1991 in literature

The year 1991 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

 * Douglas Coupland publishes the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularizing the term Generation X as the name of the generation.
 * The body of novelist Alain-Fournier is identified, 77 years after his death in World War I, and is interred at Saint-Remy-la-Calonne.

New books

 * Martin Amis – Time's Arrow: or the Nature of the Offense
 * Jeffrey Archer – As the Crow Flies
 * Beryl Bainbridge – The Birthday Boys
 * Clive Barker – Imajica
 * Pat Barker – Regeneration
 * Louis Begley – Wartime Lies
 * Louis de Bernieres – Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord
 * A. S. Byatt – Possession: A Romance
 * Agatha Christie – Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories
 * Tom Clancy – The Sum of All Fears
 * Mary Higgins Clark – Loves Music, Loves to Dance
 * Hugh Cook – The Werewolf and the Wormlord
 * Paul Cornell – Timewyrm: Revelation
 * Bernard Cornwell – Stormchild
 * Douglas Coupland – Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
 * L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp – The Pixilated Peeress
 * Don DeLillo – Mao II
 * Terrance Dicks – Timewyrm: Exodus
 * Stephen R. Donaldson – The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story
 * Stephen R. Donaldson – The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge
 * Roddy Doyle – The Van
 * Bret Easton Ellis – American Psycho
 * Stephen Fry – The Liar
 * Jostein Gaarder – Sophie's World (Sofies verden)
 * John Gardner – ''The Man from Barbarossa
 * David Gates – Jernigan
 * Ann Granger – Say It With Poison
 * John Grisham – The Firm
 * Josephine Hart – Damage
 * Elisabeth Harvor, Our Lady of All Distances 11 stories (revision of Women and Children, published in 1973), Canada
 * Mark Jacobson – Gojiro
 * Stephen King – Needful Things
 * John le Carré – The Secret Pilgrim
 * Morgan Llywelyn – Druids
 * James A. Michener – Mexico
 * Rohinton Mistry – Such a Long Journey
 * Timothy Mo – The Redundancy of Courage
 * John Peel – Timewyrm: Genesys
 * Marge Piercy – He, She and It
 * Terry Pratchett – Reaper Man and Witches Abroad
 * Alexandra Ripley – Scarlett
 * J. Jill Robinson – Saltwater Trees
 * Nigel Robinson – Timewyrm: Apocalypse
 * Bernice Rubens – A Solitary Grief
 * Norman Rush – Mating
 * Michael Shaara – For Love of the Game (posthumously published)
 * Sidney Sheldon – The Doomsday Conspiracy
 * Jane Smiley – A Thousand Acres
 * Danielle Steel – Heartbeat
 * James B. Stewart – Den of Thieves
 * Michael Swanwick – Gravity's Angels
 * Amy Tan – The Kitchen God's Wife
 * Andrew Vachss – Sacrifice
 * Martin Waddell - Farmer Duck
 * Bernard Werber – Empire of the Ants (in orig. French Les Fourmis'')
 * Tim Winton – Cloudstreet
 * Helen Zahavi – Dirty Weekend
 * Timothy Zahn – Heir to the Empire
 * Haifa Zangana – Through the Vast Halls of Memory
 * Roger Zelazny – Prince of Chaos
 * Avi – Nothing But the Truth
 * G. Clifton Wisler – Red Cap (Book)

New drama

 * Ariel Dorfman – Death and the Maiden
 * Philip Ridley – The Pitchfork Disney
 * Neil Simon – Lost in Yonkers

Non-fiction

 * Dionne Brand – No Burden to Carry: Narratives of Black Working Women in Ontario
 * Henry Steele Commager – Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples, arranged for one volume
 * Dave Foreman – Confessions of an Eco-Warrior
 * Jung Chang – Wild Swans
 * Madonna – SEX
 * Robert K. Massie – Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War
 * P.J. O'Rourke – Parliament of Whores
 * Thomas Pakenham – The Scramble for Africa
 * William Pokhlyobkin – A History of Vodka
 * John Richardson – A Life of Picasso
 * Simon Schama – Dead Certainties
 * Naomi Wolf – The Beauty Myth
 * Zhang Chengzhi – History of the Soul

Births
Rachel McAteer, 9 May 1991

Deaths

 * January 22 – Robert Choquette, Canadian novelist and poet
 * January 23 – Northrop Frye, literary critic
 * January 29 – Yasushi Inoue, historian
 * February 24 – John Daly, journalist, game show host
 * March – Paul Engle, novelist
 * April 3 – Graham Greene
 * April 12 – James Schuyler, poet
 * April 29 – Claude Gallimard, French publishing magnate
 * May 3 – Jerzy Kosinski, Polish-American novelist
 * July 24 – Isaac Bashevis Singer
 * August 17 – Terence Kilmartin, Irish journalist and translator
 * September 24 – Dr. Seuss
 * October 11 – Steven Jesse Bernstein, performance poet
 * October 12 – Arkady Strugatsky, Russian science fiction writer
 * October 27 – George Barker, poet
 * November 29 – Frank Yerby, historical novelist
 * date unknown – Dante Milano, poet

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Nadine Gordimer

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Andrew McGahan, Praise
 * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Jennifer Maiden, The Winter Baby
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Jennifer Maiden, The Winter Baby
 * Mary Gilmore Prize: Jean Kent – Verandahs

Canada

 * See 1991 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

 * Prix Goncourt: Pierre Combescot, Les Filles du Calvaire
 * Prix Décembre: Raphaël Confiant, Eau de café
 * Prix Médicis: Pierre Simon, La Dérive des sentiments

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: Ben Okri, The Famished Road
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Berlie Doherty, Dear Nobody
 * Cholmondeley Award: James Berry, Sujata Bhatt, Michael Hulse, Derek Mahon
 * Eric Gregory Award: Roddy Lumsden, Glyn Maxwell, Stephen Smith, Wayne Burrows, Jackie Kay
 * Guardian Fiction Award: Alan Judd, The Devil's Own Work
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Iain Sinclair, Downriver
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Adrian Desmond and James Moore, Darwin
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Judith Wright
 * Whitbread Best Book Award: John Richardson, A Life of Picasso
 * The Sunday Express Book of the Year: Michael Frayn, A Landing on the Sun

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Julia Kasdorf, Sleeping Preacher
 * Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: John Frederick Nims
 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry: Richard Wilbur
 * Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Donald Hall, The Museum of Clear Ideas
 * Compton Crook Award: Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind
 * Frost Medal: Donald Hall
 * Nebula Award: Michael Swanwick, Stations of the Tide
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Jerry Spinelli, Maniac Magee
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Neil Simon, Lost in Yonkers
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Updike: Rabbit at Rest
 * Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction: Edward O. Wilson: The Ants
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mona Van Duyn: Near Changes

Elsewhere

 * Premio Nadal: Alfredo Conde Cid, Los otros días