This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1981. May 31 – The burning of Jaffna library in Sri Lanka is begun by an organized mob of police and government-sponsored paramilitaries. They destroyed over 97,000 volumes in one of the most violent examples of ethnic book burning in the modern era. John Gardner successfully revives the James Bond novel series originated by Ian Fleming with Licence Renewed (not counting a faux biography of Bond and a pair of film novelizations, the first original Bond novel since 1968's Colonel Sun). The revived Bond book series will run uninterrupted until 2002. Colin MacCabe is denied tenure at the University of Cambridge, apparently because of his central position in a publicised dispute within the English Faculty about the teaching of structuralism. Powell's Books opens as a bookstore in Portland, Oregon. The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is given for the first time. Kingsley Amis (ed.) – The Golden Age of Science Fiction Martin Amis – Other People V. C. Andrews – If There Be Thorns Louis Auchincloss – The Cat and the King René Barjavel – Une rose au paradis Samuel Beckett – Ill Seen Ill Said Thomas Berger – Reinhart's Women Pierre Berton – Flames Across the Border Simon Bond – 101 Uses for a Dead Cat William Boyd – A Good Man in Africa Pascal Bruckner – Evil Angels William S. Burroughs – Cities of the Red Night Robert Olen Butler – The Alleys of Eden Peter Carey – Bliss Raymond Carver – What We Talk About When We Talk About Love David Case – The Third Grave James Clavell – Noble House Bernard Cornwell Sharpe's Eagle Sharpe's Gold John Crowley – Little, Big L. Sprague de Camp – The Hand of Zei L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp – Footprints on Sand Régine Deforges – La Bicyclette bleue (The Blue Bicycle) Samuel R. Delany – Distant Star Michel Déon – Where Are You Dying Tonight? (Un déjeuner de soleil) Cynthia Freeman – No Time for Tears Gabriel García Márquez – Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Crónica de una muerte anunciada) John Gardner – Licence Renewed Charles L. Grant – Tales from the Nightside Alasdair Gray – Lanark Jan Guillou – Ondskan Thomas Harris – Red Dragon Frank Herbert – God Emperor of Dune Douglas Hill – Planet of the Warlord Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp – The Flame Knife John Irving – The Hotel New Hampshire Rona Jaffe – Mazes and Monsters Alan Judd – A Breed of Heroes Ismail Kadare – The File on H (Dosja J) Stephen King – Cujo Chart Korbjitti – Khamphiphaksa (The Judgment) Joe R. Lansdale – Act of Love Stanisław Lem – Golem XIV Colleen McCullough – An Indecent Obsession Elliot S! Maggin – Miracle Monday Naguib Mahfouz – Arabian Nights and Days (ليالي ألف ليلة) Ian McEwan – The Comfort of Strangers Toni Morrison – Tar Baby Robert B. Parker A Savage Place Early Autumn Ellis Peters Saint Peter's Fair The Leper of Saint Giles Terry Pratchett – Strata Bano Qudsia – Raja Gidh ("King Vulture") Jean Raspail – Moi, Antoine de Tounens, roi de Patagonie Alain Robbe-Grillet – Djinn Harold Robbins – Goodbye, Janette Lawrence Sanders – The Third Deadly Sin Martin Cruz Smith – Gorky Park Anja Snellman – Sonja O. kävi täällä Muriel Spark – Loitering with Intent Botho Strauß – Couples, Passersby (Paare, Passanten) Paul Theroux – The Mosquito Coast D. M. Thomas – The White Hotel John Updike – Rabbit Is Rich Jack Vance – The Book of Dreams Mario Vargas Llosa – The War of the End of the World (La guerra del fin del mundo) Gore Vidal – Creation Joseph Wambaugh – The Glitter Dome Kit Williams – Masquerade Gene Wolfe The Claw of the Conciliator The Sword of the Lictor Roger Zelazny The Changing Land Madwand Chris Van Allsburg – Jumanji Hans Christian Andersen (with Jane S. Woodward and Michael Hague) – Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales Judy Blume – Tiger Eyes Roald Dahl – George's Marvellous Medicine Rumer Godden – The Dragon of Og Roger Hargreaves – Little Miss (first 13 books in the Little Miss series of 21) Harold Lamb (with George Barr and Alicia Austin) – Durandal Michael de Larrabeiti – The Borribles Go for Broke Janet Lunn – The Root Cellar Patricia Lynch – The Turf-Cutter's Donkey Michelle Magorian – Goodnight Mister Tom C. L. Moore (with Alicia Austin) - Scarlet Dream Uri Orlev – The Island on Bird Street (האי ברחוב הציפורים) Ruth Park – The Muddle-Headed Wombat is Very Bad Bill Peet – Encore for Eleanor Alvin Schwartz – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Maurice Sendak – Outside Over There Robert Westall – The Scarecrows Samuel Beckett – Rockaby Edward Bond – Restoration Tankred Dorst – Merlin oder das wüste Land 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 Maya Angelou – The Heart of a Woman Colin Robert Chase – The Dating of Beowulf Mary Chesnut – Mary Chesnut's Civil War Hugo Brandt Corstius – Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde Daniel Dennett – Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology Nancy C. Dorian – Language Death: The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic Dialect Timothy Findley – Famous Last Words Stephen Jay Gould – The Mismeasure of Man Dumas Malone – The Sage of Monticello V. S. Naipaul – Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey Giovanni Pettinato – The Archives of Ebla: An Empire Inscribed in Clay Anne Scott-James – The Cottage Garden Ian Smith – The Great Betrayal Viktor Suvorov – The Liberators Xu Zhongyu – University Chinese (大学语文) July 10 – Karen Russell, American novelist September 30 – Cecelia Ahern, Irish novelist October 3 – Leïla Slimani, Franco-Moroccan novelist December 10 – NoViolet Bulawayo (Elizabeth Zandile Tshele), Zimbabwe-born novelist Unknown dates Amy Sackville, English novelist Sunjeev Sahota, English novelist January 9 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (born 1896) 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 20 – Pedro García Cabrera, Spanish poet (born 1905) March 29 – Clive Sansom, English-born Tasmanian poet and playwright (born 1910) 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 30 – Gwendolyn B. Bennett, African American writer and artist (born 1902) June 15 – Philip Toynbee, English novelist and journalist (born 1916) September 3 – Alec Waugh, English novelist (born 1898) September 12 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet (born 1896) December 26 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-born English scholar, feminist and novelist (born 1887) Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti 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 See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. 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 Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Octavio Paz 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 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 Hugo Award for Best Novel: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero