Literary Hit Parade: 1980-1989
1980
Nobel Prize for Literature
Czeslaw Milosz, (1911- ) Polish-American
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer
Poetry Selected Poems, Donald Justice
Drama Talley's Folly, Lanford Wilson
National Book Award
Autobiography (hardback) Lauren Bacall by Myself, Lauren Bacall
Autobiography (paperback) And I Worked at the Writer's Trade: Chapters of Literary History 1918-1978, Malcolm Cowley
Biography (hardback) The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris
Biography (paperback) Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, A. Scott Berg
Children's Books (hardback) A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, Joan W. Blos
Children's Books (paperback) A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L'Engle
Current Interest (hardback) Julia Child and More Company, Julia Child
Current Interest (paperback) The Culture of Narcissism, Christopher Lasch
Fiction (hardcover) Sophie's Choice, William Styron
Fiction (paperback) The World According to Garp, John Irving
First Novel Birdy, William Wharton
General Nonfiction (hardback) The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe
General Nonfiction (paperback) The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen
General Reference Books (hardback) The Complete Directory, Elder Witt, ed.
General Reference Books (paperback) The Complete Directory of Prime Time TV Shows: 1946-Present, Tim Brooks & Earle Marsh
History (hardback) The White House Years, Henry A. Kissinger
History (paperback) A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, Barbara W. Tuchman
Mystery (hardback) The Green Ripper, John D. MacDonald
Mystery (paperback) Stained Glass, William F. Buckley, Jr.
Poetry Ashes, Philip Levine
Religion/Inspiration (hardback) The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels
Religion/Inspiration (paperback) A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken
Science (hardback) Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas Hofstadter
Science (paperback) The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the NewPhysics, Gary Zukav
Science Fiction (hardback) Jem, Frederick Pohl
Science Fiction (paperback) The Book of the Dun Cow, Walter Wangerin, Jr.
Translation Cesare Pavese's Hard Labo, William Arrowsmith; Osip E. Mandelstam's Complete Critical Prose and Letters, Jane Gary Harris & Constance Link
Western Bendigo Shafter, Louis L'Amour
National Book Critics Circle Award
The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
Burning Water, George Bowering
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, Grand Prize)
How Far Can You Go, David Lodge
Best Sellers
Fiction 1. The Covenant, James A. Michener 2. The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum
Nonfiction 1. Crisis Investing: Opportunities and Profits in the Coming Great Depression, Douglas R. Casey 2. Cosmos, Carl Sagan
Mass Market Paperback 1. Firestarter, Stephen King 2. The Key to Rebecca, Ken Follett
1981
Nobel Prize for Literature
Elias Canetti, (1905- ) Bulgarian-British
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
Howard Nemerov & Mary Swenson
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Poetry The Morning of the Poem, James Schuyler
Drama Crimes of the Heart, Beth Henley
National Book Award
Autobiography/Biography (hardback) Walt Whitman, Justin Kaplan
Autobiography/Biography (paperback) Samuel Beckett, Deirde Bair
Children's Book, Fiction (hardback) The Night Swimmers, Betsy Byars
Children's Book, Fiction (paperback) Ramona and Her Mother, Beverly Cleary
Children's Book, Nonfiction (hardback) Mali-Oh, Boy! Babies, Alison Cragin Herzig & Jane Lawrence
Fiction (hardcover) Plains Song, Wright Morris
Fiction (paperback) The Stories of John Cheever, John Cheever
First Novel Sister Wolf, Ann Arensberg
General Nonfiction (hardback) China Men, Maxine Hong Kingston
General Nonfiction (paperback) The Last Cowboy, Jane Kramer
History (hardback) Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, John Boswell
History (paperback) Been in the Storm so Long: The Aftermath of Slavery, Leon F. Litwak
Poetry The Need to Hold Still, Lisel Mueller
Science (hardback) The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections on Natural History, Stephen Jay Gould
Science (paperback) The Medusa and the Snail, Lewis Thomas
Translation The Letters of Gustave Flaubert and John E. Woods-Arnp Schmidt's Evening Edged in Gold, Francis Steegmuller
National Book Critics Circle Award
Rabbit Is Rich, John Updike
PEN/Faulkner Award
How German Is It?, Walter Abish
Los Angeles Times Book Award
The White Hotel, D. M. Thomas
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories, Mavis Gallant
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Silver's City, Maurice Leitch; A Good Man in Africa, William Boyd
Best Sellers
Fiction 1. Noble House, James Clavell 2. The Hotel New Hampshire, John Irving Nonfiction 1. The Beverly Hills Diet, Judy Mazel 2. The Lord God Made Them All, James Herriot
1982
Nobel Prize for Literature
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, (1928- ) Columbian-Mexican
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Rabbit Is Rich, John Updike
Poetry The Collected Poems, Sylvia Plath
Drama A Soldier's Play, Charles Fuller
National Book Award
Autobiography/Biography (hardback) Mornings on Horseback, David McCullough
Autobiography/Biography (paperback) Walter Lippmann and the American Century, Ronald Steel
Children's Book, Fiction (hardback) Westmark, Lloyd Alexander
Children's Book, Fiction (paperback) Words by Heart, Ouida Sebestyen
Children's Book, Nonfiction A Penguin Year, Susan Bonners
Children's Book, Picture Books (hardback) Outside Over There, Maurice Sendak
Children's Book, Picture Books (paperback) Noah's Ark, Peter Spier
Fiction (hardcover) Rabbit Is Rich, John Updike
Fiction (paperback) So Long, See You Tomorrow, William Maxwell
First Novel Dale Loves Sophie to Death, Robb Forman Dew
General Nonfiction (hardback) The Soul of a New Machine, Tracy Kidder
General Nonfiction (paperback) Naming Names, Victor S. Navasky
History (hardback) People of the Sacred Mountain: A History of the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs and Warrior Societies, 1830-1879, Father Peter John Powell
History (paperback) The Generation of 1914, Robert Wohl
Poetry Life Supports: New and Collected Poems, William Bronk
Science (hardback) Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind, Donald C. Johanson & Maitland A. Edey
Science (paperback) Taking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists, Fred Alan Wolf
Translation Higuchi Ichiyo's In the Shade of Spring Leaves, Robert Lyons Danly; The Ten Thousand Leaves: A Translation of The Man'Yoshu, Japan's Premier Anthology of Classical Poetry, Ian Hideo Levy
National Book Critics Circle Award
George Mills, Stanley Elkin
PEN/Faulkner Award
The Chaneysville Incident, David Bradley
Los Angeles Times Book Award
A Flag for Sunrise, Robert Stone
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
Man Descending, Guy Vanderhaeghem
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Young Shoulders, John Wain; On the Black Hill, Bruce Chatwin
Best Sellers
Fiction 1. E. T. The Extra-Terrestial Story, William Kotzwinkle 2. Space, James A. Michener
Nonfiction 1. Jane Fonda's Workout Book, Jane Fonda 2. Living, Loving and Learning, Leo Buscaglia
1983
Nobel Prize for Literature
William Golding, (1911-1993) British
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
Anthony Hecht & John Hollander
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Poetry Selected Poems, Galway Kinnell
Drama 'night, Mother, Marsha Norman
National Book Award
Autobiography/Biography (hardback) Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, Judith Thurman
Autobiography/Biography (paperback) Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Time, James R. Mellow
Children's Book, Fiction (hardback) Homesick: My Own Story, Jean Fritz
Children's Book, Fiction (paperback) A Place Apart, Paula Fox; Marked by Fire, Joyce Carol Thomas
Children's Book, Nonfiction Chimney Sweeps, James Cross Giblin
Children's Book, Picture Books (hardback) Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney; Doctor De Soto, William Steig
Children's Book, Picture Books (paperback) A House Is a House for Me, Mary Ann Hoberman; Betty Fraser, Ill.
Fiction (hardcover) The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Fiction (paperback) Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, Eudora Welty
First Novel The Women of Brewster Place, Gloria Naylor
General Nonfiction (hardback) China: Alive in the Bitter Sea, Fox Butterfield
General Nonfiction (paperback) National Defense, James Fallows
History (hardback) Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression, Alan Brinkley
History (paperback) Utopian Thought in the Western World, Frank E. Manuel & Fritzie P. Manuel
Original Paperback The Red Magician, Lisa Goldstein
Poetry Selected Poems, Galway Kinnell; Country Music: Selected Early Poems, Charles Wright
Science (hardback) "Subtle is the Lord..." The Science and Life of Albert Einstein, Abraham Pais
Science (paperback) The Mathematical Experience, Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersh
Translation Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal, Richard Howard
National Book Critics Circle Award
Ironweed, William Kennedy
PEN/Faulkner Award
Seaview, Toby Olson
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
Shakespeare's Dog, Leon Rooke
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Fools of Fortune, William Trevor; Flying to Nowhere, John Fuller
Best Sellers
Fiction 1. Return of the Jedi Storybook, adapted by Joan D. Vinge 2. Poland, James A. Michener
Nonfiction 1. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies, Thomas J. Peters & Robert H. Waterman, Jr. 2. Meagtrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives, John Naisbitt
1984
Nobel Prize for Literature
Jaroslav Siefert, (1901-1986) Czechoslovakian
Appointed English Poet Laureate
Ted Hughes
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Ironweed, William Kennedy
Poetry American Primitive, Mary Oliver
Drama Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet
National Book Award
Fiction Victory over Japan: A Book of Stories, Ellen Gilchrist
First Work of Fiction Stones for Ibarra, Harriet Doerr
Nonfiction Andrew Jackson & the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845, Richard V. Remini
National Book Critics Circle Award
Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich
PEN/Faulkner Award
Sent for You Yesterday, John Edgar Wideman
Los Angeles Times Book Award
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
The Engineer of Human Souls, Josef Skvorecky
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Krueger's Alp, Christopher Hope; A Parish of Rich Women, James Buchan
Best Sellers
Fiction 1. The Talisman, Stephen King & Peter Straub 2. The Aquitaine Progression, Robert Ludlum
Nonfiction 1. Iacocca: An Autobiography, Lee Iacocca & William Novak 2. Loving Each Other, Leo Buscaglia
1985
Nobel Prize for Literature
Claude Simon, (1913- ) French
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
John Ashbery & Fred Chappell
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Foreign Affairs, Alison Lurie
Poetry Yin, Carolyn Kizer
Drama Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
National Book Award
Fiction White Noise, Don DeLillo
First Work of Fiction Easy in the Islands, Bob Shacochis
Nonfiction Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, J. Anthony Lukas
National Book Critics Circle Award
The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler
PEN/Faulkner Award
The Barracks Thief, Tobias Wolff
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Hawksmoor, Peter Ackroyd (also won Guardian Fiction Prize); Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson
Best Sellers
Fiction 1. The Mammoth Hunters, Jean M. Auel 2. Texas, James A. Michener
Nonfiction 1. Iacocca: An Autobiography, Lee Iacocca & William Novak 2. Yeager: An Autobiography, Chuck Yeager & Leo Janos
1986
Nobel Prize for Literature
Wole Soyinka, (1934- ) Nigerian
Appointed U. S. Poet Laureate
Robert Penn Warren (first official poet laureate)
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry
Poetry The Flying Change, Henry Taylor
Drama No Award Given
National Book Award
Fiction World's Fair, E. L. Doctorow
Nonfiction Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez
National Book Critics Circle Award
Kate Vaiden, Reynolds Price
PEN/Faulkner Award
The Old Forest and Other Tales, Peter Taylor
Los Angeles Times Book Award
The Handmaiden's Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
The Progress of Love, Alice Munro
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro; Continent, Jim Crace (also won Guardian Fiction Award)
Best Sellers
Fiction 1. It, Stephen King 2. Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy
Nonfiction 1. Fatherhood, Bill Cosby 2. Fit for Life, Harvey & Marilyn Diamond
1987
Nobel Prize for Literature
Joseph Brodsky, (1940-1996) Russian-American
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
Stanley Kunitz
Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate
Richard Wilbur 1987-1988
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction A Summons to Memphis, Peter Taylor
Poetry Thomas and Beulah, Rita Dove
Drama Fences, August Wilson
National Book Award
Fiction Paco's Story, Larry Heinemann
Nonfiction The Making of the Atom Bomb, Richard Rhodes
National Book Critics Circle Award
The Counterlife, Philip Roth
PEN/Faulkner Award
Soldiers in Hiding, Richard Wiley
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Fool's Crow, James Welch
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
A Dream Like Mine, M. T. Kelly
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
The Child in Time, Ian McEwen; The Other Garden, Francis Wyndham
Best Sellers
Hard Cover Fiction 1. The Tommyknockers, Stephen King 2. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow
Hard Cover Nonfiction 1. Spy Catcher, Peter Wright with Paul Greengrass; 2. The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom
Paperback Fiction 1. Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy 2. The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
Paperback Nonfiction 1. Fatherhood, Bill Cosby 2. The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck
Died
James Baldwin, author, essayist, civil rights activist
1988
Nobel Prize for Literature
Naguib Mahfouz, (1911- ) Egyptian
Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate
Howard Nemerov, 1988-1990
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Beloved, Toni Morrison
Poetry Partial Accounts: New and Selected Poems, William Meredith
Drama Driving Miss Daisy, Alfred Uhry
National Book Award
Fiction Paris Trout, Pete Dexter
Nonfiction A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, Neil Sheehan
National Book Critics Circle Award
The Middleman and Other Stories, Bharati Mukherjee
PEN/Faulkner Award
World's End, T. C. Boyle
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
Nights Below Station Street, David Adams Richards
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie; The Comfort of Madness, Paul Sayer
Best Sellers
Hard Cover Fiction 1. The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Tom Clancy 2. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe
Hard Cover Nonfiction 1. A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking 2. Trump, Donald Trump with Tony Schwartz
Paperback Fiction 1. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow 2. Patriot Games, Tom Clancy
Paperback Nonfiction 1. Love, Medicine, and Miracles, Bernie S. Siegel 2. The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck
Died
Ellin Berlin, American novelist (wife of Irving Berlin)
Raymond Carver, American poet & influential short story writer
I. A. L. Diamond, American screenwriter (longtime collaborator of Billy Wilder)
Cyntihia Freeman, best-selling romance novelist
Nancy Hale, novelist & short story writer
Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction writer
Louis L'Amour, writer of 100+ books, mostly westerns
Paul Osborn, playwright & screenwriter
Alan Paton, South African author (Cry, the Beloved Country)
Adela Rogers St. John, journalist & author
Max Shulman, novelist, playwright, humorist, creator of Dobie Gillis
1989
Nobel Prize for Literature
Camilo Jose Cela, (b. 1916) Spanish
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
Edgar Bowers
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Breathing Lessons, Anne Tyler
Poetry New and Collected Poems, Richard Wilbur
Drama The Heidi Chronicles, Wendy Wasserstein
National Book Award
Fiction Spartina, John Casey
Nonfiction From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas L. Friedman
National Book Critics Circle Award
Billy Bathgate, E.L. Doctorow
PEN/Faulkner Award
Dusk, James Salter
Los Angeles Times Book Award
The Heart of the Country, Fay Weldon
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
Whale Music, Paul Quarrington
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
The Chymical Wedding, Lindsay Clarke; Gerontius, James Hamilton-Peterson
Best Sellers
Hard Cover Fiction 1. Clear and Present Danger, Tom Clancy 2. The Dark Half, Stephen King
Hard Cover NonFiction 1. All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum 2. Wealth without Risk, Charles J. Givens
Trade Paperback 1. So Worthy My Love, Kathleen Woodiwiss 2. Yukon, Ho!, Bill Watterson
Mass Market Paperback 1. Fine Things, Danielle Steel 2. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow
Died
Richard Armour, poet & satirist (It All Started with Columbus)
Donald Barthelme, American novelist & short story writer
Samuel Beckett, Irish writer of fiction & drama (1969 Nobel Prize)
Malcolm Cowley, American literary critic, editor, poet, essayist
Daphne du Maurier, British romance novelist
Jack Kirkwood, American actor, novelist, playwright
Hans Helmut Kirst, German Novelist
Frank O'Rourke, author of 6o+ western & mystery novels
Irving Stone, author, biographer, novelist
Robert Penn Warren, novelist, poet, 1st U.S. Poet Laureate