1994 in literature

See also: 1993 in literature, other events of 1994, 1995 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• First Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction awarded.

New books

• Accident  – Danielle Steel
• The Celestine Prophecy  – James Redfield
• The Chamber  – John Grisham
• Creatures of the Kingdom – James A. Michener
• Dark Rivers of the Heart – Dean R. Koontz
• Daughter of Damascus – Shiham Turjuman
• Dead Right – David Frum
• The Debt of Honor  – Tom Clancy
• Disclosure  – Michael Crichton
• The Ghosts of Sleath – James Herbert
• The Gift  – Danielle Steel
• How Late It Was, How Late – James Kelman
• The Ice Storm – Rick Moody
• The Informers – Bret Easton Ellis
• In Search of CHURCHILL – Martin Gilbert
• Interesting Times – Terry Pratchett
• In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O'Brien
• Insomnia  – Stephen King
• Just Like That – Lily Brett
• Life After God – Douglas Coupland
• Nothing Lasts Forever – Sidney Sheldon
• Point de côté  – Judith Godrèche
• Politically Correct Bedtime Stories – James Finn Garner
• Recessional  – James A. Michener
• Songs of Earth and Power – Greg Bear
• Soul Music – Terry Pratchett
• The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields
• Troubling a Star – Madeleine L'Engle
• La Virevolte – Nancy Huston
• The Wind in the Wheat, by Reed Arvin
• Wings  – Danielle Steel

Births

Deaths

• January 30 – Pierre Boulle, author
• February 6 – Jack Kirby, comic book writer
• February 27 – Harold Acton, author, the inspiration for Anthony Blanche
• March 9 – Charles Bukowski, novelist
• March 28 – Eugene Ionesco, playwright
• April 16 – Ralph Ellison, scholar, writer
• May 30 – Juan Carlos Onetti, Uruguayan writer
• June 7 – Dennis Potter, controversial TV dramatist
• 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

• Booker Prize: James Kelman, How Late It Was, How Late
• 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.
• Nebula Award: Greg Bear, Moving Mars
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Lois Lowry, The Giver
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Kenzaburo Oe
• 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
• 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
• Whitbread Best Book Award: William Trevor, Felicia’s Journey