1996 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.

New Books

• Absolute Power[?] - David Baldacci[?]
• Alias Grace[?] - Margaret Atwood
• Bandarshah[?] - Al-Tayyib Salih[?]
• Executive Orders - Tom Clancy
• Feet of Clay[?] - Terry Pratchett
• A Fine Balance[?] - Rohinton Mistry
• The Fourth Estate[?] - Jeffrey Archer
• Gods and Generals[?] - Jeff Shaara[?]
• The Goldberg Variations[?] - Nancy Huston
• 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[?]
• 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

Births

Deaths

• January 28 - Jerry Seigel[?], 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
• Newberry Medal for children's literature: Karen Cushman[?], The Midwife's Apprentice
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Wislawa Szymborska
• 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