This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2018.
Events July – Stormzy's publisher imprint Merky Books is launched in London. August 11 – Writer V. S. Naipaul, on his deathbed in London, has Tennyson's poem "Crossing the Bar" read to him by the newspaper editor Geordie Greig. September 16 – Lady Mary Wroth's pastoral closet drama Love's Victory receives its first fully professional, publicly staged (filmed) performance, at Penshurst Place in England, where it was probably written about 1618. It is the first known original pastoral drama and thought to be the first original dramatic comedy to be written by a woman. October 19 – The exhibition Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, opening at the British Library, includes the earliest surviving will of an Englishwoman. Written on "a small, stained sheet of parchment", the detailed testament of Wynflæd is thought to date from the mid- to late 10th century.Michael Wood: "Wynflæd's Will". History Today, November 2018, pp. 78–83. October 26 – Under the Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, a referendum in the Republic approves removing the offence of publishing or uttering blasphemous matter from the Constitution. November 19 – The Prix littéraire des collégiens in Quebec is suspended after five shortlisted authors condemn its sponsorship by Amazon as "promotion of a multinational that harms bookstores".
New books Dates after each title indicate U.S. publication, unless otherwise indicated.
Fiction Claudia Amengual - El lugar inalcanzable (April) Sharon Bala – The Boat People Jason Barker – Marx Returns (February 23, UK) Pat Barker – The Silence of the Girls (September 4, UK) Julian Barnes – The Only Story (February 1, UK) Paul Goldberg – The Chateau (February 13) Belinda Bauer – Snap (May 15) John Boyne – A Ladder to the Sky Anna Burns – Milkman (May, UK) Jonathan Coe – Middle England (November 8, UK) S. A. Cosby – My Darkest Prayer Tsitsi Dangarembga – This Mournable Body Patrick deWitt – French Exit Nick Drnaso – Sabrina (May 22, graphic novel) Esi Edugyan – Washington Black (August) Chris Hammer – Scrublands Sarah Henstra – The Red Word Jonas Jonasson – The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man Stephen King – Elevation Torsten Krol – Foreverman Rachel Kushner – The Mars Room (June) Olivia Laing – Crudo (June, UK) Ian McDonald – Time Was (April 24, UK) Sophie Mackintosh – The Water Cure (May, UK) Rebecca Makkai – The Great Believers (June) Daniel Mason – The Winter Soldier (September 11) Andrés Neuman – Fractura (Madrid and Buenos Aires) Michael Ondaatje – Warlight (May 8, UK) Delia Owens – Where the Crawdads Sing (August 14) Casey Plett – Little Fish Richard Powers – The Overstory (April 3) Tom Rachman – The Italian Teacher (March 22, UK) Marieke Lucas Rijneveld – The Discomfort of Evening (De avond is ongemak) (Netherlands) Robin Robertson – The Long Take (February 13, UK) Sally Rooney – Normal People (August 28, UK) Donal Ryan – From a Low and Quiet Sea (March 22, UK) Elif Şafak – On Dakika Otuz Sekiz Saniye (10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World) (Turkey) Nic Stone – Dear Martin Tanya Tagaq – Split Tooth"Tanya Tagaq steps out onto an unfamiliar stage". Now, September 12, 2018. Zlatko Topčić – Overture Nico Walker – Cherry (August 14) Joshua Whitehead – Jonny Appleseed
Children and young people Elizabeth Acevedo – The Poet X (verse novel, March 6) Arndís Þórarinsdóttir – Nærbuxnaverksmiðjan Tomi Adeyemi – Children of Blood and Bone (March 6) David Almond – The Colour of the Sun (May 3, UK) Ross Burach – Truck Full of Ducks Connie Glynn – Princess in Practice (September 15, UK) Candy Gourlay – Bone Talk (August 2, UK) Grace Lin – A Big Mooncake for Little Star Hilary McKay – The Skylarks War (September 20, UK) Patricia McKissack – Who Will Bell the Cat? Charlotte Pence – Marlon Bundo's: A Day in the Life of the Vice President (March 19) Anne Renaud – Fania's Heart Manon Steffan Ros – Llyfr Glas Nebo (Wales) Jill Twiss – A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (March 18) David Walliams – The Ice Monster (November 6, UK)
Poetry
Drama Howard Brenton – The Shadow Factory Jackie Sibblies Drury – Fairview Jeremy O. Harris – Slave Play
Non-fiction Behrouz Boochani – No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison (Australia) Amaranth Borsuk – The Book (April 27) James Comey – A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership (April 17) Anthony Freeman – One Step Closer: 40 Doses of Motivation, Hacks, and Experiences to Share with Millennial Catholics (February 6, Italy) Jim Holt – When Einstein Walked with Gödel (May 15) Dan Jones – The Colour of Time: A New History of the World, 1850–1960 (August 9, UK) Michelle McNamara – I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer (February 27) Omarosa Manigault – Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House (August 14) Martin Rees – On the Future Albert Samaha – Never Ran, Never Will (September 4) Julius S. Scott – The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution (written as PhD thesis 1986) Antony Sher – Year of the Mad King: the Lear diaries (March 15, UK) Sylvain Tesson – Un été avec Homère (April 26, France) Sander Verhaeg – Working from Within: The Nature and Development of Quine's Naturalism Tara Westover – Educated: A Memoir Michael Wolff – Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (January 9) Shoshana Zuboff – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
Biography and memoirs Viv Albertine – To Throw Away Unopened (April/May, UK) Paul D. Gibson – The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee (April, UK) Tom Gregory – A Boy in the Water (August 30, UK) Lindsey Hilsum – In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin (November) Jean-Marie Le Pen – Mémoires: fils de la nation (March 1, France) Michelle Obama – Becoming (November 13) Bart Van Es – The Cut Out Girl: a story of War and Family, Lost and Found (August 2, UK) Clemantine Wamariya with Elizabeth Weil – The Girl Who Smiled Beads Raynor Winn – The Salt Path (March 22, UK) Benjamin Zephaniah – The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah: The Autobiography (May 3, UK)
Deaths Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in literature" article: January 1 – Jahn Otto Johansen, Norwegian non-fiction writer and 1982 Cappelen Prize recipient, 83 (born 1934)Jahn Otto Johansen er død January 3 – Fred Bass, American bookseller and owner of the Strand Bookstore, 89 (born 1928) Valery Chalidze, Russian-born American publisher, 79 (born 1938)Умер Валерий Чалидзе Philip Eden FRMetS, English weather historian, 66 (born 1951) Keorapetse Kgositsile, South African poet and National Poet Laureate, 79 (born 1938) Ambalavaner Sivanandan, Sri Lankan writer and 1998 Commonwealth Writers' Prize winner in the Best First Book category for Europe and South Asia, 94 (born 1923) January 4 – Aharon Appelfeld, Romanian-born Israeli writer, 85 (born 1932) January 5 – Muntazir Baba, Pakistani Pushto poet, 68 (born 1950) Rasa Chughtai, Indian-born Pakistani Urdu poet, 89 (born 1928) Donald D. Evans, Canadian philosopher with an interest in Dostoevsky and Camus, 90 (born 1927) Carlo Pedretti, Italian historian, 89 (born 1928)E' morto Carlo Pedretti, il più grande esperto di Leonardo da Vinci Marina Ripa di Meana, Italian best-selling autobiographer, 76 (born 1941)Morta Marina Ripa di Meana January 7 – Markku Into, Finnish poet and translator, 72 (born 1945)TS: Suomalaisen undergroundin ikoni Markku Into on kuollut Bjørg Vik, Norwegian novelist, short story writer and playwright, co-founder of feminist magazine Sirene, 82 (born 1935)Forfatter Bjørg Vik er død January 8 – J. F. C. Harrison, English historian, 96 (born 1921) Jenny Joseph, English poet, 85 (born 1932) Tricia Walker, English best-selling writer, 53 (born 1964) January 9 – Heikki Kirkinen, Finnish historian, 90 (born 1927)Emeritusprofessori Heikki Kirkinen on kuollut Yılmaz Onay, Turkish writer and translator, 80 (born 1937)Son dakika haberi... Tiyatrocu yazar Yılmaz Onay hayatını kaybetti Mario Perniola, Italian philosopher and professor of aesthetics, 76 (born 1941)Morto Mario Perniola, il filosofo esploratore dei media e dell'arte January 10 – Gordon Hølmebakk, Norwegian publishing editor, essayist and novelist, 89 (born 1928)Gordon Hølmebakk, 1928–2018 January 12 – Doodhnath Singh, Indian Hindi language writer, 81 (born 1936) Heinrich von Stietencron, German Indologist, 84 (born 1933)Prof. em. Dr. Heinrich Hartwig Loki von Stietencron January 13 – Darmanto Jatman, Indonesian poet, 75 (born 1942)Budayawan Darmanto Jatman Tutup Usia January 14 – Geoffrey Best FBA, English historian, 89 (born 1928) Pablo García Baena, Spanish poet and 1984 Asturias Prize recipient, 96 (born 1921)Muere a los 96 años el poeta cordobés Pablo García Baena Samuel A. Schreiner Jr., American writer, 96 (born 1921) January 15 – Moussa Diagana, Mauritanian writer, 71 (born 1946)In Memoriam Moussa Diagana January 17 – Guy Dupré, French writer and publisher, 89 (born 1928)Guy Dupré est mort : ses fiancées sont tristes January 18 – Peter Mayle, English best-selling memoirist of A Year in Provence and A Good Year, 78 (born 1939 Nancy Richler, Canadian novelist and second cousin of the novelist Mordecai Richler, 60 (born 1957) Henry Soles Jr., American editor of two books: The Soul Food New Testament and the Children of Color Bible (both published by Tyndale House), 82 (born 1935) January 19 – Saqi Farooqi, Pakistani poet, 81 (born 1936) David M. Knight, English historian of science, 81 (born 1936) January 21 – Jock Haswell, English military historian and intelligence officer, 98 (born 1919) January 22 – Emilio Gastón, Spanish poet, 83 (born 1935)Fallece el político y escritor Emilio Gastón, primer Justicia de Aragón de la etapa democrática Ursula K. Le Guin, American science fiction and fantasy author, 88 (born 1929) January 23 – Nicanor Parra, Chilean poet and physicist, 103 (born 1914) January 24 – Matti Rissanen, Finnish philologist with an interest in Old English, director of the project that produced the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts covering 1,000 years of the English language and used widely since its publication in 1991, involved in the translation of Shakespeare, 80 (born 1937) January 25 – Claribel Alegría, Nicaraguan poet, 93 (born 1924)Fallece la poeta nicaragüense Claribel Alegría a los 93 años Shawkat Ali, Bangladeshi writer, 81 (born 1936) Neagu Djuvara, Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher and novelist, 101 (born 1916)A murit Neagu Djuvara. Cine a fost și ce a însemnat pentru cultura și istoria României January 29 – Anthony Kemp, English military historian, 78 (born 1939) Stewart Sutherland, Baron Sutherland of Houndwood , Scottish philosopher of religion, explorer of continental thinkers including Fyodor Dostoevsky, Søren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus and Simone Weil, 76 (born 1941) January 30 – Andreas Gruschke, German writer and sinologist, 57 (born 1960)Andreas Gruschke Dr. Richard Murphy, Irish poet, 90 (born 1927) January 31 – Haim Gouri, Israeli poet, 94 (born 1923) February 1 – André Baudry, French philosophy professor and founder of the homophile review Arcadie, 95 (born 1922)Mort d'André Baudry, fondateur d'Arcadie la première association homosexuelle française Niranjan Bhagat, Indian poet in the English and Gujarati languages (the English being mostly in the style of Gitanjali), 1949 Kumar Suvarna Chandrak recipient, 1953 Narmad Suvarna Chandrak recipient, 1969 Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak recipient, 1998 Premanand Suvarna Chandrak recipient, 1999 Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati language recipient, 2001 Narsinh Mehta Award winner, 91 (born 1926) William Whitehead, Canadian writer and longtime partner of fellow writer Timothy Findley, 86 (born 1931) February 3 – Bill Teale, American educator and literacy advocate, 70 (born 1947)