1981 in literature

• Samuel Beckett – Rockaby
• Edward Bond – Restoration
• Tankred Dorst – Merlin oder das wüste Land
• Dario Fo – Trumpets and Raspberries (Clacson, trombette e pernacchi)
• John Krizanc – Tamara
• Larry Shue – The Nerd
• Barney Simon – Woza Albert!
• Botho Strauß – Kalldewey, Farce
• Patrick Süskind – Der Kontrabaß
• Peter Whelan – The Accrington Pals
• Tennessee Williams – The Notebook of Trigorin

• L. Sprague de Camp – Heroes and Hobgoblins
• Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi – Rang-o-Noor (The Colour and the Light)
• Norman Nicholson – Sea to the West
• Sylvia Plath (posthumous) – Collected Poems, edited by Ted Hughes
• Kathleen Raine – Collected Poems, 1935–1980
• Richard L. Tierney – Collected Poems

Births

• Jan 4 – Sarah Crossan, Irish young-adult writer
• April 7 – Lili Wilkinson, Australian young-adult writer
• April 13 – Rebecca Yarros, American fantasy author
• May 19 – Kiera Cass, American young-adult writer
• May 20 – Ottessa Moshfegh, American novelist
• June 10 – Juno Dawson, born James Dawson, English young-adult LGBT writer
• July 10 – Karen Russell, American novelist
• July 27 – Dan Jones, British historian and TV presenter
• September 30 – Cecelia Ahern, Irish novelist
• October 3 – Leïla Slimani, Franco-Moroccan novelist
• October 12 – NoViolet Bulawayo (Elizabeth Zandile Tshele), Zimbabwe-born novelist
• October 31 – Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer
• December 11 – Hamish Blake, Australian comedian, actor and author
• December 13 – Mathis Bailey, American-Canadian novelist and fiction writer
• unknown dates
• Amy Sackville, English novelist
• Sunjeev Sahota, English novelist
• Saud Alsanousi, Kuwaiti novelist
• Olesya Mamchich, Ukrainian poet and children's writer

Deaths

• January 5 – Lanza del Vasto, Italian-born philosopher, poet and activist (born 1901)
• January 6 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (born 1896)
• January 7 – John Pascal, American playwright, screenwriter, author and journalist (born 1932)
• January 23 – Lobsang Rampa (Cyril Henry Hoskin), English author (born 1910)
• February 3 – Normand Poirier, American newspaper editor, journalist and essayist (born 1928)
• February 17 – David Garnett, English novelist (born 1892)
• February 23 – Nan Shepherd, Scottish novelist and poet (born 1893)
• March 7 – Bosley Crowther, American film critic (born 1905)
• March 14 – Eleanor Perry, American screenwriter and author (born 1914)
• March 20 – Pedro García Cabrera, Spanish poet (born 1905)
• March 29 – Clive Sansom, English-born Tasmanian poet and playwright (born 1910)
• March 31 – Enid Bagnold, English writer and playwright (born 1889)
• April 1 – D. F. Jones, English science fiction writer (born 1918)
• April 13 – Gwyn Thomas, Welsh novelist and broadcaster (born 1913)
• April 23 – Josep Pla, Catalan Spanish journalist and writer (born 1897)
• April 26 – Robert Garioch, Scottish poet (born 1909)
• May 8 – Uri Zvi Grinberg, Israeli poet writing in Hebrew and Yiddish (born 1896)
• May 9 – Nelson Algren, American novelist (born 1909)
• May 18 – William Saroyan, American novelist and dramatist (born 1908)
• May 23 – Rayner Heppenstall, English writer and poet (born 1911)
• May 30 – Gwendolyn B. Bennett, African-American writer and artist (born 1902)
• June 15 – Philip Toynbee, English novelist and journalist (born 1916)
• June 17 – Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (born 1889)
• June 18 – Pamela Hansford Johnson, English poet, novelist, playwright, literary and social critic (born 1912)
• August 15 – Carol Ryrie Brink, American author (born 1895)
• September 3 – Alec Waugh, English novelist (born 1898)
• September 7 – Christy Brown, Irish writer and painter (born 1932)
• September 12 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet (born 1896)
• October 20 – Mary Coyle Chase, American playwright (born 1906)
• October 25 – Cynthia Harnett, English children's writer (born 1893)
• October 30 – Denys Rhodes, English novelist (born 1919)
• November 6 – Digby George Gerahty, English novelist (born 1898)
• November 30 – Charles Eric Maine, English science fiction writer (born 1921)
• December 9 – C. P. Taylor, Scottish playwright (born 1929)
• December 26 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-born English scholar, feminist and novelist (born 1887)

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti

Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Chris Matthews, Al Jazzar; Tim Winton, An Open Swimmer
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Alan Gould, Astral Sea
• Miles Franklin Award: Peter Carey, Bliss

Canada

• See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Goncourt: Lucien Bodard, Anne Marie
• Prix Médicis French: François-Olivier Rousseau, L'Enfant d'Édouard
• Prix Médicis International: David Shahar, Le Jour de la comtesse

Spain

• Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Octavio Paz

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Robert Westall, The Scarecrows
• Cholmondeley Award: Roy Fisher, Robert Garioch, Charles Boyle
• Eric Gregory Award: Alan Jenkins, Simon Rae, Marion Lomax, Philip Gross, Kathleen Jamie, Mark Abley, Roger Crowley, Ian Gregson
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children, and Paul Theroux, The Mosquito Coast
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Victoria Glendinning, Edith Sitwell: Unicorn Among Lions
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: D. J. Enright
• Whitbread Best Book Award: William Boyd, A Good Man in Africa

United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kathy Calloway, Heart of the Garfish
• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres: Malcolm Cowley
• Dos Passos Prize: Gilbert Sorrentino
• Nebula Award: Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Beth Henley, Crimes of the Heart
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Kennedy Toole – A Confederacy of Dunces
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Schuyler: The Morning of the Poem

Elsewhere

• Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Lev Kopelev
• Hugo Award for Best Novel: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
• Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero

Notes

References