The Calendar of Literary Facts contains more than 6,500 events in literary history.
1984 Literary Facts
Josef Skvorecky receives the Governor General’s Literary Award for Best Fiction
Charles Baxter publishes Harmony of the World
Clive Barker publishes Books of Blood, Volume One
J. G. Ballard publishes Empire of the Sun
Sam Shepard receives Obie Award for Fool for Love
Susan Elaine Townsend publishes Womberang
Lynda Barry publishes Naked Ladies! Naked Ladies! Naked Ladies!
Sonia Sanchez publishes homegirls & handgrenades
Josef Skvorecky publishes Scherzo capriccioso (Dvorak in Love)
Michael Frayn publishes Benefactors: A Play in Two Acts
Louise Erdrich publishes Love Medicine
Loren D. Estleman publishes This Old Bill
William Gibson publishes Neuromancer
Jorge Guillén dies
Sharon Olds publishes The Dead and the Living
Leon Rooke receives the Governor General’s Literary Award in fiction (Canada Council) for Shakespeare’s Dog
Breyten Breytenbach publishes The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist
Sara Paretsky publishes Deadlock
Anita Brookner publishes Hotel du Lac
Michael Palmer publishes The Sisterhood
Tom Clancy publishes The Hunt for Red October
Raymond Carver publishes Cathedral
George F. Walker publishes Criminals in Love
Milan Kundera publishes The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Joseph Bruchac III publishes Breaking Silence
Robert Duncan publishes Ground Work: Before the War
Pete Dexter publishes God’s Pocket
David Leavitt publishes Family Dancing
David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross is produced
Athol Fugard receives the Commonwealth Award for contribution to the American theatre
Walter Jon Williams publishes Hardwired
Pat Mora publishes Chants
Jay McInerney publishes Bright Lights, Big City
David Mamet receives the Pulitzer Prize in drama for Glengarry Glen Ross
J. California Cooper publishes A Piece of Mine
Matt Cohen publishes The Spanish Doctor
Carolyn Kizer publishes Yin: New Poems
William Kennedy receives the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for Ironweed;
Christopher Isherwood receives the Commonwealth Award for distinguished service in literature
Apple introduces the Macintosh desktop computer for home use
The Mackintosh computer, with mouse, is introduced
American and French medical teams discover the AIDS virus
A toxic gas leak causes 2,500 deaths in Bhopal, India
Indira Gandhi, President of India, is assassinated
Anti-Sikh riots rock India
Mary Oliver receives the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for American Primitive
Jaroslav Seifert receives the Nobel Prize for Literature
José Saramago publishes O año da morte de Ricardo Reis (The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis)
Vicente Aleixandre dies
Angela Carter publishes Nights at the Circus
Helen MacInnes publishes Ride a Pale Horse
Anita Brookner receives the Booker Prize for Hotel du Lac
Frances Goodrich dies
Alison Lurie publishes Foreign Affairs
Julio Cortázar dies
Explore: Axolotl, The Pursuer, Julio Cortázar
Mikhail Sholokhov dies
Explore: And Quiet Flows the Don, Mikhail Sholokhov
Ernest Buckler dies
Explore: The Mountain and the Valley, Ernest Buckler
Sylvia Ashton-Warner dies
Explore: Sylvia Ashton-Warner
Irwin Shaw dies
Explore: The Young Lions, Irwin Shaw, The Eighty-Yard Run, The Girls in Their Summer Dresses
John Betjeman dies
Explore: John Betjeman, Summoned by Bells
Michel Foucault dies
Explore: Michel Foucault, The Order of Things, Power/Knowledge
Lillian Hellman dies
Explore: The Little Foxes, The Children's Hour, Lillian Hellman
Truman Capote dies
Explore: In Cold Blood, A Christmas Memory, Miriam, Truman Capote, What is the climax of "A Christmas Memory"?
Richard Brautigan dies
Explore: Richard Brautigan, A Confederate General from Big Sur
Chester Himes dies
Explore: Chester Himes, If He Hollers Let Him Go