1997 in literature

Events

• Tom Clancy signed a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc.[?] (both part of Pearson Education), that paid him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . He then signed a second agreement for another US$25 million for a four-year book/multimedia deal. Clancy followed this up with an agreement with Berkley Books[?] for 24 paperbacks to tie in with the an ABC television miniseries in an agreement worth US$22 million bringin the total value of the package to US$97 million.

• The memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings[?] by Maya Angelou[?], is removed from the ninth-grade English curriculum in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, because it "portrays white people as being horrible, nasty, stupid people."

New Books

• American Pastoral[?] - Philip Roth
• Barney's Version[?] - Mordecai Richler
• The Best Laid Plans[?] - Sidney Sheldon[?]
• Budgie: The Little Helicopter[?] - Sarah Ferguson
• Cat & Mouse[?] - James Patterson[?]
• Cold Mountain[?] - Charles Frazier[?]
• Deja Dead[?] - Kathy Reichs[?]
• Diana: Her True Story[?] - Andrew Morton[?]
• Fall On Your Knees[?] - Ann-Marie MacDonald[?]
• The Ghost[?] - Danielle Steel
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J. K. Rowling
• Hornet's Nest[?] - Patricia Cornwell
• I Am the Most Interesting Book of All[?] (translation) - Marie Bashkirtseff
• Instruments of Darkness[?] - Nancy Huston
• Jingo - Terry Pratchett
• Larry's Party[?] - Carol Shields
• Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet[?] - Karen Armstrong[?]
• The Partner[?] - John Grisham
• Pretend You Don't See Her[?] - Mary Higgins Clark[?]
• The Ranch[?] - Danielle Steel
• The Red Tent[?] - Anita Diamant[?]
• Special Delivery[?] - Danielle Steel
• Toulouse-Lautrec: The Soul of Montmartre[?] - Reinhold Heller[?]
• Unnatural Exposure[?] - Patricia Cornwell

Births

Deaths

• January 19 - James Dickey, poet, novelist
• April 5 - Allen Ginsberg, poet
• October 14 - Harold Robbins, novelist

Awards

• Booker Prize: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Mordecai Richler: - Barney's Version
• Newberry Medal for children's literature: E. L. Konigsburg[?], The View from Saturday
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo
• Orange Prize for Fiction: Anne Michaels[?], Fugitive Pieces
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Steven Millhauser[?] - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Lisel Mueller[?]: Live Together: New and Selected Poems