1987 in literature

See also: 1986 in literature, other events of 1987, 1988 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author.

Published books

• Beloved – Toni Morrison
• Black Dahlia – James Ellroy
• The Bonfire of the Vanities  – Tom Wolfe
• The Bourne Supremacy – Robert Ludlum
• The Child in Time – Ian McEwan
• Consider Phlebas  – Iain M. Banks
• Einstein's Monsters – Martin Amis
• Ellen Foster – Kaye Gibbons
• Equal Rites – Terry Pratchett
• Espedair Street  – Iain Banks
• Fine Things  – Danielle Steel
• The Forge of God – Greg Bear
• Heaven and Hell  – John Jakes
• In the Skin of A Lion – Michael Ondaatje
• The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey – Salman Rushdie
• Kaleidoscope  – Danielle Steel
• Legacy – James A. Michener
• Leaving Home  – Garrison Keillor
• Misery  – Stephen King
• Mort – Terry Pratchett
• Not Without My Daughter  – Betty Mahmoody
• L'Obsédante obèse et autres agressions – Gilles Archambault
• Patriot Games – Tom Clancy
• Presumed Innocent  – Scott Turow
• The Rules of Attraction – Bret Easton Ellis
• The Runaways – Ruth Thomas
• Spycatcher – Peter Wright
• Swann – Carol Shields
• Time Flies  – Bill Cosby
• The Tommyknockers  – Stephen King
• Weaveworld  – Clive Barker
• When Rabbit Howls – Truddi Chase
• Windmills of the Gods  – Sidney Sheldon

Births

Deaths

• February 2 – Alistair MacLean, British thriller writer, heart attack
• February 10 – William Rose, screenwriter
• February 22 – Andy Warhol, artist, director, writer
• March 4 – Maria Jolas, literary publisher
• April 4 – C. L. Moore, science fiction author
• September 25 – Emlyn Williams, dramatist
• September 30 – Alfred Bester, science fiction writer
• October 3 – Jean Anouilh, dramatist
• October 31 – Joseph Campbell, author and expert on mythology
• December 1 – James Baldwin, novelist
• December 17 – Marguerite Yourcenar, novelist

Awards

• Booker Prize: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger
• See 1987 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Nebula Award: Pat Murphy, The Falling Woman
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Sid Fleischman The Whipping Boy
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Joseph Brodsky
• Prix Goncourt: Tahar ben Jelloun, La Nuit sacrée
• Prix Médicis French: Pierre Mertens, Les Éblouissements
• Prix Médicis International: Antonio Tabucchi, Nocturne indien
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: August Wilson, Fences
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah
• Whitbread Best Book Award: Christopher Nolan, Under the Eye of the Clock