1995 in literature

The year 1995 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

 * The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea is opened by Jimmy Carter.
 * Simon & Schuster paid US$4.2 million for the hardcover publishing rights for The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans after the self-published book appeared on The New York Times bestseller list.

New books

 * Ben Aaronovitch - The Also People
 * Louisa May Alcott - A Long Fatal Love Chase (previously unpublished manuscript)
 * Roger MacBride Allen - Ambush at Corellia, Assault at Selonia and Showdown at Centerpoint
 * Julia Alvarez - In the Time of the Butterflies
 * Martin Amis - The Information
 * Kevin J. Anderson - Darksaber
 * Iain Banks - Whit
 * Pat Barker - The Ghost Road
 * Daniel Blythe - Infinite Requiem
 * Christopher Bulis - The Sorcerer's Apprentice
 * Edgar Rice Burroughs and Joe R. Lansdale - Tarzan: the Lost Adventure
 * T. C. Boyle - The Tortilla Curtain
 * Albert Camus - The First Man (Le premier homme) (unfinished novel, published posthumously)
 * Andrew Cartmel - Warlock
 * Mary Higgins Clark - Silent Night
 * Michael Connelly - The Last Coyote
 * Paul Cornell - Human Nature
 * Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Battle, Battle Flag and The Winter King
 * Douglas Coupland - Microserfs
 * Robert Crais - Voodoo River
 * Michael Crichton - The Lost World
 * Martin Day - The Menagerie
 * L. Sprague de Camp and Christopher Stasheff - The Exotic Enchanter
 * Terrance Dicks - Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans
 * Umberto Eco - The Island of the Day Before
 * Nicholas Evans - The Horse Whisperer
 * Timothy Findley - The Piano Man's Daughter
 * Richard Ford - Independence Day
 * John Gardner -GoldenEye
 * John Grisham - The Rainmaker
 * Barbara Hambly - Children of the Jedi
 * Craig Hinton - Millennial Rites
 * Nick Hornby - High Fidelity
 * Robert Hughes (as R.U. Slime) - Gooflumps two-part series
 * Kazuo Ishiguro - The Unconsoled
 * Welwyn Wilton Katz - Out of the Dark
 * Stephen King - Rose Madder
 * John le Carré - Our Game
 * Andy Lane - The Empire of Glass and Original Sin
 * Paul Leonard - Dancing the Code and Toy Soldiers
 * Jonathan Lethem - Amnesia Moon
 * Barry Letts - The Ghosts of N-Space
 * Robert Ludlum - The Apocalypse Watch
 * Steve Lyons - Head Games and Time of Your Life
 * Stephen Marley - Managra
 * Frank McCourt - ''Angela's Ashes
 * Val McDermid - The Mermaids Singing
 * David A. McIntee - Lords of the Storm and Sanctuary
 * James A. Michener - Miracle in Seville
 * Mary McGarry Morris - Songs in Ordinary Time
 * Phil O'Brien - Memories of the Irish-Israeli War
 * Kate Orman - Set Piece
 * Terry Pratchett - Maskerade
 * Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - Relic (novel) and Mount Dragon
 * Philip Pullman - Northern Lights (published in North America as The Golden Compass)
 * Justin Richards - System Shock
 * Gareth Roberts - The Romance of Crime and Zamper
 * J. Jill Robinson - Eggplant Wife
 * Philip Roth - Sabbath's Theater
 * Salman Rushdie - The Moor's Last Sigh
 * Gary Russell - Invasion of the Cat-People
 * Josè Saramago - Blindness
 * Sidney Sheldon - Morning, Noon, & Night
 * Danielle Steel - Five Days In Paris
 * Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
 * James B. Stewart - Blood Sport
 * Dave Stone - Sky Pirates!
 * Jim Turner, editor - Cthulhu 2000: A Lovecraftian Anthology
 * Andrew Vachss - Footsteps of the Hawk
 * Robert James Waller - Puerto Vallarta Squeeze
 * Dave Wolverton - The Courtship of Princess Leia

New drama

 * Horton Foote - The Young Man From Atlanta
 * Terrence McNally - Master Class
 * Yasmina Reza - The Unexpected Man
 * Tom Stoppard - Indian Ink
 * Sarah Kane - Blasted

Poetry

 * Mark Doty - Atlantis: Poems

Non-fiction

 * Jean Baudrillard - The Gulf War Did Not Take Place
 * L. Sprague de Camp - The Ape-Man Within
 * Paul Davies - About Time
 * Mark Epstein - Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective
 * Bill Gates - The Road Ahead
 * Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom
 * Leonard Nimoy - I Am Spock
 * Man Ray, André Breton - Man Ray, 1890-1976
 * Condoleezza Rice & Philip Zelikow - Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft
 * Oliver Sacks - An Anthropologist on Mars
 * Simon Schama - Landscape and Memory
 * Sterling Seagrave - Lords of the Rim
 * Miranda Seymour - Robert Graves: Life on the Edge
 * Howard Stern - Miss America
 * Tim Cornell - The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars.
 * Binod Bihari Verma - Tapasa vai Ganga Maithili, biography
 * Ibn Warraq - Why I Am Not a Muslim

Deaths

 * January 9 - Peter Cook, comedian, satirist and writer
 * January 30 Gerald Durrell, British naturalist, writer
 * January 31 - George Abbott, writer, director, producer
 * February 4 - Patricia Highsmith, author
 * February 12 - Robert Bolt, writer
 * February 21 - Calder Willingham, writer
 * February 23 - James Herriot, author
 * April 14 - Brian Coffey, poet
 * June 14 - Roger Zelazny, American writer of fantasy and science fiction
 * July 16
 * May Sarton - American writer
 * Stephen Spender, poet
 * August 3 - Edward Whittemore, writer
 * August 19 - Pierre Schaeffer, French composer and writer
 * August 29 - Michael Ende, fantasy novelist
 * October 13 - Henry Roth, novelist and short story writer
 * October 22 - Kingsley Amis, author
 * November 13 - Mary Elizabeth Counselman - American author and poet
 * November 16 - Robert H. Adleman, American novelist and historian
 * November 22 - Margaret St. Clair, science fiction writer
 * December 2 - Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist
 * December 30 - Heiner Müller, dramatist

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Seamus Heaney

Australia

 * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Richard King, Kindling Does For Firewood
 * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Bruce Beaver - Anima and Other Poems
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Peter Boyle, Coming Home From the World
 * Mary Gilmore Prize: Aileen Kelly, Coming Up for Light

Canada

 * Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award
 * Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance
 * See 1995 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

 * Prix Goncourt: Andreï Makine, Le Testament français
 * Prix Décembre: Jean Échenoz, Les Grandes Blondes
 * Prix Médicis French: Vassilis Alexakis, La Langue maternelle and Andreï Makine, Le testament français
 * Prix Médicis International: Alessandro Baricco, Châteaux de la colère

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Philip Pullman, Northern Lights
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Christopher Priest, The Prestige
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Gitta Sereny, Albert Speer: His Battle with the Truth
 * Cholmondeley Award: U.A. Fanthorpe, Christopher Reid, C. H. Sisson, Kit Wright
 * Eric Gregory Award: Colette Bryce, Sophie Hannah, Tobias Hill, Mark Wormald
 * Newdigate prize: Antony Dunn
 * Whitbread Book of the Year Award: Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum

United States

 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Sandy Solomon, Pears, Lake, Sun
 * Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Maxine Kumin
 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction, William Maxwell
 * Carnegie Medal: Philip Pullman, Northern Lights
 * Compton Crook Award: Doranna Durgin, Dun Lady's Jess
 * Hugo Award: Lois McMaster Bujold, Mirror Dance
 * Nebula Award: Robert Sawyer, The Terminal Experiment
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Horton Foote, The Young Man From Atlanta
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Philip Levine, The Simple Truth
 * Wallace Stevens Award: James Tate

Elsewhere

 * New Zealand Book Award for Poetry: Michele Leggott, Dia
 * Montana Book Award for Poetry: Michael Jackson, Pieces of Music
 * Premio Nadal: Ignacio Carrión Hernández, Cruzar el Danubio