1973 in literature

The year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.

Events

 * September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet
 * Frank Herbert becomes directo-photographer of the television show, The Tillers.
 * Robert B. Parker starts the Spenser book series.
 * The Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts is founded.

New books

 * Martin Amis –  The Rachel Papers
 * Ernest Becker – The Denial of Death
 * Joseph Payne Brennan – Stories of Darkness and Dread
 * John Brunner - The Stone That Never Came Down
 * Ramsey Campbell – Demons by Daylight
 * Jerome Charyn – Tar Baby
 * Agatha Christie – Postern of Fate
 * Basil Copper – From Evil's Pillow
 * L. Sprague de Camp – The Fallible Fiend
 * L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, editors – 3000 Years of nd Science Fiction
 * August Derleth – The Chronicles of Solar Pons
 * Michael Ende – Momo
 * Paul E. Erdman – The Billion Dollar Sure Thing
 * J. G. Farrell; The Siege of Krishnapur
 * Leon Forrest – There Is A Tree More Ancient Than Eden
 * William Goldman – The Princess Bride
 * Graham Greene - The Honorary Consul
 * Elisabeth Harvor, Women and Children 11 stories (revised as Our Lady of All Distances, 1991)
 * James Jones – A Touch of Danger
 * Anna Kavan – Who Are You?
 * Brian Killick – The Heralds
 * Dean R. Koontz – Demon Seed
 * Jerzy Kosinski – The Devil Tree
 * Robert Ludlum – The Matlock Paper
 * John D. MacDonald - The Turquoise Lament
 * Cormac McCarthy – Child of God
 * Ruth Manning-Sanders – A Book of Ogres and Trolls
 * Robert Marasco – Burnt Offerings
 * Toni Morrison – Sula
 * Iris Murdoch – The Black Prince
 * Robert B. Parker – The Godwulf Manuscript
 * Mervyn Peake – The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb (posthumously published)
 * Robert M. Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
 * Anthony Powell – Temporary Kings
 * Thomas Pynchon – Gravity's Rainbow
 * Irwin Shaw – Evening in Byzantium
 * Rex Stout - Please Pass the Guilt
 * Jacqueline Susann – Once Is Not Enough
 * Hunter S. Thompson – Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
 * Jack Vance – The Anome
 * Gore Vidal – Burr
 * Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. – Breakfast of Champions
 * Patrick White – The Eye of the Storm
 * Rudy Wiebe – Temptations of Big Bear
 * Roger Zelazny
 * To Die in Italbar
 * Today We Choose Faces

New drama

 * Alan Ayckbourn – The Norman Conquests

Poetry

 * Allen Curnow – An Abominable Temper and Other Poems
 * Tomás Rivera – Always and other poems

Non-fiction

 * Allan W. Eckert - The Court-Martial of Daniel Boone
 * Antonia Fraser - Cromwell, our Chief of Men
 * Peter Maas - Serpico
 * Tim O'Brien – If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Send Me Home
 * Bill Owens, Suburbia
 * John Pearson - James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007
 * Flora Rheta Schreiber - ''Sybil
 * E. F. Schumacher - Small Is Beautiful
 * Binod Bihari Verma - Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan Maithili book

Births

 * February 21 - Jacob M. Appel, short story writer
 * June 2 - David Bezmozgis, Latvian-Canadian writer
 * August 18 - Victoria Coren, writer and presenter

Deaths

 * February 22 - Elizabeth Bowen, novelist
 * March 6 - Pearl S. Buck, novelist
 * March 26 - Sir Noel Coward, dramatist and humorist
 * April 9 - Warren Lewis, author, Inkling, and brother of C. S. Lewis
 * April 28 - Jacques Maritain, philosopher
 * May 21 - Carlo Emilio Gadda, author
 * June 9 - John Creasey, author
 * June 30 - Nancy Mitford, English novelist and biographer
 * July 29 - Henri Charrière, Papillon author
 * September 2 - J. R. R. Tolkien, fantasy writer
 * September 23 - Pablo Neruda, poet
 * September 29 - W. H. Auden, poet
 * October 6 - Margaret Wilson, novelist (b. 1882)
 * October 28 - Sergio Tofano, dramatist
 * December 9 - Anthony Gilbert, crime writer

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Patrick White

Canada

 * See 1973 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

 * Prix Goncourt: Jacques Chessex, L'Ogre
 * Prix Médicis French: Tony Duvert, Paysage de fantaisie
 * Prix Médicis International: Milan Kundera, Life Is Elsewhere

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Penelope Lively, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
 * Cholmondeley Award: Patric Dickinson, Philip Larkin
 * Eric Gregory Award: John Beynon, Ian Caws, James Fenton, Keith Harris, David Howarth, Philip Pacey
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: John Heath-Stubbs

United States

 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, John Crowe Ransom
 * Hugo Award: Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves
 * Nebula Award: Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Jean Craighead George, Julie of the Wolves
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Jason Miller, That Championship Season
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Eudora Welty, The Optimist's Daughter
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Maxine Kumin, Up Country

Elsewhere

 * Premio Nadal: José García Blázquez, El rito
 * Viareggio Prize: Achille Campanile, Manuale di conversazione