See also: 1996 in literature, other events of 1997, 1998 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
*Tom Clancy signed a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. (both part of Pearson Education), that paid him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . He then signed a second agreement for another US$25 million for a four-year book/multimedia deal. Clancy followed this up with an agreement with Berkley Books for 24 paperbacks to tie in with the an ABC television miniseries in an agreement worth US$22 million bringing the total value of the package to US$97 million.
* The memoir,
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, is removed from the ninth-grade English curriculum in Anne Arundel County,
Maryland, because it "portrays white people as being horrible, nasty, stupid people."
New books
*
American Pastoral - Philip Roth
*
Are You Experienced? - William Sutcliffe
*
The Bacta War - Michael Stackpole
*Barney's Version
- Mordecai Richler
*The Best Laid Plans
- Sidney Sheldon
*The Bible Code
- Michael Drosnin
*Budgie the Little Helicopter
- Sarah Ferguson
*Cat & Mouse
- James Patterson
*Cold Mountain
- Charles Frazier
*Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs
- Dave Barry
*Deja Dead
- Kathy Reichs
*Everyday Wicca
- Gerina Dunwich
*Fall On Your Knees
- Ann-Marie MacDonald
*The Ghost
- Danielle Steel
*Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- J. K. Rowling
*Hornet's Nest
- Patricia Cornwell
*The Hutt Gambit
- Ann C. Crispin
*I Am the Most Interesting Book of All
(translation) - Marie Bashkirtseff
*Instruments of Darkness
- Nancy Huston
*Jingo
- Terry Pratchett
*Larry's Party
- Carol Shields
*Last Standing Woman
- Winona LaDuke
*London Blues
- Anthony Frewin
*Mason & Dixon
- Thomas Pynchon
*Morisson of Peking
- Cyril Pearl
*Night Train
- Martin Amis
*The Paradise Snare
- Ann C. Crispin
*The Partner
- John Grisham
*Planet of Twilight
- Barbara Hambly
*Pretend You Don't See Her
- Mary Higgins Clark
*The Ranch
- Danielle Steel
*The Red Tent
- Anita Diamant
*Special Delivery
- Danielle Steel
*Specter of the Past
- Timothy Zahn
*The Subtle Knife
- Philip Pullman
*Timequake - Kurt Vonnegut
*Tomorrow Never Dies
- Raymond Benson
*Tuesdays With Morrie
- Mitch Albom
*Underworld
- Don DeLillo
*Unnatural Exposure
- Patricia Cornwell
*A Walk in the Woods
- Bill Bryson
*When the Sons of Heaven Meet the Daughters of the Earth
- Fernanda Eberstadt
*Zero Minus Ten
- Raymond Benson
New drama
*Thomas Kilroy - The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde
*Peter Whelan - The Herbal Bed
Non-fiction
*Karen Armstrong - Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
*Cari Beauchamp - Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood
*Gerina Dunwich - A Wiccan's Guide to Prophecy and Divination
*Stephen Fry - Moab Is My Washpot
(autobiography)
*Reinhold Heller - Toulouse-Lautrec: The Soul of Montmartre
Births
*
Deaths
* January 19 - James Dickey, poet, novelist
* April 5 - Allen Ginsberg, poet
* August 2 - William S. Burroughs, novelist
* October 14 - Harold Robbins, novelist
Awards
* Booker Prize: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
* Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Mordecai Richler: - Barney's Version
* See 1997 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
* IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: Javier Marias, A Heart So White
* Nebula Award: Vonda McIntyre, The Moon and the Sun
* Newbery Medal for children's literature: E. L. Konigsburg, The View from Saturday
* Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo
* Orange Prize for Fiction: Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
* Prix Goncourt: Patrick Rambaud, La Bataille
* Prix Décembre: Lydie Salvayre, La Compagnie des spectres
* Prix Médicis International: T. Coraghessan Boyle, America
* Prix Médicis French: Les Sept Noms du peintre
- Philippe Le Guillou
* Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
* Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Steven Millhauser - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
* Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Lisel Mueller: Live Together: New and Selected Poems
* Whitbread Best Book Award: Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid''
*
