1994 in literature

The year 1994 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

 * The first Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction is awarded.

New books

 * Kevin J. Anderson - Champions of the Force, Dark Apprentice and Jedi Search
 * Reed Arvin - The Wind in the Wheat
 * Thomas Berger - Robert Crews
 * Louis de Bernières - Captain Corelli's Mandolin
 * Lily Brett - Just Like That
 * George Mackay Brown - Beside the Ocean of Time
 * Christopher Bulis - State of Change
 * James Chapman - Glass (Pray the Electrons Back to Sand)
 * Tom Clancy - Debt of Honor
 * Michael Connelly - The Concrete Blonde
 * Paul Cornell - Goth Opera and No Future
 * Bernard Cornwell - Copperhead
 * Douglas Coupland - Life After God
 * Michael Crichton - Disclosure
 * Terrance Dicks - Blood Harvest
 * Stephen R. Donaldson - The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order
 * Bret Easton Ellis - The Informers
 * Valerio Evangelisti - Nicolas Eymerich, inquisitore
 * David Frum - Dead Right
 * Stephen Fry - The Hippopotamus
 * John Gardner - SeaFire
 * James Finn Garner - Politically Correct Bedtime Stories
 * David S. Garnett - Stargonauts
 * Mark Gatiss - St Anthony's Fire
 * Judith Godrèche - Point de côté
 * John Grisham - The Chamber
 * Romesh Gunesekera - Reef
 * Joseph Heller - Closing Time
 * James Herbert - The Ghosts of Sleath
 * Craig Hinton - The Crystal Bucephalus
 * Alan Hollinghurst - The Folding Star
 * Nancy Huston - La Virevolte
 * Alexander Jablokov - The Breath of Suspension
 * James Kelman - How late it was, how late
 * Stephen King - ''Insomnia'
 * Dean R. Koontz - Dark Rivers of the Heart
 * Andy Lane - All-Consuming Fire
 * Madeleine L'Engle - Troubling a Star
 * Paul Leonard - Venusian Lullaby
 * Jonathan Lethem - Gun, with Occasional Music
 * H. P. Lovecraft - Miscellaneous Writings
 * Steve Lyons - Conundrum
 * F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre - The Woman Between the Worlds
 * David A. McIntee - First Frontier
 * Simon Messingham - Strange England
 * James A. Michener - Recessional
 * Rick Moody - The Ice Storm
 * Jim Mortimore - Parasite
 * Tim O'Brien - In the Lake of the Woods
 * Daniel O'Mahony - Falls the Shadow
 * John Peel - Evolution
 * Terry Pratchett - Interesting Times and Soul Music
 * James Redfield - The Celestine Prophecy
 * Matthew Reilly - Contest
 * Justin Richards - Theatre of War
 * Gareth Roberts - Tragedy Day
 * Gary Russell - Legacy
 * Sidney Sheldon - Nothing Lasts Forever
 * Carol Shields - The Stone Diaries
 * Michael Slade - Ripper
 * S. P. Somtow - Jasmine Nights
 * Danielle Steel - Accident, The Gift and Wings
 * William Trevor - Felicia's Journey
 * Shiham Turjuman - Daughter of Damascus
 * Andrew Vachss - Down in the Zero
 * Jill Paton Walsh - Knowledge of Angels
 * Binod Bihari Verma - Balanak Bonihar O Pallavi

New drama

 * Kevin Elyot - My Night With Reg
 * Arthur Miller - Broken Glass

Poetry

 * Sophie Cabot Black - The Misunderstanding of Nature

Non-fiction

 * Michael Asher - Thesiger
 * Dionne Brand, - Bread Out of Stone: Recollections on Sex, Recognitions, Race, Dreaming and Politics and We're Rooted Here and They Can't Pull Us Up: Essays in African Canadian Women's History
 * Leon Forrest - Relocations of the Spirit: Collected Essays
 * Martin Gilbert - In Search of Churchill
 * Will Hutton - The State We're In
 * Richard Leakey - The Origin of Humankind
 * Li Zhisui - The Private Life of Chairman Mao

Deaths

 * January 30 - Pierre Boulle, author
 * February 6 - Jack Kirby, comic book writer
 * February 11 - Paul Feyerabend, philosopher of science
 * February 26 - J. L. Carr, novelist
 * February 27 - Harold Acton, author, the inspiration for Anthony Blanche
 * March 9 - Charles Bukowski, poet and novelist
 * March 28 - Eugène Ionesco, playwright
 * April 16 - Ralph Ellison, scholar, writer
 * May 30 – Juan Carlos Onetti, Uruguayan writer
 * June 7 - Dennis Potter, controversial TV dramatist
 * July 30 - Robin Cook, novelist
 * August 7 - Rosa Chacel, controversial Spanish writer
 * September 7 - James Clavell, blockbusting novelist
 * November 12 - J. I. M. Stewart, novelist and critic
 * December 24 - John Osborne, dramatist

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Kenzaburo Oe

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Darren Williams, Swimming In Silk
 * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Robert Gray, Certain Things
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Barry Hill, Ghosting William Buckley
 * Mary Gilmore Prize: Deborah Staines, Now, Millennium

Canada

 * Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award
 * Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: M.G. Vassanji, The Book of Secrets
 * See 1994 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

 * Prix Goncourt: Didier Van Cauwelaert, Un Aller simple
 * Prix Décembre: Jean Hatzfeld, L'Air de guerre and Éric Holder, La Belle Jardinière
 * Prix Médicis French: Yves Berger, Immobile dans le courant du fleuve
 * Prix Médicis International: Robert Schneider, Frère Sommeil

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: James Kelman, How Late It Was, How Late
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Theresa Breslin, Whispers in the Graveyard
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Alan Hollinghurst, The Folding Star
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Doris Lessing, Under My Skin
 * Cholmondeley Award: Ruth Fainlight, Gwen Harwood, Elizabeth Jennings, John Mole
 * Eric Gregory Award: Julia Copus, Alice Oswald, Steven Blyth, Kate Clanchy, Giles Goodland
 * Whitbread Best Book Award: William Trevor, Felicia's Journey

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Jan Beatty, Mad River
 * Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Wendell Berry
 * Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Stewart James, "Vanessa", and (separately) Marilyn Hacker, "Cancer Winter"
 * Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: A. R. Ammons, Garbage
 * Compton Crook Award: Mary Rosenblum, The Drylands
 * Nebula Award: Greg Bear, Moving Mars
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Lois Lowry, The Giver
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Edward Albee, Three Tall Women
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems
 * Wallace Stevens Award inaugurated with first award this year: W.S. Merwin

Elsewhere

 * Montana Book Award for Poetry: Bill Manhire, ed., 100 New Zealand Poems
 * New Zealand Book Award for Poetry: Andrew Johnston, How to Talk
 * Premio Nadal: Rosa Regàs, Azul