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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2003.

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Events

  • February 12 – An invitation from the First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, for some poets to attend a conference at the White House is postponed when one of them, Sam Hamill, organizes a "Poets Against the War" group for poetry readings across the United States on the same date.
  • February 15 – Anti-war protests occur in London. They are later used as the setting for Ian McEwan's 2005 novel Saturday.
  • March – The University of Mosul library is damaged and looted during the Iraq War, but many volumes are removed for protection by staff.
  • April 14 – The Iraq National Library and Archive is burned down during the Battle of Baghdad.
  • April – Nicholas Hytner succeeds Sir Trevor Nunn as artistic director of London's Royal National Theatre.
  • November 7 – UNESCO places among the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity wayang kulit, a shadow puppet theatre and best known of the Indonesian wayang.

New books

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Fiction

  • Peter Ackroyd – The Clerkenwell Tales
  • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Purple Hibiscus
  • Mitch Albom – The Five People You Meet in Heaven
  • Monica Ali – Brick Lane
  • Martin Amis – Yellow Dog
  • Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake
  • Paul Auster – Oracle Night
  • Max Barry – Jennifer Government
  • Greg Bear – Darwin's Children
  • Frédéric Beigbeder – Windows on the World
  • Hilari Bell – Fall of a Kingdom
  • Thomas Berger – Best Friends
  • Giles Blunt – The Delicate Storm
  • Frank Brennan – Tampering with Asylum
  • Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code
  • Angus Peter Campbell – An Oidhche Mus Do Sheol Sinn
  • Lars Saabye Christensen – Maskeblomstfamilien
  • Paulo Coelho – Eleven Minutes
  • J. M. Coetzee – Elizabeth Costello
  • Bernard Cornwell
  • Sharpe's Havoc
  • Sharpe's Christmas
  • Heretic
  • Douglas Coupland – Hey Nostradamus!
  • Robert Crais – The Last Detective
  • Julie E. Czerneda – Space, Inc.
  • Jeffery Deaver – Twisted
  • Don DeLillo – Cosmopolis
  • Kate DiCamillo – The Tale of Despereaux
  • Cory Doctorow
  • A Place So Foreign and Eight More
  • Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
  • Gerard Donovan – Schopenhauer's Telescope
  • Fernanda Eberstadt – The Furies
  • Rodrigo Fresán – Jardines de Kensington
  • Cornelia Funke – Inkheart
  • Anna Gavalda – I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere (translation)
  • William Gibson – Pattern Recognition
  • Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen – Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War
  • Jean-Christophe Grangé – L'Empire des loups
  • John Grisham – The King of Torts
  • Margaret Peterson Haddix – Among the Barons
  • Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
  • Jennifer Haigh – Mrs. Kimble
  • Zoë Heller – Notes on a Scandal
  • Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner
  • Michel Houellebecq – Lanzarote
  • Evan Hunter – The Frumious Bandersnatch
  • Alan Judd – The Kaiser's Last Kiss
  • N. M. Kelby – Theater of the Stars: A Novel of Physics and Memory
  • Thomas Keneally – The Tyrant's Novel
  • Greg Keyes – The Final Prophecy
  • Stephen King – Wolves of the Calla
  • Dean R. Koontz
  • The Face
  • Odd Thomas
  • Jhumpa Lahiri – The Namesake
  • Dennis Lehane – Shutter Island
  • Jonathan Lethem – The Fortress of Solitude
  • James Luceno – The Unifying Force
  • Steve Martini – The Arraignment
  • Magnus Mills – The Scheme for Full Employment
  • Paul Murray – An Evening of Long Goodbyes
  • Julie Myerson – Something Might Happen
  • Andrew Neiderman – The Baby Squad
  • Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler's Wife
  • Garth Nix – Mister Monday
  • Chuck Palahniuk – Diary
  • Christopher Paolini – Eragon
  • Carolyn Parkhurst – The Dogs of Babel
  • Per Petterson – Out Stealing Horses (Ut og stjæle hester)
  • DBC Pierre – Vernon God Little
  • Terry Pratchett
  • Monstrous Regiment
  • The Wee Free Men
  • Jean Raspail – Les Royaumes de Borée
  • Matthew Reilly – Scarecrow
  • Nina Revoyr – Southland
  • Tom Robbins – Villa Incognito
  • J. Jill Robinson – Residual Desire
  • Nick Sagan – Idlewild
  • Matthew Sharpe – The Sleeping Father
  • Wilbur Smith – Blue Horizon
  • Olen Steinhauer – The Bridge of Sighs
  • Neal Stephenson – Quicksilver (Vol. I of the Baroque Cycle)
  • Matthew Stover – Shatterpoint
  • Jonathan Stroud – The Amulet of Samarkand
  • Anthony Swofford – Jarhead
  • Miguel Sousa Tavares – Equador
  • Adam Thirlwell – Politics
  • Akira Toriyama (鳥山 明) – Toccio the Angel (Tenshi no Tocchio)
  • Sergio Troncoso – The Nature of Truth
  • Andrew Vachss – The Getaway Man
  • Mario Vargas Llosa – The Way to Paradise (El paraíso en la otra esquina)
  • Jo Walton – Tooth and Claw
  • Irvine Welsh – Porno
  • Tobias Wolff – Old School
  • Roger Zelazny – Manna from Heaven (short stories)

Children and young people

  • David Almond – The Fire-Eaters
  • Atsuko Asano – No. 6 (あさの あつこ)
  • Cressida Cowell – How to Train Your Dragon (first in the eponymous series of 16 books)
  • Madonna - The English Roses
  • Elizabeth Laird – The Garbage King
  • Jim Murphy – An American Plague: the true and terrifying story of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793
  • Jenny Nimmo – Charlie Bone and the Time Twister
  • Tyne O'Connell – Pulling Princes
  • Philip Reeve – Predator's Gold
  • J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  • Lemony Snicket – The Slippery Slope
  • Dugald Steer (with Helen Ward, Wayne Anderson, etc.) – Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons
  • Mo Willems - Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (first in a series of 8 books)
  • Ann Turnbull – No Shame, No Fear
  • Kay Winters (with Barry Moser) – Voices of Ancient Egypt
  • Yang Hongying (楊紅櫻) – Four Troublemakers (四个调皮蛋, first in the Mo's Mischief – 淘气包马小跳 – series of 8 books)
  • Peter H. Reynolds - The Dot

Drama

  • Jordi Galceran – El mètode Grönholm (The Grönholm method)
  • Richard Greenberg – The Violet Hour
  • David Hare – The Permanent Way
  • Kwame Kwei-Armah – Elmina's Kitchen
  • Lynn Nottage – Intimate Apparel
  • Mark O'Rowe – Crestfall
  • Abhi Subedi – Agniko Katha

Poetry

  • Lavinia Greenlaw – Minsk
  • Pope John Paul II – Roman Triptych. Meditations
  • Dean Kalimniou – Kipos Esokleistos

Non–fiction

  • Banglapedia – National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh
  • Neal Bascomb – Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City
  • Patricia Brown – A League Of My Own: Memoir of a Pitcher for the All-American Girls
  • Andrea Curtis – Into the Blue
  • Richard Dawkins – A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love
  • Gerina Dunwich – Dunwich's Guide to Gemstone Sorcery
  • Jerry A. Eichenberger – Your Pilot's License
  • Marc Ferro – Le Livre noir du colonialisme
  • John Fowles – The Journals – Volume 1
  • Anna Funder – Stasiland
  • Mattias Gardell – Gods of the Blood
  • A. C. Grayling – What Is Good?: The Search for the Best Way to Live
  • Christopher Hitchens – A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq
  • Erik Larson – The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
  • Bethany McLean – The Smartest Guys in the Room
  • Don Miller – Blue Like Jazz
  • Michael Moore – Dude, Where's My Country?
  • Azar Nafisi – Reading Lolita in Tehran
  • Alanna Nash – The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley
  • Daniel Okrent – Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center
  • Chuck Palahniuk – Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon
  • Rudy Ruiz – ¡ADELANTE!: una guía personal del éxito para usted y su familia (a guide for success for immigrants)
  • Jane Smiley – Charles Dickens
  • Clark Ashton Smith – Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith
  • David Starkey – Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII
  • Lynne McTaggart – The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe
  • Amy Tan – The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings
  • Lynne Truss – Eats, Shoots & Leaves
  • Penny Wolfson – Moonrise

Films

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Deaths

  • January 5 – Jean Kerr, American author and playwright (born 1923)
  • January 21 – Paul Haines, American-born Canadian poet and songwriter (born 1933)
  • February 16 – Aleksandar Tišma, Serbian novelist (born 1924)
  • February 26 – Quentin Keynes, English explorer, writer and filmmaker (born 1921)
  • March 11 – Brian Cleeve, English-born Irish writer and broadcaster (born 1921)
  • March 12 – Howard Fast, American novelist (born 1914)
  • March 14 – Lucian Boz, Romanian and Australian literary critic (born 1908)
  • April 3 – Michael Kelly, American journalist (born 1957)
  • April 7 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French children's writer (born 1903)
  • June 21
  • George Axelrod, American dramatist and screenwriter (born 1922)
  • Leon Uris, American novelist (born 1924)
  • July 6 – Kathleen Raine, English poet, scholar, and translator (born 1908)
  • July 10 – Winston Graham, English novelist (born 1908)
  • July 14 – Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist and children's writer (born 1926)
  • July 15 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean-born fiction writer (born 1953)
  • July 16 – Carol Shields, American-born Canadian novelist (breast cancer; born 1935)
  • September 3 – Alan Dugan, American poet (born 1923)
  • September 12 – Profira Sadoveanu, Romanian journalist, memoirist, biographer, editor and translator (born 1906)
  • September 24 – Derek Prince, English biblical scholar, author and radio presenter (born 1915)
  • September 25 – Edward Said, Palestinian-American literary critic (born 1935)
  • November 9 – Alan Davidson, Northern Irish historian and food writer (born 1924)
  • December 3 – Sita Ram Goel, Indian historian, publisher and author (born 1921)
  • December 11 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (born 1927)
  • December 12 – Fadwa Toukan, Palestinian poet (born 1917)

Awards

  • Nobel Prize for Literature: J. M. Coetzee

Australia

  • The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Nicholas Angel, Drown Them in the Sea
  • C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Emma Lew, Anything the Landlord Touches
  • Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Jill Jones, Screens Jets Heaven
  • Miles Franklin Award: Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country

Canada

  • Giller Prize: M. G. Vassanji – The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
  • See 2003 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of the winners of those awards.
  • Griffin Poetry Prize: Margaret Avison, Concrete and Wild Carrot and Paul Muldoon, Moy sand and gravel
  • Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Alison Watt, The Last Island

Sweden

  • Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award: Maurice Sendak and Christine Nöstlinger

United Kingdom

  • Booker Prize: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little
  • Caine Prize for African Writing: Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, "Weight of Whispers"
  • Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light
  • Cholmondeley Award: Ciarán Carson, Michael Donaghy, Lavinia Greenlaw, Jackie Kay
  • David Cohen Prize: Beryl Bainbridge, Thom Gunn
  • Eric Gregory Award: Jen Hadfield, Zoë Brigley, Paul Batchelor, Olivia Cole, Sasha Dugdale, Anna Woodford
  • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Janet Browne, Charles Darwin: Volume 2 – The Power of Place
  • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Andrew O'Hagan, Personality
  • Orange Prize for Fiction: Valerie Martin, Property
  • Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: U. A. Fanthorpe
  • Whitbread Book of The Year Award: Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel

United States

  • Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: David Shumate, High Water Mark
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry: W. S. Merwin
  • Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Julie Sheehan, "Brown-headed Cow Birds"
  • Bollingen Prize for Poetry: Adrienne Rich
  • Brittingham Prize in Poetry: Brian Teare, The Room Where I Was Born
  • Compton Crook Award: Patricia Bray, Devlin's Luck
  • Frost Medal: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
  • Hugo Award: Robert J. Sawyer, Hominids
  • Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2003 Lambda Literary Awards
  • National Book Award for Fiction: Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire
  • National Book Critics Circle Award: Edward P. Jones, The Known World
  • Newbery Medal for children's literature: Avi, Crispin: The Cross of Lead
  • PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Sabina Murray, The Caprices
  • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
  • Wallace Stevens Award: Richard Wilbur
  • Whiting Awards:

:Fiction: Courtney Angela Brkic (fiction/nonfiction), Alexander Chee, Agymah Kamau, Ann Pancake, Lewis Robinson, Jess Row

:Nonfiction: Christopher Cokinos, Trudy Dittmar

:Plays: Sarah Ruhl

:Poetry: Major Jackson

Other

  • Camões Prize: Rubem Fonseca
  • Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Susan Sontag
  • International Dublin Literary Award: Orhan Pamuk My Name is Red
  • Premio Nadal: Andrés Trapiello, Los amigos del crimen perfecto
  • SAARC Literary Award: Tissa Abeysekara, Laxman Gaikwad

See also

  • 2003 in comics
  • 2003 in Australian literature

Notes

References

  • Popular Books of 2003 at Goodreads