This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2015.
Events January 7 – Charlie Hebdo shooting: An attack on the leading Franch satirical weekly kills 12 and wounds 11. This week's cover features Michel Houellebecq, whose novel Submission is published that day. January 21 – The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launches a six-part television miniseries of Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. March 8 – The BBC launches a new television series of Winston Graham's Poldark novels. March 10 – Jacek Dukaj's cyberpunk novel The Old Axolotl is published in its original Polish version as as purely electronic literature including hypertext and 3D printable character models. March 19 – Kim Thúy's novel Ru wins the 2015 edition of Canada Reads. July 7 – Jeff Lindsay releases his final novel in the "Dexter" series, writing off Dexter Morgan two years after the final episode in the television series. c. October 14 – Start of Causeway Bay Books disappearances: Five staff of the political bookseller Causeway Bay Books in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, go missing, apparently detained by mainland Chinese authorities. November 10 – The Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford acquires its twelve millionth book, a unique copy of Shelley's subversive Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things "by a Gentleman of the University of Oxford", published in 1811. November 25 – Singapore's Media Development Authority lifts prohibitions on 240 publications under the Undesirable Publications Act. unknown date – English author Iain Pears' novel Arcadia is accompanied as an electronic book by an interactive app allowing readers to switch between multiple narratives.
Anniversaries January 4 – 50th anniversary of the death of Anglo-American poet T. S. Eliot April 23 – Centenary of the death of English poet Rupert Brooke, on active service June – Centenary of the publication of T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" June 10 – Centenary of Saul Bellow's birth June 13 – 150th anniversary of W. B. Yeats, who was born on this date in 1865WB Yeats at 150 with The Irish Times September 26 – 75th anniversary of his death of Walter Benjamin October – Centenary of the publication of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung). November 26 – 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland – 150th Anniversary website. Accessed 23 September 2015. October 21 – 75th anniversary of the publication of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls December 21 – 75th anniversary of the death of American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald December 23 – Bicentenary of the publication of Jane Austen's Emma
New books The date in brackets after a title refers to U.S. publication unless otherwise stated.
Fiction Rabai al-Madhoun – Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Naqba André Alexis – Fifteen Dogs Isabel Allende – El amante japonés Claudia Amengual – Cartagena (April 28) Margaret Atwood – The Heart Goes Last Leigh Bardugo – Six of Crows Paul Beatty – The Sellout (March 3) Pierce Brown – Golden Son (January 6) Graeme Macrae Burnet – His Bloody Project (UK, November 6) Mark Z. Danielewski The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May (May 12) The Familiar, Volume 2: Into the Forest (Oct 27) Mathias Énard – Boussole (Compass) Raymond Carver – Beginners (September 15) Anne Enright – The Green Road Jonathan Franzen – Purity (September 1) Paula Hawkins – The Girl on the Train (January 13) Lawrence Hill – The Illegal Michel Houellebecq - Submission (France, January 7) John Irving – Avenue of Mysteries (November 3) Kazuo Ishiguro – The Buried Giant (March 3) Miranda July – The First Bad Man (January 13) Stephen King Finders Keepers (June 2) The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (November 3) Harper Lee – Go Set a Watchman (July 14; written c.1955) Sarah J. Maas – A Court of Thorns and Roses Michael Livingston – The Shards of Heaven (November 24) Attica Locke – Pleasantville Tom McCarthy – Satin Island (UK) Ian McDonald – Luna: New Moon (September 17) Lisa McInerney – The Glorious Heresies (April) Henning Mankell (d. October 15) – (Sweden; translated as After the Fire, 2017) Toni Morrison – God Help the Child (April 21) Ottessa Moshfegh – Eileen (August) Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹) – Wind/Pinball: Two Novels (August 4) Viet Thanh Nguyen – The Sympathizer Chigozie Obioma – The Fishermen Max Porter – Grief is the Thing with Feathers (UK, September 17) Orhan Pamuk – A Strangeness in My Mind (October 20) Sunjeev Sahota – The Year of the Runaways (UK, June) John Scalzi – The End of All Things (August 11) Roger Scruton – The Disappeared (March 5) Adhirath Sethi – The Debt Collector´s Due (India, March 10) Joss Sheldon – Occupied (UK, October 20) Neal Stephenson – Seveneves (May 19) Anne Tyler – A Spool of Blue Thread Guy Vanderhaeghe – Daddy Lenin and Other Stories Sarai Walker – Dietland (May 26) Hanya Yanagihara – A Little Life
Children and young people Kevan Atteberry – Bunnies!!! Bob Barner – Sea Bones Holly Bodger – 5 to 1 (May 12) Janeen Brian - I’m A Hungry Dinosaur Sarah Crossan – One (verse, UK, August 27) Brian Falkner – Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo Nadia Fink (illustrated by Pitu Saá) – Frida Kahlo for Girls and Boys (Frida Kahlo para chicas y chicos) (Argentina, June, first in Anti-Princess Series (Colección antiprincesas)) Peter Goes – Timeline Jane Godwin – The True Story of Mary Frances Hardinge – The Lie Tree (UK, May 7) Hiro Kamigaki – Pierre the Maze Detective Moriah McStay – Everything That Makes You Carol Morley – 7 Miles Out Barry Moser – We Were Brothers Lesléa Newman – Ketzel, the Cat who Composed Jerry Pinkney – The Grasshopper & the Ants Rick Riordan Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes (August 18) The Sword of Summer (October 6) Rainbow Rowell – Carry On R. A. Spratt – Friday Barnes, Under Suspicion Yasmine Surovec – My Pet Human Lynn Weingarten – Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls
Poetry
Drama Annie Baker – John David Hare – The Moderate Soprano Lynn Nottage – Sweat Tom Stoppard – The Hard Problem (UK, February 5)
Non-fiction Elizabeth Alexander – The Light of the World: A Memoir Björk – Archives Carrie Brownstein – Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl Noam Chomsky – Because We Say So Kate Christensen – How To Cook A Moose: A Culinary Memoir Alexa Clay and Kyra Maya Phillips – The Misfit Economy Ta-Nehisi Coates - Between the World and Me (July) Isaac Deutscher – The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky Kim Gordon – Girl in a Band Greg Grandin – Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman Chris Hedges – Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt Tameka Hobbs - Democracy Abroad, Lynching At Home Robert Hughes – The Spectacle of Skill: Selected Writings (November 17) W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne – Blue Ocean Strategy (expanded edition) B. B. Lal – The Rigvedic People: Invaders? Immigrants? or Indigenous? Zachary Leader – The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915–1964 Mark Levin – Plunder and Deceit Bethany McLean – Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants Alberto Manguel – Curiosity (literary criticism) John Marenbon – Pagans and Philosophers (March 22) Leslie D. Michelson – The Patient's Playbook (September) Minae Mizumura (translated by Mari Yoshihara and Juliet Winters Carpenter) – The Fall of Language in the Age of English Maggie Nelson – The Argonauts Jay Parini – Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal Marilynne Robinson – The Givenness of Things: Essays (October 27) Oliver Sacks – Gratitude Ruth Scurr – John Aubrey: My Own Life James Shapiro – The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 Steve Silberman – NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity Aaron Swartz – The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz (November 26, UK) Edmund de Waal – The White Road. A Pilgrimage of Sorts (porcelain) Jim Wallis – America's Original Sin Rainn Wilson - The Bassoon King
Films The Danish Girl
Deaths January 1 – Miller Williams, American poet, 84 (born 1930) January 4 – Michele Serros, American novelist, poet, and staff writer, 48 (born 1966)McKinnon, Lisa (January 5, 2015) 'Chicana Role Model' author, Oxnard native Serros succumbs to cancer at 48 January 10 – Robert Stone, American novelist, 77 (born 1937) January 12 – John Bayley, novelist and critic, 89 (born 1925) January 25 – John Leggett, American author and academic, 97 (born 1917) January 27 – Suzette Haden Elgin, American linguist and science fiction author, 78 (born 1936) January 28 – Lionel Gilbert, Australian historian, author, and academic, 90 (born 1924) January 29 – Colleen McCullough, Australian author, 77 (born 1937) February 6 André Brink, South African novelist and professor of literature, (born 1935) Assia Djebar, Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker, (born 1936) February 13 – Faith Bandler, Australian author and civil rights activist, 96 (born 1918) February 14 – Philip Levine, American poet laureate, 87 (born 1928)Nobody Was Writing Poetry of This World Like Philip Levine (1928–2015) – from "Harriet the Blog" at The Poetry Foundation website. February 23 – James Aldridge, Australian-born British novelist and journalist, 96 (born 1918) February 26 Fritz J. Raddatz, German feuilleton writer, essayist and biographer (suicide, born 1931)Ein Genie und Provokateur Avijit Roy, Bangladeshi-American writer, 42 (stabbed, born 1972) February 28 – Yaşar Kemal, Turkish writer and intellectual (born 1923) March 12 – Sir Terry Pratchett, English author of fantasy novels, 66 (posterior cortical atrophy, born 1948) March 18 – Grace Ogot, Kenyan writer, 84 (born 1930) March 24 – Alan Seymour, Australian playwright, 87 (born 1927)Marc McEvoy, obituary: "The one day of the year became a defining moment in writer's life". The Age, 30 March 2015, p. 34 March 26 – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, translator, and Nobel prizewinner, 83 (born 1931) April 9 – Ivan Doig, American novelist, 75 (born 1939). April 13 Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist, 74 (lung cancer, born 1940) Günter Grass, German novelist, poet, playwright, and Nobel prizewinner, 87 (lung infection, born 1927) April 15 – Rosemary Tonks, English poet and novelist, 85 (born 1928) May 2 – Ruth Rendell, English crime and thriller writer, 85 (born 1930) May 2 – William Zinsser American journalist and critic (born 1922) May 20 – J. S. Harry, Australian poet, 76 (born 1939) May 23 – Moyra Caldecott, English writer, 87 (born 1927) June 19 – James Salter, American novelist and short-story writer, 90 (born 1925) July 21 – E. L. Doctorow, American novelist, 84 (born 1931) July 31 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and radio reviewer, 75 (born 1940) August 30 – Oliver Sacks, British neurologist and author (Awakenings), 82 (born 1933) October 2 – Brian Friel, Irish playwright and short-story writer, 86 (born 1929) October 5 – Henning Mankell, Swedish novelist, children’s author and playwright, 67 (born 1948) October 7 – W. R. Mitchell, English journalist and author, 87 (born 1928) October 18 Gamal El-Ghitani, Egyptian novelist and cultural critic, 70 (born 1945) Paul West, English-born American novelist, poet and essayist, 85 (born 1930) October 27 – Mitzura Arghezi, Romanian book editor, illustrator, and politician (born 1924) November 30: Dan Fante, American author and playwright, 71 (born 1944) Hazel Holt, English novelist, 87 (born 1928) November 30 – Fatema Mernissi, Moroccan scholar and writer, 75 (born 1940) December 5 – William McIlvanney, Scottish novelist, short-story writer and poet, 79 (born 1936) December 9 – Akiyuki Nosaka, Japanese writer (Grave of the Fireflies), 85 (born 1930) December 16 - Peter Dickinson, English author and poet (born 1927)
Awards Akutagawa Prize, Japan: Masatsugu Ono for (A Prayer Nine Years Ago) Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, U.S.: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James