1980 In Literature

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1980 In Literature

The year 1980 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

EVENTS

Marguerite Yourcenar becomes the first woman to be elected to the Académie Française .

'' Kane And Abel '' by Jeffrey Archer (published 1979), reaches #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

NEW BOOKS

Richard Adams

---'' The Girl In A Swing ''

---'' The Iron Wolf And Other Stories ''

Warren Adler - '' War Of The Roses ''

Woody Allen - '' Side Effects ''

Jean M. Auel - '' The Clan Of The Cave Bear ''

Anthony Burgess - '' Earthly Powers ''

Ramsey Campbell , editor - '' New Tales Of The Cthulhu Mythos ''

Bruce Chatwin - '' The Viceroy Of Ouidah ''

Mary Higgins Clark - '' The Cradle Will Fall ''

Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre -'' The Fifth Horseman ''

Basil Copper -'' Necropolis ''

L. Sprague De Camp

---'' Conan And The Spider God ''

---'' The Purple Pterodactyls ''

Thomas M. Disch - '' The Brave Little Toaster ''

E. L. Doctorow - '' In Loon Lake ''

Allan W. Eckert - '' Song Of The Wild ''

Umberto Eco - '' The Name Of The Rose ''

Ken Follett - '' The Key To Rebecca ''

Frederick Forsyth - '' The Devil's Alternative ''

Mary Jayne Gold - '' Crossroads Marseilles 1940 ''

Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague De Camp - '' The Treasure Of Tranicos ''

L. Ron Hubbard - '' Battlefield Earth ''

P. D. James - '' Innocent Blood ''

Stephen King - '' Firestarter ''

Judith Krantz - '' Princess Daisy ''

Björn Kurtén - '' Dance Of The Tiger ''

John Le Carré - '' Smiley's People ''

Madeleine L'Engle - '' A Ring Of Endless Light ''

Robert Ludlum - '' The Bourne Identity ''

Ruth Manning-Sanders - '' A Book Of Spooks And Spectres ''

James A. Michener - '' The Covenant ''

Robert B. Parker - '' Looking For Rachel Wallace ''

Belva Plain - '' Random Winds ''

Marin Preda - '' Cel Mai Iubit Dintre Pământeni (The Most Beloved of Earthlings)''

Herman Raucher - '' There Should Have Been Castles ''

Mordecai Richler - '' Joshua Then And Now ''

Salman Rushdie - '' Midnight's Children ''

Sidney Sheldon - '' Rage Of Angels ''

Gay Talese - '' Thy Neighbor's Wife ''

John Kennedy Toole - '' A Confederacy Of Dunces ''

Gene Wolfe - '' The Shadow Of The Torturer ''

Roger Zelazny

---'' Changeling ''

---'' The Last Defender Of Camelot ''

NEW DRAMA

Howard Brenton - '' The Romans In Britain ''

Kenneth Ross - '' Breaker Morant ''

Willy Russell - '' Educating Rita ''

Sam Shepard - '' True West ''

POETRY

'' Oxford Book Of Contemporary Verse ''

NON-FICTION

Pierre Berton - '' The Invasion Of Canada ''

Graham Chapman et al - '' A Liar's Autobiography ''

L. Sprague De Camp - '' The Ragged Edge Of Science ''

L. Sprague De Camp , editor - '' The Spell Of Conan ''

Jerry Hopkins & Danny Sugerman - '' No One Here Gets Out Alive ''

Michael Medved & Harry Medved - '' The Golden Turkey Awards ''

Carl Sagan - '' Cosmos ''

Alvin Toffler - '' The Third Wave ''

BIRTHS

DEATHS

January 3 - Joy Adamson , conservationist and author of '' Born Free ''

January 3 - G. S. Fraser , poet and critic

January 11 - Barbara Pym , novelist

March 25 - James Wright , poet

April 15 - Jean-Paul Sartre , philosopher, novelist and dramatist

June 7 - Henry Miller , writer

July 1 - C. P. Snow , novelist

July 9 - Vinicius De Moraes , poet and songwriter

July 26 - Kenneth Tynan , influential theatre critic

September 18 - Katherine Anne Porter , novelist and essayist

November 9 - Patrick Campbell , journalist and wit

November 22 - Mae West , actress and dramatist

December 2 - Romain Gary , writer

December 8 - John Lennon , musician, author

December 12 - Ben Travers , dramatist

December 31 - Marshall McLuhan (author)

''date unknown'' - Gareth Evans , philosopher

''date unknown'' - Caradog Prichard , Welsh-language poet and novelist

AWARDS

, '' The Fountains Of Paradise ''

Australia

, ''The Day Of The Dog'', after the award was initially given to Paul Radley , who was disqualified after admitting his manuscript was actually written by his uncle.

, ''Man in the Honeysuckle''

Canada

See 1980 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

, ''Le Jardin d'acclimatation''

, ''Cabinet-portrait'' who refused the prize, thus it was given to Jean Lahougue 's ''Comptine des Height''

, ''Une saison blanche et sèche''

United Kingdom

, ''Rites of Passage''

, Terence Tiller , Roy Fuller

, Michael Hulse , Blake Morrison , Medbh McGuckian

, ''How Far Can You Go?''

United States

, '' Ox-Cart Man ''

, '' Timescape ''

, ''A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal''

, ''Talley's Folly''

, ''The Executioner's Song''

, ''Selected Poems''

Elsewhere

, ''Concerto grosso''