List of years in literature       (table)
… 1991 .  1992 .  1993 .  1994  . 1995  . 1996  . 1997 … 1998 1999 2000 -2001- 2002 2003 2004 … 2005 .  2006 .  2007 .  2008  . 2009  . 2010  . 2011 …      In poetry: 1998 1999 2000 -2001- 2002 2003 2004
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The year 2001 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

• The film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic book, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is released to movie theaters. The film is directed by Peter Jackson

• February 15 - Author Michael Crichton signed a new two book deal with HarperCollins Publishers reportedly earning $40 million for the two books.

• July 20 - London: After being found guilty of two counts of perjury and two of perverting the course of justice, a shackled Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare is taken to Belmarsh jail in a van, seated next to a convicted knife murderer.

New books

• Niccolò Ammaniti - Io non ho paura
• Raymond Benson - Never Dream of Dying
• Dennis Bock - The Ash Garden
• Geraldine Brooks - Year of Wonders
• Lois McMaster Bujold - The Curse of Chalion
• Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe's Trafalgar and Gallows Thief
• Douglas Coupland - All Families Are Psychotic
• Umberto Eco - Baudolino
• Barbara Ehrenreich - Nickel and Dimed
• James Ellroy - The Cold Six Thousand
• Leif Enger - Peace like a river
• Jonathan Franzen - The Corrections
• Diana Gabaldon - The Fiery Cross
• Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff - Past Imperfect
• John Grisham - A Painted House and Skipping Christmas
• Joanne Harris - Five Quarters of the Orange
• Nancy Huston - Dolce Agonia
• The Fourth Hand - John Irving
• P. D. James - Death in Holy Orders
• Greg Keyes - Edge of Victory: Conquest and Edge of Victory: Rebirth
• Stephen King - Black House and Dreamcatcher
• Robert N. Kucey - Giving Something Back
• Hanif Kureishi - Gabriel's Gift
• John le Carré - The Constant Gardener
• David Lodge -Thinks ...
• James Luceno - Cloak of Deception
• Yann Martel - Life of Pi
• R. K. Narayan - Under the Banyan Tree
• Chuck Palahniuk - Choke
• Orhan Pamuk - The White Castle
• Kate Grenville Picador - The Idea of Perfection
• Terry Pratchett - The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Thief of Time and The Last Hero
• Sven Regener - Herr Lehmann
• Kathy Reichs - Fatal Voyage
• Alain Robbe-Grillet - La reprise
• Jean-Christophe Rufin - Rouge Brésil
• Salman Rushdie - Fury
• Richard Russo - Empire Falls
• Eric Schlosser - Fast Food Nation
• W. G. Sebald - Austerlitz
• Michael Slade - Death's Door
• Danielle Steel - Leap Of Faith
• Amy Tan - The Bonesetter's Daughter
• Timothy Taylor - Stanley Park
• Anne Tyler - Back When We Were Grownups
• Jane Urquhart - The Stone Carvers
• Andrew Vachss - Pain Management
• Joyce Carol Oates - Middle Age: A Romance
• Binod Bihari Verma - Adim Purkha Maithili translation of Oriya novel Dadi Burha by Gopinath Mohanty

New drama

• Neil LaBute - The Shape of Things
• Lynn Manning - Weights

Non-fiction

• Gale E. Christianson - Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming
• Antonia Fraser - Marie Antoinette: The Journey
• Stephen Hawking - The Universe in a Nutshell
• Laura Hillenbrand -Seabiscuit: An American Legend
• Christopher Hitchens - The Trial of Henry Kissinger
• Peter Kurth - ISADORA: The Sensational Life of Isadora Duncan
• Lawrence Lessig - The Future of Ideas
• Normand Lester - Le Livre noir du Canada Anglais (The Black Book of English Canada)
• Steven Levy - Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government Saving Privacy in the Digital Age
• Herbert R. Lottman - Man Ray's Montparnasse
• Michael Moore - Stupid White Men
• Mumtaz Mufti - Ali Pur Ka Aeeli
• T. Subba Row Collected Writings
• Pavel Polian - Against Their Will... A History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR
• E. Hoffman Price - Book of the Dead
• Miranda Seymour - Mary Shelley
• Frans de Waal - The Ape and the Sushi Master

Births

Deaths

• January 31 - Gordon R. Dickson, science fiction writer
• February 7 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author, aviator
• February 14 - Alan Ross,78, poet and editor
• March 12 - Robert Ludlum, author
• May 11 - Douglas Adams, author (heart attack) (b. 1952)
• May 13 - R.K. Narayan, 94, Indian novelist
• June 1 - Hank Ketcham, 81, cartoonist, creator of Dennis the Menace
• June 27 - Tove Jansson, children's author
• July 3 - Mordecai Richler
• August 1 - Poul Anderson - fantasy / sci-fi author
• August 6 - Jorge Amado, 88, Brazilian writer
• August 20 - Fred Hoyle, Astronomer and science fiction writer
• November 10 - Ken Kesey, 66, author.

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: V.S. Naipaul

Australia

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Sarah Hay, Skins
• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: John Mateer, Barefoot Speech
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Ken Taylor, Africa
• Miles Franklin Award: Frank Moorhouse, Dark Palace

Canada

• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Richard B. Wright - Clara Callan
• See 2001 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Décembre: Chloé Delaume, Le Cri du sablier
• Prix Femina: Marie Ndiaye, Rosie Carpe
• Prix Goncourt: Jean-Christophe Rufin, Rouge Brésil
• Prix Médicis French: Edwy Plenel, Secrets de jeunesse
• Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: Le Loup mongol
• Prix Médicis International: Antonio Skarmeta, La noce du poète

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Sid Smith, Something Like a House
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes: Volume 3 - Fighting for Britain 1937-1946
• Cholmondeley Award: Ian Duhig, Paul Durcan, Kathleen Jamie, Grace Nichols
• Eric Gregory Award: Leontia Flynn, Thomas Warner, Tishani Doshi, Patrick Mackie, Kathryn Gray, Sally Read
• Griffin Poetry Prize: Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours and Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh, translation of Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan
• Hugo Award: J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Samuel Johnson Prize: Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Michael Longley
• Whitbread Best Book Award: Patrick Neate, Twelve Bar Blues

United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize awarded to Gabriel Gudding for A Defense of Poetry
• Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, Frederick Morgan
• Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, “Circus Fire, 1944”
• Bollingen Prize for Poetry, Louise Glück
• Brittingham Prize in Poetry, Robin Behn, Horizon Note
• Compton Crook Award: Syne Mitchell, Murphy's Gambit
• Frost Medal: Sonia Sanchez
• Hugo Award: J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Richard Peck, A Year Down Yonder
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: David Auburn, Proof
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Stephen Dunn, Different Hours
• Wallace Stevens Award: John Ashbery

Other

• Finlandia Prize: Hannu Raittila Canal Grande
• IMPAC Award: Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief
• Orange Prize for Fiction: Kate Grenville Picador, The Idea of Perfection
• Premio Nadal: Fernando Marías, El Niño de los Coroneles
• Premio Strega: Domenico Starnone, Via Gemito
• Viareggio Prize: Niccolò Ammaniti, Io non ho paura, Michele Ranchetti, Verbale, and Giorgio Pestelli, Canti del destino