1979 in literature

Events

• Sophie's Choice by William Styron is published. In 2001, the book would be named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.

• A Bend in the River[?] by V. S. Naipaul is published. In 2001, the book would be one of two books by Naipaul to be included on the list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.

New Books

• A Bend in the River[?] - V. S. Naipaul
• The Dead Zone[?] - Stephen King
• The Executuoner's Song[?] - Norman Mailer
• Ghost Story[?] - Peter Straub[?]
• Ghost Writer[?] - Philip Roth
• Jailbird[?] - Kurt Vonnegut
• Kane and Abel[?] - Jeffrey Archer
• Kindred[?] - Octavia Butler
• The Last Enchantment[?] - Howard Fast
• Lion of Ireland: The Legend of Brian Boru[?] - Morgan Llywelyn[?]
• The Matarese Circle[?] - Robert Ludlum
• Memories of Another Day[?] - Harold Robbins
• Montmartre - Philippe Jullian[?]
• Overload - Arthur Hailey
• The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe
• Smiley's People[?] - John le Carré
• Sophie's Choice - William Styron
• White House Years[?] - Henry Kissinger
• Year of the French[?] - Thomas Flanagan[?]

Births

Deaths

Awards

• Booker Prize: Penelope Fitzgerald[?], Offshore
• Newberry Medal for children's literature: Ellen Raskin[?], The Westing Game
• Odysseus Elytis[?] won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1979.
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Sam Shepard, Buried Child
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Cheever[?] - The Stories of John Cheever
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Penn Warren: Now and Then