1969 in literature

The year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

 * The first Booker Prize is awarded.
 * "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in order to prove that sex-filled trash sells. It did.

New books

 * Paul Gallico- ''The Poseidon Adventure
 * Jorge Amado - Tenda dos Milagres (Tent of Miracles'')
 * Kingsley Amis - The Green Man
 * Poul Anderson - Satan's World
 * William H. Armstrong - Sounder
 * Penelope Ashe - Naked Came the Stranger
 * Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman
 * Ray Bradbury - I Sing the Body Electric
 * Melvyn Bragg - The Hired Man
 * William S. Burroughs - The Last Words of Dutch Schultz
 * Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
 * Agatha Christie - Hallowe'en Party
 * Merton H. Coleman - That Godless Woman
 * March Cost - The Veiled Sultan
 * Michael Crichton - The Andromeda Strain
 * John Cheever - Bullet Park
 * A. J. Cronin - A Pocketful of Rye
 * L. Sprague de Camp - The Golden Wind
 * Marion Eames - Y Stafell Ddirgel (The Secret Room)
 * John Fowles - The French Lieutenant's Woman
 * George MacDonald Fraser -  Flashman
 * Graham Greene - Travels with My Aunt
 * Sam Greenlee - The Spook Who Sat By the Door
 * Günter Grass - Örtlich betäubt (Local Anaesthetic)
 * Frank Herbert - Dune Messiah
 * Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter - Conan of Cimmeria
 * David H. Keller - The Folsom Flint and Other Curious Tales
 * Ursula Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness
 * Elmore Leonard - The Big Bounce
 * Doris Lessing - The Four-Gated City
 * H. P. Lovecraft and Others - Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
 * V. S. Naipaul - A House for Mr Biswas
 * John D. MacDonald - Dress Her in Indigo
 * Yukio Mishima - Runaway Horses
 * Michael Moorcock - Behold the Man
 * C. L. Moore - Jirel of Joiry
 * Vladimir Nabokov - Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
 * Don Pendleton - War Against The Mafia
 * Chaim Potok - The Promise
 * Manuel Puig - Little Painted Mouths
 * Mario Puzo - The Godfather
 * Ellery Queen - The Campus Murders
 * Pauline Réage - Retour à Roissy
 * Mordecai Richler - The Street
 * Harold Robbins - The Inheritors
 * Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint
 * Irwin Shaw - Rich Man, Poor Man
 * Raymond Spence - Nothing Black But A Cadillac
 * Rex Stout - Death of a Dude
 * Edward Streeter - Ham Martin, Class of '17
 * Jacqueline Susann - The Love Machine
 * Theodore Taylor - The Cay
 * Colin Thiele - Blue Fin
 * Jack Vance
 * The Dirdir
 * Emphyrio
 * Servants of the Wankh
 * Mario Vargas Llosa - Conversation in the Cathedral
 * Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
 * Irving Wallace - The Seven Minutes
 * Roger Zelazny
 * Creatures of Light and Darkness
 * Damnation Alley
 * Isle of the Dead

New drama

 * Athol Fugard - Boesman and Lena
 * Joe Orton - What the Butler Saw (posthumously published)
 * Dennis Potter - Son of Man (television)

Poetry

 * James Schuyler - Freely Espousing

Non-fiction

 * Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
 * H. Rap Brown - Die Nigger Die!
 * Henri Charriere - Papillon
 * L. Sprague de Camp and George H. Scithers, editors - The Conan Swordbook.
 * Antonia Fraser - Mary, Queen of Scots.
 * Peter Geach - God and the Soul.
 * Peter Maas - The Valachi Papers
 * Desmond Morris - The Human Zoo

Births

 * January - David Mitchell, novelist
 * January 17 - Michael Moynihan, journalist and publisher
 * March 19 - Tim Durant, singer
 * May 6 - Emmanuel Larcenet, comics author
 * November 3 - Rik Woods, poet
 * November 13 - John Belluso, dramatist
 * date unknown
 * David Auburn, dramatist
 * Adrian Goldsworthy, military historian
 * John Harris, journalist

Deaths

 * January 11 - Richmal Crompton, author
 * March 11 - John Wyndham, British author
 * March 26 - John Kennedy Toole, author
 * March 27 - B. Traven, writer
 * May 4 - Osbert Sitwell, novelist, poet, brother of Edith Sitwell and Sacheverell Sitwell
 * July 24 - Witold Gombrowicz, playwright and novelist
 * August 14 - Leonard Woolf, political theorist and husband of Virginia Woolf
 * September 6 - Gavin Maxwell, naturalist and author
 * September 20 - Elinor Brent-Dyer, Chalet School author
 * October 21 - Jack Kerouac, author
 * date unknown - Vivian de Sola Pinto, poet and memoirist
 * date unknown - Greye La Spina, writer

Awards

 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Samuel Beckett

Canada

 * See 1969 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

 * Prix Goncourt: Félicien Marceau, Creezy
 * Prix Médicis: Hélène Cixous, Dedans

United Kingdom

 * Booker Prize: P. H. Newby - Something to Answer For
 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: K. M. Peyton, The Edge of the Cloud
 * Cholmondeley Award: Derek Walcott, Tony Harrison
 * Eric Gregory Award: Gavin Bantock, Jeremy Hooker, Jenny King, Neil Powell, Landeg E. White
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Elizabeth Bowen, Eva Trout
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Stevie Smith

United States

 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Tennessee Williams
 * Hugo Award: John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar
 * Nebula Award: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Lloyd Alexander, The High King
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Howard Sackler, The Great White Hope
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: N. Scott Momaday - House Made of Dawn
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: George Oppen: Of Being Numerous

Elsewhere

 * Premio Nadal: Francisco García Pavón (Las hermanas coloradas
 * Viareggio Prize: Fulvio Tomizza, L'albero dei sogni