Literary Hit Parade: 1990 - 1999
1990
Nobel Prize for Literature
Octavio Paz (b. 1914), Mexican
Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate
Mark Strand
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, Oscar Hijuelos
Poetry The World Doesn't End, Charles Simic
Drama The Piano Lesson, August Wilson
National Book Award
Fiction Middle Passage, Charles Johnson
Nonfiction The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance, Ron Chernow
National Book Critics Circle Award
Rabbit at Rest, John Updike
PEN/Faulkner Award
Billy Bathgate, E. L. Doctorow
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Lantern Slides, Edna O'Brien
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
Lives of the Saints, Nino Ricci
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Hopeful Monsters, Nicholas Mosley; The Buddha of Suburbia, Hannnif Kureishi
Best Sellers
Hard Cover Fiction 1. Oh, the Places You Will Go, Dr. Suess 2. Clear and Present Danger, Tom Clancy
Hard Cover NonFiction 1. Wealth Without Risk, Charles Givens 2. Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of Nabisco, Bryan Burrough & John Helyar
Trade Paperback 1. Codependent No More, Melody Beattie 2. The T-Factor Fat Gram Counter, Dr. Martin Katahn
Mass Market Paperback 1. All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum 2. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
Died
Norman Cousins, editor-in-chief, The Saturday Review for 30+ yrs.
Lawrence Durrell, British author
Alberto Moravia. Italian novelist
Malcolm Muggeridge, British journalist & social critic
Walker Percy, American novelist (1961 Nat. Bk. Award, The Moviegoer)
Laurence Peter, American author, satirized business world in The Peter Principle
Irving Wallace, American novelist
Patrick White, Australian novelist (1973 Nobel Prize)1991
Nobel Prize for Literature
Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923), South African
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
Laura Riding & Donald Justice
Appointed U. S. Poet Laureate
Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996) 1991-1992
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Rabbit at Rest, John Updike
Poetry Near Changes, Mona Van Duyn
Drama Lost in Yonkers, Neil Simon
National Book Award
Fiction Mating, Norman Rush
Nonfiction Freedom, Orlando Patterson
Poetry What Work Is, Philip Levine
National Book Critics Circle Award
A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
PEN/Faulkner Award
Philadelphia Fire, John Edgar Wideman
Los Angeles Times Book Award
White People, Alan Gurganus
First Fiction Pangs of Love, David Wong Louie
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
Such a Long Journey, Rohinton Mistry
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
The Queen of the Tambourine, Jane Gardam; Alma Cogan, Gordon Burn
Best Sellers
Hard Cover Fiction 1. The Firm, John Grisham 2. Loves Music, Loves to Dance, Mary Higgins Clark
Hard Cover NonFiction 1. Iron John: A Book about Men, Robert Bly 2. Wealth without Risk, Charles J. Givens
Trade Paperback 1. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey 2. The T-Factor Fat Gram Counter, Dr. Martin Katahn
Mass Market Paperback 1. The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris 2. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
Died
Howard Ashman, American lyricist, playwright, & director (Little Shop of Horrors)
Niven Busch, American novelist & sreenwriter
John Crosby, American columnist, author of suspense novels
Roald Dahl, British writer of children's books & adult short stories
Ernest K. Gann, American adventure novelist
Graham Greene, British author
A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist & Pulitzer Prize winner (1949, The Way West)
Jerzy Kosinski, Polish-born American author
Howard Nemerov, American poet (Pulitzer P., 1978; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1988-1990)
Sean Ofaolain, Irish short story writer
James Schuyler, poet (Pulitzer, 1980)
Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel), American author & illustrator
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Pol.-born writer of Jewish life in Polish & U.S. (Nobel P., 1978)
Angus Wilson, British novelist & biographer
Frank Yerby, American romance novelist, among most popular in 1940s & 1950s
1992
Nobel Prize for Literature
Derek Walcott (1930), West Indian
Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate
Mona Van Duyn, (first female poet laureate) 1992-1993
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
Poetry Selected Poems, James Tate
Drama The Kentucky Cycle, Robert Schenkkan
National Book Award
Fiction All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
Nonfiction Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, Paul Monette
Poetry New & Selected Poems, Mary Oliver
National Book Critics Circle Award
All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
PEN/Faulkner Award
Mao II, Don DeLillo
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Time and Tide, Edna O'Brien
First Fiction Marine Life, Linda Svendson
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Poor Things, Alisdair Gray; Swing Hammer Swing, Jeff Torrington
Best Sellers
Hard Cover Fiction 1. Delores Claiborne, Stephen King 2. The Pelican Brief, John Grisham
Hard Cover NonFiction 1. The Way Things Ought to Be, Rush Limbaugh 2. It Doesn't Take a Hero, H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Trade Paperback 1. Life's Little Instruction Book, H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 2. Forever in Your Embrace, Kathleen Woodiwiss
Mass Market Paperback 1. The Firm, John Grisham 2. The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris
Died
Isaac Asimov, American scholar, teacher, writer of science-fiction
Allan Bloom, American writer (The Closing of the American Mind)
Kay Boyle, American novelist & short story writer
Alex Haley, American author (Pulitzer Prize for Roots)
S. I. Hayakawa, American educator, linguistic expert, university pres., U. S. senator
1993
Nobel Prize for Literature
Toni Morrison (b. 1931), American
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
Mark Strand
Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate
Rita Dove, (first black poet laureate) 1993-1995
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, Robert Olen Butler
Poetry The Wild Iris, Louise Gluck
Drama Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Tony Kushner
National Book Award
Fiction The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
Nonfiction United States: Essays 1952-1992, Gore Vidal
Poetry Garbage, A. R. Ammons
National Book Critics Circle Award
A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines
PEN/Faulkner Award
Postcards, E. Annie Proulx
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver
First Fiction Love (Enter), Paul Kafka
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Theory of War, Joan Brady; Saving Agnes, Rachel Cusk
Best Sellers
Hardcover Fiction 1. The Bridges of Madison County, Robert James Waller 2. The Client, John Grisham
Hardcover Nonfiction 1. See I Told You, Rush Limbaugh 2. Private Parts, Howard Stern
Trade Paperback 1. The T-Factor Fat Gram Counter, Dr. Martin Katahn 2. Life's Little Instruction Book, H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Mass Market Paperback 1. The Pelican Brief, John Grisham 2. The Firm, John Grisham
Died
Kobe Abe, Japanese novelist & poet
Kenneth Boulding, British-born econommist, philosopher, poet
Anthony Burgess, British writer
Leslie Charteris, British mystery writer (creator of The Saint)
Robert Crichton, novelist
William Golding, British author & Nobel Prize winner, 1983 (The Lord of the Flies)
John Hersey, American journalist & novelist
Eleanor Hibbert, author, (as Victoria Holt or Jean Plaidy) of 200+ novels
Irving Howe, literary & social critic
Fletcher Knebel, American writer (co-wrote Seven Days in May)
Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., chairman, Pulitzer Pub. Co.
William Shawn, ed. The New Yorker, 1952-1987
Wallace Stegner, American novelist & short story writer (1972 Pulitzer Prize for Angle of Repose)
Lewis Thomas, physician & much-anthologized essayist
1994
Nobel Prize for Literature
Kenzaburo Oe (b. 1935), Japanese
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
Poetry Neon Vernacular, Yusef Komunyakaa
Drama Three Tall Women, Edward Albee
National Book Award
Fiction A Frolic of His Own, Wiliam Gaddis
Nonfiction How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter, Sherwin B. Nuland
Poetry A Worshipful Company of Fletchers, James Tate
National Book Critics Circle Award
Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
PEN/Faulkner Award
Operation Shylock, Philip Roth
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Remembering Babylon, David Malouf
First Fiction The Year of the Frog, Martin Somecha
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
A Discovery of Strangers, Rudy Wiebe
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Felicia's Journey, William Trevor; The Longest Memory, Fred D'Aguiar
Best Sellers
Hardcover Fiction 1. The Chamber, John Grisham 2. Debt of Honor, Tom Clancy
Hardcover Nonfiction 1. In the Kitchen with Rosie, Rosie Daley 2. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, John Gray
Trade Paperback 1. Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally 2. Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, Bill Watterson
Mass Market Paperback 1. The Client, John Grisham 2. Disclosure, Michael Crichton
Died
Robert Bloch, American mystery & suspense writer
Pierre Boulle, French author
Elias Canetti, novelist & playwright
Alice Childress, American actress & playwright (A Hero Ain't Nothing but a Sandwich)
James Clavell, novelist
Ralph Ellison, American writer
Eugene Ionesco, playwright
Robert E. Lee, playwright (co-wrote Inherit the Wind & Auntie Mame)
William Morris, publishing executive & lexicographer (ed. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)
William l. Shirer, war correspondent & historian (The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich)
1995
Nobel Prize for Literature
Seamus Heaney (b. 1939), Northern Irish
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
Kenneth Koch
Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate
Robert Hass 1995-1997
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
Poetry The Simple Truth, Philip Levine
Drama The Young Man from Atlanta, Horton Foote
National Book Award
Fiction Sabbath's Theatre, Philip Roth
Nonfiction The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts after Communism, Tina Rosenberg
Poetry Passing Through: The Later Poems, Stanley Kunitz
National Book Critics Circle Award
Mrs. Ted Bliss, Stanley Elkin
PEN/Faulkner Award
Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
The Roaring Girl, Greg Hollingshead
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kate Atkinson; The Moor's Last Sigh, Salmon Rushdie
Best Sellers
Hardcover Fiction 1. The Rainmaker, John Grisham 2. The Lost World, Michael Crichton
Hardcover Nonfiction 1. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, John Gray 2. My American Journey, Colin Powell & Joseph Persico
Trade Paperback 1. Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, eds. Jack Canfield & Mark Hansen 2. The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, Bill Watterson
Mass Market Paperback 1. The Chamber, John Grisham 2. Tom Clancy's Op-Center, Tom Clancy & Steve Pieczennik
Died
Kingley Amis, British novelist
Ian Ballantine, founder of Penguin USA, Bantam Books, & Ballantine Books
Robert Bolt, British screenwriter & Oscar winner
Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist
Stanley Elkin, writer
Charles Gordone, 1st Black (Am.) playwright to win Pulitzer Prize
James Herriot, veterinarian & author
Patricia Highsmith, crime writer
Helene Johnson, Harlem Renaissance poet
Howard Koch, American screenwriter of film Casablanca
James Merrill, American poet
John Osborne, British playwright
John Patrick, American playwright (Pulitzer P., Teahouse of the August Moon)
May Sarton, poet, novelist, & feminist
Irving Shulman, nnovelist & screenwriter (Rebel without a Cause)
Terry Southern, American novelist & screenwriter
Stephen Spender, British poet, critic, & novelist
Roger Zelazny, science-fiction writer
1996
Nobel Prize for Literature
Wislawa Szymborska, Polish
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Independence Day, Richard Ford
Poetry The Dream of the Unified Field, Jorie Graham
Drama Rent, Jonathan Larson
National Book Award
Fiction Ship Fever and Other Stories, Andrea Barrett
Nonfiction An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us, James Carroll Poetry Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey, Hayden Carruth
Young People's Literature Parrott in the Oven: Mi Vida, Victor Martinez
National Book Critics Circle Award
Women in Their Beds, Gina Berriault
PEN/Faulkner Award
Independence Day, Richard Ford
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
The Englishman's Boy, Guy Vanderhaeghe
The Whitbread Prize (Fiction, First Novel and Grand Prize)
Every Man for Himself, Beryl Bainbridge; A Debt to Pleasure, John Lanchester
Best-Selling Books
Hardcover Fiction 1. The Runaway Jury, John Grisham 2. Executive Orders, Tom Clancy
Hardcover Nonfiction 1. Make the Connection: Ten Steps to a Better Body and a Better Life, Oprah Winfry & Bob Greene 2. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, John Gray
Trade Paperback 1. A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, eds. Jack Canfield & Mark Hansen 2. Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson
Mass-Market Paperback 1. The Rainmaker, John Grisham 2-7. The Green Mile, Parts 1-6 Stephen King
Died
Erma Bombeck, American humor columnist
Harold Brodkey, American poet, critic, novelist
Joseph Brodsky, Russian expatriate poet (b. 1940)
Richard Condon, American writer
Marguerite Duras, popular French novelist
Mignon Eberhart, mystery novelist
Odysseus Elytis, Nobel Prize-winning Greek poet
Jessica Mitford, British muckraking writer & polemicist
Jerry (Jerome) Siegel, American creator of Superman
P. L. Travers, British writer, creator of Mary Poppins
Diana Trilling, essayist, literary critc & editor (wife of Lionel Trilling)
1997
Nobel Prize for Literature
Dario Fo, Italian
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
Gary Snyder
Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate
Robert Pinsky 1997-
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, Steven Millhauser
Poetry Alive Together: New and Selected Poems, Lisel Mueller
Drama No Award Given
National Book Award
Fiction Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
Nonfiction American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Joseph J. Ellis
Poetry Effort at Speech: New & Selected Poems, William Meredith
Young People's Literature Dancing on the Edge, Han Nolan
National Book Critics Circle Award
The Blue Flower, Penelope Fitzgerald
PEN/Faulkner Award
Women in Their Beds, Gina Berriault
The Governor General's Literary Award (Fiction)
The Underpainter, Jane Urquhart
Died
William S. Burroughs, American beat generation writer (The Naked Lunch)
James Dickey, American poet & novelist
Michael Dorris, American author (The Broken Cord), suicide
Leon Edel, American biographer of Henry James & other Am. writers
Allen Ginsberg, American poet, voice of beat generation
Helene Hanff, American writer (84 Charing Cross)
Elspeth Huxley, British author (The Flame Trees of Thika)
Harry Kemelman, American mystery author
Vance Packard, American journalist (The Hidden Persuaders)
Robert Pinget, Swiss-born novelist
Margaret E. Rey, coauthor of Curious George children's books with husband H. A. Rey
Harold Robbins, American author of escapist novels (The Carpetbaggers)
Leo Rostin, American writer known for celebrating Jewish language, humor, & culture
Mike Royko, Chicago Tribune columnist
Carl Sagan, astronomer & Pulitzer Prize winning author
Amos Tutuola, Nigerian novelist
Saadallah Wannous, major playwright of Arab world
1998
Nobel Prize for Literature
José Saramago, Portuguese
Pulitzer Prize
Fiction American Pastoral, Philip Roth
Nonfiction Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Jared Diamond
Poetry Black Zodiac, Charles Wright
Drama How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel
National Book Award
Fiction Charming Billy, Alice McDermott
Nonfiction Slaves in the Family, Edward Ball
Poetry This Time, Gerald Stern
Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
Toni Morrison
National Book Critics Circle Award
The Love of a Good Woman, Alice Munro
PEN/Faulkner Award
The Bear Comes Home, Rafi Zabor
The Whitbread Prize
Birthday Letters, Ted Hughes (poetry)
Modern Library Division of Random House issued list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century (based on a survey of scholars and literary people) Some examples: 1. Ulysess, James Joyce 2. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald 100. The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington. You may access the full list at www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100best.
Best-Selling Books
Fiction The Street Lawyer, John Grisham
Died
Eric Ambler, British novelist, screenwriter, innovator in espionage fiction
William Gaddis, Modernist novelist
Ted Hughes, British poet, Poet Laureate (since 1984)
Margaret Walker, American writer
1999
Nobel Prize for Literature
Günter Grass, German
Pulitzer Prize
Fiction The Hours, Michael Cunningham
Nonfiction Annals of the Former World, John McPhee
Poetry Blizzard of One, Mark Strand
Drama Wit, Margaret Edson
National Book Award
Fiction Waiting, Ha Jin
Nonfiction Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of WWII, John W. Dower
Poetry Vice: New & Selected Poems, Ai
National Book Critics Circle Award
Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem
PEN/Faulkner Award
The Hours, Michael Cunningham
The Whitbread Prize
Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (poetry)
Poet Laureate of England
Andrew Morton 1999-
Best-Sellers
Fiction The Testament, John Grisham; Hannibal, Thomas Harris
Notable Books
Collected Fiction, Jorge Luis Borges; I Married a Communist, Philip Roth; Tales from Ovid, Ted Hughes
Died
Paul Bowles Expatriate American novelist (The Sheltering Sky)
Quentin Crisp, British author (The Naked Civil Servant)
Clifton Fadiman, American literary critic
Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22
George V. Higgins, Crime novelist (The Friends of Eddie Coyle)
Garson Kanin, American theatrical and film director, playwright, screenwriter, author
Willie Morris, Mississippi-born writer, editor
Iris Murdoch, British novelist
J(ames) F(arl) Powers, American writer
Mario Puzo, American author (The Godfather)
Nathalie Sarrante, Russian-born writer of anti-novel (Nouveau Roman) movement
Jean Shepherd, American author, screenwriter