1996 in literature

See also: 1995 in literature, other events of 1996, 1997 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."
• In the United Kingdom, the first Orange Prize for Fiction for female novelists is awarded.
• First performance of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues.

New books

• Absolute Power  – David Baldacci
• Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
• Bandarshah – Al-Tayyib Salih
• By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee – Tama Janowitz
• Excession  – Iain M. Banks
• Executive Orders  – Tom Clancy
• Feet of Clay – Terry Pratchett
• Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
• Fighting for Canada (Maîtres Chanteurs Chez Nous!) – Diane Francis
• A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
• The Fourth Estate  – Jeffrey Archer
• Gods and Generals  – Jeff Shaara
• The Goldberg Variations – Nancy Huston
• The Gun Seller – Hugh Laurie
• Hackers – short story collection
• Hogfather – Terry Pratchett
• How Stella Got Her Groove Back – Terry McMillan
• Intensity – Dean R. Koontz
• Kiki's Memoirs – Kiki, (translation by Samuel Putnam)
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – John Berendt
• Moonlight Becomes You  – Mary Higgins Clark
• Polaroids From The Dead – Douglas Coupland
• Primary Colors  – Joe Klein as "Anonymous"
• The Runaway Jury  – John Grisham
• Selected Stories – Mavis Gallant
• Sofia; The Sultan's Daughter – Ann Chamberlin
• The Tailor of Panama – John le Carré
• The Tenth Insight  – James Redfield
• Undaunted Courage – Stephen Ambrose
• A Vicious Circle – Amanda Craig
• The Wicca Garden – Gerina Dunwich
• The Wicca Source Book – Gerina Dunwich
• Wonder Bread and Ecstasy – Charles Isherwood

Births

Deaths

• January 28 – Jerry Siegel, cartoonist, creator of Superman
• February 11 – Bob Shaw, science fiction writer.
• December 11 Willie Rushton, UK comedian and cartoonist

Awards

• Booker Prize: Graham Swift, Last Orders
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Margaret Atwood: – Alias Grace
• See 1996 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: David Malouf, Remembering Babylon
• Nebula Award: Nicola Griffith, Slow River
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Wislawa Szymborska
• Prix Goncourt: Pascale Roze, Le Chasseur Zéro
• Prix Décembre: Régis Debray, Loués soient nos seigneurs: une éducation politique
• Prix Médicis French: Orlanda – Jacqueline Harpman and L'Organisation – Jean Rolin
• Prix Médicis International: Himmelfarb – Michael Kruger, Germany and Sonietchka – Ludmila Oulitskaïa, Russia
• Orange Prize for Fiction: Helen Dunmore, A Spell of Winter
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Jonathan Larson, Rent
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Richard Ford – Independence Day
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Jorie Graham: The Dream of the Unified Field
• Whitbread Best Book Award: Seamus Heaney, The Spirit Level