1997 in literature

The year 1997 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

 * Tom Clancy signs a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. (both part of Pearson Education), giving him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . A second agreement gives him another US$25 million for a four-year book/multimedia deal. Clancy follows this up with an agreement with Berkley Books for 24 paperbacks to tie in with the an ABC television miniseries in an agreement worth US$22 million bringing the total value of the package to US$97 million.
 * December 30 - The memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, is removed from the ninth-grade English curriculum in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, because it "portrays white people as being horrible, nasty, stupid people" [CNN].
 * Jacket online literary magazine founded.

New books

 * Ben Aaronovitch & Kate Orman - So Vile a Sin
 * Mitch Albom - Tuesdays With Morrie
 * Martin Amis - Night Train
 * John Banville - The Untouchable
 * Hazel Barnes - The Story I Tell Myself
 * Marie Bashkirtseff - I Am the Most Interesting Book of All (Translation)
 * Raymond Benson - Tomorrow Never Dies and Zero Minus Ten
 * Jonathan Blum & Kate Orman - Vampire Science
 * 'Asta Bowen - Wolf: A Journey Home
 * Simon Bucher-Jones - Ghost Devices
 * Christopher Bulis - A Device of Death
 * Tim Burton - The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories
 * Candace Bushnell - Sex and the City
 * Peter Carey - Jack Maggs
 * Agatha Christie
 * The Harlequin Tea Set
 * While the Light Lasts and Other Stories
 * Mary Higgins Clark - Pretend You Don't See Her
 * Warwick Collins - Gents
 * Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Tiger and Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur
 * Patricia Cornwell - Hornet's Nest and Unnatural Exposure
 * Paul Cornell - Oh No It Isn't!
 * Robert Crais - Indigo Slam
 * Ann C. Crispin - The Hutt Gambit and The Paradise Snare
 * Don DeLillo - Underworld
 * Anita Diamant - The Red Tent
 * Terrance Dicks - The Eight Doctors and Mean Streets
 * Fernanda Eberstadt - When the Sons of Heaven Meet the Daughters of the Earth
 * Charles Frazier - Cold Mountain
 * Anthony Frewin - London Blues
 * John Grisham - The Partner
 * Barbara Hambly - Planet of Twilight
 * Allison Hedge Coke - Dog Road Woman American Book Award winner 1998
 * Nancy Huston - Instruments of Darkness
 * Matt Jones - Beyond the Sun
 * Sebastian Junger - The Perfect Storm
 * Winona LaDuke - Last Standing Woman
 * Paul Leonard - Genocide
 * Ann-Marie MacDonald - Fall on Your Knees
 * Bernard MacLaverty - Grace Notes
 * Ian R. MacLeod - Voyages by Starlight
 * Norman Mailer - The Gospel According to the Son
 * Ian McEwan - Enduring Love
 * David A. McIntee - The Dark Path
 * Lawrence Miles - Alien Bodies and Down
 * Mark Morris - The Bodysnatchers
 * Jim Mortimore - Eternity Weeps
 * Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum - The Room With No Doors, So Vile a Sin and Vampire Science
 * Lance Parkin - The Dying Days
 * James Patterson - Cat and Mouse
 * Cyril Pearl - Morisson of Peking
 * John Peel - War of the Daleks
 * Marc Platt - Lungbarrow
 * Terry Pratchett - Jingo
 * Philip Pullman - The Subtle Knife
 * Thomas Pynchon - Mason & Dixon
 * Kathy Reichs - Déjà Dead
 * Justin Richards - Dragons' Wrath
 * Mordecai Richler - Barney's Version
 * Gareth Roberts - The Well-Mannered War
 * Philip Roth - American Pastoral
 * J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things
 * Don Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements
 * Gary Russell - Deadfall
 * Sarah Ferguson - Budgie the Little Helicopter
 * Will Self - Great Apes
 * Carol Shields - Larry's Party
 * Sidney Sheldon - The Best Laid Plans
 * Michael Stackpole - ''The Bacta War
 * Danielle Steel - The Ghost, The Ranch and Special Delivery
 * Dave Stone - Burning Heart and Ship of Fools
 * William Sutcliffe - Are You Experienced?
 * Antonio Tabucchi - The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro
 * Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now
 * Kurt Vonnegut - Timequake
 * Timothy Zahn - Specter of the Past
 * Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold - Donnerjack
 * Binod Bihari Verma - Nayanmani Maithili Novel

New drama

 * Thomas Kilroy - The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde
 * Peter Whelan - The Herbal Bed

Poetry

 * Ted Hughes - Tales from Ovid

Non-fiction

 * Karen Armstrong - Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
 * Dave Barry - Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs
 * Jean-Dominique Bauby - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
 * Cari Beauchamp - Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood
 * Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods
 * Iris Chang - The Rape of Nanking
 * Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs and Steel
 * Alan Downs - Beyond the Looking Glass: Overcoming the Seductive Culture of Corporate Narcissism
 * Michael Drosnin - The Bible Code
 * Gerina Dunwich - A Wiccan's Guide to Prophecy and Divination
 * Stephen Fry - Moab Is My Washpot (autobiography)
 * Reinhold Heller - Toulouse-Lautrec: The Soul of Montmartre
 * James McBride - The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
 * Maria Todorova - Imagining the Balkans
 * Jesse Lee Kercheval - Building Fiction

Deaths

 * January 19 - James Dickey, poet, novelist
 * February 3 - Bohumil Hrabal, author
 * April 5 - Allen Ginsberg, poet
 * August 2 - William S. Burroughs, novelist
 * August 27 - Johannes Edfelt, poet, translator and critic
 * October 14 - Harold Robbins, novelist
 * October 16 - James A. Michener, novelist and historian
 * November 6 - Leon Forrest, novelist and essayist

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Eva Sallis, Hiam
 * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Les Murray, Subhuman Redneck Poems
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Anthony Lawrence, The Viewfinder
 * Mary Gilmore Prize: Morgan Yasbincek, Night Reversing

Canada

 * Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award: Rachel Rose
 * Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Mordecai Richler: - Barney's Version
 * See 1997 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

 * Prix Goncourt: Patrick Rambaud, La Bataille
 * Prix Décembre: Lydie Salvayre, La Compagnie des spectres
 * Prix Médicis International: T. Coraghessan Boyle, America
 * Prix Médicis French: Les Sept Noms du peintre - Philippe Le Guillou

Spain

 * Premio Miguel de Cervantes: Guillermo Cabrera Infante

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Tim Bowler, River Boy
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: R. F. Foster, William Butler Yeats: A Life, Volume 1 - The Apprentice Mage 1965-1914
 * Cholmondeley Award: Alison Brackenbury, Gillian Clarke, Tony Curtis, Anne Stevenson
 * Eric Gregory Award: Matthew Clegg, Sarah Corbett, Polly Clark, Tim Kendall, Graham Nelson, Matthew Welton
 * Orange Prize for Fiction: Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
 * Whitbread Best Book Award: Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Richard Blanco, City of a Hundred Fires
 * Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Fred Chappell
 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, John Ashbery
 * Compton Crook Award: Richard Garfinkle, Celestial Matters
 * Hugo Award: Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars
 * Nebula Award: Vonda McIntyre, The Moon and the Sun
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: E. L. Konigsburg, The View from Saturday
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Steven Millhauser - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Lisel Mueller: Alive Together: New and Selected Poems
 * Wallace Stevens Award: Anthony Hecht

Elsewhere

 * IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: Javier Marias, A Heart So White
 * Premio Nadal: Carlos Cañeque, Quién