This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2020.
Events April 14 – Bookshops are among the first few premises permitted to reopen on relaxation of restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. May 26–July 10 – J. K. Rowling releases her new fairy tale The Ickabog in free online instalments during restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. June 25 – Louisa May Alcott's unfinished "Aunt Nellie's Story" (c.1849) is first published, in The Strand Magazine. July 31 – 2020 Booker Prize longlisted (later shortlisted) author Tsitsi Dangarembga is arrested in Zimbabwe as part of a government crackdown ahead of anti-corruption protests. August – The Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, purchases Das Große Stammbuch, an album amicorum compiled by diplomat Philipp Hainhofer, which the library's patron Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, tried but failed to acquire following Hainhofer's death in 1647. October 13 – A first issue first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone sells at auction in the UK for £60,000 and a copy of Isaac Newton's The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in the 1729 English translation (the second to sell in recent weeks) for £24,000. October 14 – A Shakespeare First Folio sells at auction in New York City for $9.98M (£7.6M) (50% more than the previous copy auctioned in 2001). November 25 – Penguin Random House agrees to acquire rival publisher Simon & Schuster from ViacomCBS for US$2.175 billion.
New books Dates after each title indicate the first publication, unless otherwise indicated.
ISBN in first citation always refers to the first edition published. Links should point to first edition, though they may point to newer editions by the same publisher. If the publisher does not present the first edition online, a second citation is provided with a link to a newer one on the publisher's site.
OCLC may represent other ISBNs in some cases.
Fiction AuthorWorkDateNationPublisherReviewsAwardsGil AdamsonRidgerunnerHouse of AnansiLove, CreekwoodHarperCollinsDjinn Patrol on the Purple LineRandom HouseLutz van DijkKampala – Hamburg: Roman einer FluchtQuer-VerlagMarianne ApostolidesI Can't Get You Out of My MindJohn BanvilleSnowDeni Ellis Béchard Riverhead BooksDavid BergenHere the DarkChetan BhagatOne Arranged MurderHarperTaylor BrownPride of EdenJul 13PicadorIndelicacyFarrar, Straus and GirouxThese Ghosts Are FamilySimon & SchusterMarjorie CelonaHow a Woman Becomes a LakeAnnette Saunooke ClapsaddleEven As We BreathePiranesiBloomsburySteven ConteHarperBlacktop WastelandFlatiron BooksEva CrockerAll I AskAmy McDaidFake BabyPenguin Books New ZealandRaphaël EnthovenLe Temps gagné (Time Saved)HarperCollinsWilliam GibsonAgencyВремеубежище (Time Shelter)John Gould"12 Canadian books coming out in May we can't wait to read" . CBC Books, May 5, 2020.Redhook BooksAislinn HunterClifford JackmanRandom House CanadaTomasz JędrowskiSwimming in the DarkBloomsburyMeng JinLittle GodsCustom HouseStephen Graham JonesSaga PressDavid JoyWhen These Mountains BurnAug 18Putnam PressSue Monk KiddThe Book of LongingsApr 21Penguin GroupThomas KingObsidianKarl Ove KnausgårdMorgenstjernenMorgenstjernen Forlaget OktoberHervé Le TellierL'anomalie (The Anomaly)LusterFarrar, Straus and GirouxKathy LetteHRT: Husband Replacement TherapyFiebre TropicalFeminist PressPasha MallaKill the MallEmily St. John MandelHarperCollinsKnopfHilary MantelFourth EstateLaura Jean McKayScribe AustraliaShani MootooPolar VortexMexican GothicDel ReyMaria MutchMolly Falls to EarthMaggie O'FarrellHamnetTinder PressKatrina OnstadStay Where I Can See YouIngrid PersaudLove After LoveFaber & FaberKate PullingerForest GreenLisa RobertsonMonique RoffeyPeepal Tree PressLydia SandgrenSamlade verkAlbert Bonniers FörlagVivek ShrayaAli SmithSummerHamish HamiltonAnchorCordelia StrubeMisconduct of the HeartDouglas StuartShuggie BainGrove AtlanticZoe Sugg and Amy McCullochBrandon TaylorReal LifeRiverhead BooksSouvankham ThammavongsaHow to Pronounce KnifeDianne WarrenNetwork EffectTor.comInterior ChinatownPantheon BooksHow Much of These Hills Is GoldRiverhead Books
Children and young people Raymond Antrobus – Can Bears Ski? (November 10, UK) Sophie Blackall – If You Come to Earth (September 15) Peter Brown – The Wild Robot Escapes Jordan Ifueko – Raybearer (August 8) Tae Keller – When You Trap a Tiger Jeff Kinney Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End (October 27) Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (August 4) E. Lockhart – Again Again (June 2) J. K. Rowling – The Ickabog (November, UK, book publication) Trung Le Nguyen – The Magic Fish (graphic novel) Jacqueline Wilson – Love Frankie (August 20, UK) Scott Rothman (story) and Pete Oswald (art) - Attack of the Underwear Dragon (October 6, 2020)
Poetry Eavan Boland (died 2020) – The Historians (October 29, UK) Lana Del Rey – Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass (September 29) Carolyn Forché – In The Lateness of The World: Poems (March 10) Srikanth Reddy – Underworld Lit (August 4)
Drama Ben Elton – The Upstart Crow David Hare – Beat the Devil David Williamson – Family Values
Non-fiction Craig Brown – One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time (April 10, UK) Scott Dawson – The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island Emily Levesque – The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers Dara McAnulty – Diary of a Young Naturalist (May 21, UK) James Nestor – Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (May 26) Barack Obama - A Promised Land (November 17, US) Camilla Pang – Explaining Humans: What Science Can Teach Us about Life, Love and Relationships (March 12, UK) Jay Parini – Borges and Me: An Encounter Stuart Ritchie – Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth (July 21, UK) Megan Rosenbloom – Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig – A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America Peter Sloterdijk – Making the Heavens Speak (Den Himmel zum Sprechen bringen) (October 26, Germany) Mary Trump – Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man (August 11) Debora MacKenzie - COVID-19: The Pandemic that Never Should Have Happened, and How to Stop the Next One (June 30) Joseph M. Reagle Jr. and Jackie Koerner - Wikipedia @ 20: Stories of an Incomplete Revolution Xiaowei Wang - Blockchain Chicken Farm
Biography and memoirs Lee Lawrence – The Louder I Will Sing (September 17, UK)
Films The Witches
Deaths +Notable literary deaths in 2020, sorted by date of deathDateIndividualBackgroundAgeCause of deathRef.January 5Sylvia Jukes MorrisBritish biographer84American author (Prozac Nation)52Leptomeningeal disease as a complication of metastasized breast cancerNigerian writer 88Sir English philosopher and writer 75CancerBritish academic and editor, son of J. R. R. Tolkien95Senegalese poet91Le poète Charles Carrère n'est plus Chilean writer, National Prize for Literature winner (2004)86Finnish writer86Lung diseaseFörfattaren och regissören Jörn Donner har dött – blev 86 år , read 29 February 2020.American best-selling author of suspense novels92, FBAFrenco-American literary critic and essayist (After Babel) 90Barbadian poet and academic 89Alice MayhewAmerican editor87Canadian newspaper columnist, writer and broadcaster 68CancerAmerican author (True Grit, Gringos)86Alzheimer's diseaseFebruary 21Lisel MuellerGerman-American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet96Greek poet 88American adventure novelist (Raise the Titanic!) and founder of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA)88American novelist and director of the Harlem Writers Guild87African-American myster writer78Taiwanese poet and essayist 79American editor86Esophageal cancerAmerican playwright, and librettist 81COVID-19American author and illustrator 86Complications from surgeryAustralian poet 90American biographer, and memoirist 86COVID-19Canadian children's fiction author88Brazilian writer94Chilean author and journalist70COVID-19Swedish author (The Visit of the Royal Physician) 85CancerIrish poet75StrokeDanish poet and political activist24Yahya Hassan er død Swedish crime writer84American beat poet, playwright, and songwriter, who read at the Six Gallery reading87Complications from a strokeAmerican publisher and head of Simon & Schuster71Heart attackAmerican playwright (The Normal Heart) and LGBT rights activist84PneumoniaUruguayan literary critic86American humorist, novelist, and playwright90French author (The Camp of the Saints)94Spanish author (The Shadow of the Wind)55Colorectal cancerAmerican author (Bless Me, Ultima), founder of Chicano literature 82Australian novelist 92American author 64American author (The Magic School Bus)75Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosisAmerican Pulitzer Prize-winning writer (The Keepers of the House)91Complications from a StrokeAmerican theater critic103American journalist and author85Heart and kidney failureUruguayan screenwriter and playwright 93American journalist and author (Hillary's Choice) 83Complications of pneumoniaAmerican short story writer and author57American true crime writer37Home accidentAmerican anthropologist, activist, social critic, and author (Debt: The First 5000 Years)59Necrotic pancreatitisAmerican author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian, founder of Feminist Press91Complications from Parkinson's diseaseBritish-American poet and author87Heart failureAmerican jazz critic, playwright, novelist, public intellectual, and essayist74COVID-19American science-fiction and fantasy writer72American author (Forrest Gump)77Heart attackSir British-American journalist and author (The American Century)92Congestive heart failureWelsh-language writer 101Irish poet and journalist78Austrian-American author and academic88American poet 86American editor at Random House and The New Yorker79Pancreatic cancerIrish writer 88American co-founder and executive director of Grove Atlantic85PneumoniaAmerican poet laureate, founder of Lotus Press, and “the godmother of African-American poetry”97American novelist, screenwriter, and nonfiction writer87Israeli poet89Complications of Alzheimer's diseaseSoviet and Russian writer and satirist86American writer, publisher, and indie bookseller75British journalist94American science fiction writer and magazine editor (Analog)88COVID-19-related pneumonia and a strokePuerto Rican poet and founder of Nuyorican Poets Café79SepsisAmerican Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (Foreign Affairs) 94American short story writer28Accidental drug overdoseEnglish author (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)89Complications from a fall
Awards The following list is arranged alphabetically:
Akutagawa Prize: Haneko Takayama, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award: Namwali Serpell, The Old DriftIbeh, Chukwuebuka (4 April 2020), "Namwali Serpell Wins the 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Award for The Old Drift" , Brittle Paper. Baillie Gifford Prize: Booker Prize: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year: A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path: Animal Metaphors in Eastern Indonesian Society by Gregory Forth. Caine Prize for African Writing: Irenosen Okojie, "Grace Jones" Camões Prize: Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva Carnegie Medal: Anthony McGowan, Lark Costa Book Awards: Monique Roffey, The Mermaid of Black Conch (novel prize and overall Book of the Year) Danuta Gleed Literary Award: Zalika Reid-Benta, Frying Plantain David Cohen Prize: not awarded this year Desmond Elliott Prize: Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me Dylan Thomas Prize: Bryan Washington, Lot Edgar Award European Book Prize: Pavol Rankov, Stalo sa prvého septembra (alebo inokedy) and Kapka Kassabova, Border: a journey to the edge of Europe Folio Prize: Valeria Luiselli, Lost Children Archive Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Amartya Kumar Sen