1983 in literature

See also: 1982 in literature, other events of 1983, 1984 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Ironweed by William Kennedy is published.

New books

• The Anubis Gates – Tim Powers
• Changes  – Danielle Steel
• Christine  – Stephen King
• Cold Heaven – Anita Brian Moore
• The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett
• The Dark Green Tunnel – Allan W. Eckert
• Hollywood Wives – Jackie Collins
• Ironweed – William Kennedy
• The Last Warrior Queen – Mary Mackey
• Life and Times of Michael K  – J. M. Coetzee
• The Little Drummer Girl  – John le Carré
• The Lonesome Gods  – Louis L'Amour
• The Loser – Thomas Bernhard
• The Mists of Avalon  – Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey – Susan Oliver
• On Wings of Eagles – Ken Follett
• Pet Sematary  – Stephen King
• Phantoms – Dean R. Koontz
• The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek
• Poland  – James A. Michener
• The Robots of Dawn – Isaac Asimov
• Scandal – A. N. Wilson
• Shame – Salman Rushdie
• A Time for Judas – Morley Callaghan
• White Gold Wielder: Book Three of the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant  – Stephen R. Donaldson
• Winter's Tale – Mark Helprin
• Worstward Ho – Samuel Beckett

Births

Deaths

• February 25 – Tennessee Williams, playwright
• March 3 – Hergé, Belgian comics creator

Awards

• Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee -Life and Times of Michael K
• See 1983 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Nebula Award: David Brin, Startide Rising
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Voight, Dicey's Song
• Nobel Prize for Literature: William Golding
• Prix Goncourt: Frédérick Tristan, Les égarés
• Prix Médicis French: Jean Echenoz, Cherokee
• Prix Médicis International: Kenneth White, La route bleue
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Marsha Norman, 'Night, Mother
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Alice Walker – The Color Purple
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Galway Kinnell – Selected Poems
• Whitbread Best Book Award: John Fuller, Flying to Nowhere