Overview of the events of 1986 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1986.
Children and young people
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- January 1 – Lord David Cecil, English critic and biographer (born 1902)[11]
- January 4 – Christopher Isherwood, English-born novelist (born 1904)
- January 7
- January 9 – W. S. Graham, Scottish poet (born 1918)
- January 24 – L. Ron Hubbard, American science fiction writer, founder of Scientology (born 1911)
- January 26 – Nicholas Moore, English poet (born 1911)
- February 4 – Phyllis Shand Allfrey, Dominican writer (born 1908)
- February 9 – Dora Oake Russell, Newfoundland writer, diarist and journalist (born 1912)
- February 11 – Frank Herbert, American science fiction novelist (born 1920)
- February 27 – Nancy Brysson Morrison, Scottish novelist (born 1903)
- February 28 – Edith Ditmas, English archivist, historian and writer (born 1896)
- March 4
- March 15 – Pandelis Prevelakis, Greek novelist, poet, dramatist and essayist (born 1909)
- March 18 – Bernard Malamud, American novelist (born 1914)
- April 12 – Valentin Kataev, Russian novelist and dramatist (born 1897)
- April 14
- April 17 – Bessie Head, Botswanan fiction writer (born 1937)
- April 22 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian, philosopher and novelist (born 1907)
- May 15 – Theodore H. White, American journalist, historian and novelist (born 1915)
- June 14 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (born 1899)
- July 16 – Stephen Coulter, English writer (born 1914)
- August 1 – Lena Kennedy, English romantic novelist (born 1914)
- August 3 – Beryl Markham, English-born Kenyan aviator and author (born 1902)
- August 18 – Vivian Stuart, English novelist (born 1914)
- August 20 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer and playwright (born 1923)
- September 11 – Noel Streatfeild, English novelist and children's writer (born 1895)[12]
- October 28 – John Braine, English novelist (born 1922)
- December 17 – J. F. Hendry, Scottish poet (born 1912)
- December 19 – V. C. Andrews, American novelist (born 1923)
- December 28 – John D. MacDonald, American novelist and short story writer (born 1916)
- Booker Prize: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
- Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Berlie Doherty, Granny Was a Buffer Girl
- Cholmondeley Award: Lawrence Durrell, James Fenton, Selima Hill
- Eric Gregory Award: Mick North, Lachlan Mackinnon, Oliver Reynolds, Stephen Romer
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Jenny Joseph, Persephone
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: D. Felicitas Corrigan, Helen Waddell
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Norman MacCaig
- Whitbread Best Book Award: Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Robley Wilson, Kingdoms of the Ordinary
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Sidney Kingsley
- Frost Medal: Allen Ginsberg / Richard Eberhart
- Nebula Award: Orson Scott Card, Speaker For the Dead
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Patricia MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall
- Prometheus Award: Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Henry Taylor, The Flying Change
- Whiting Awards: Fiction: Kent Haruf, Denis Johnson, Padgett Powell, Mona Simpson; Poetry: John Ash, Hayden Carruth, Frank Stewart, Ruth Stone; Nonfiction: Darryl Pinckney (nonfiction/fiction); Plays: August Wilson