Anne Marie
 * Prix Médicis French: François-Olivier Rousseau, L'Enfant d'Édouard
 * Prix Médicis International: David Shahar, Le Jour de la comtesse

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Robert Westall, The Scarecrows
 * Cholmondeley Award: Roy Fisher, Robert Garioch, Charles Boyle
 * Eric Gregory Award: Alan Jenkins, Simon Rae, Marion Lomax, Philip Gross, Kathleen Jamie, Mark Abley, Roger Crowley, Ian Gregson
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children, and Paul Theroux, The Mosquito Coast
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Victoria Glendinning, Edith Sitwell: Unicorn Among Lions 
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: D. J. Enright
 * Whitbread Best Book Award: William Boyd, A Good Man in Africa

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kathy Calloway, Heart of the Garfish
 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres: Malcolm Cowley
 * Dos Passos Prize: Gilbert Sorrentino
 * Nebula Award: Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Beth Henley, Crimes of the Heart
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Schuyler: The Morning of the Poem

Elsewhere

 * Hugo Award for Best Novel: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
 * Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero