1989 in literature
See also: 1988 in literature, other events of 1989, 1990 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
- February 24 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a US$3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
New Books
- The Cardinal of the Kremlin - Tom Clancy
- Chronicle of the French Revolution - Jean Favier et al
- Daddy - Danielle Steel
- The Face of Battle - John Keegan
- Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
- The Great and Secret Show - Clive Barker
- Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett
- Hyperion - Dan Simmons
- It's Always Something - Gilda Radner
- Jasmine - Bharati Mukherjee
- The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
- The Legacy of Heorot - Larry Niven
- Lot's Wife - Tom Wakefield
- The Negotiator - Frederick Forsyth
- Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
- A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving
- Pyramids - Terry Pratchett
- Red Phoenix - Larry Bond
- The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Russia House - John le Carré
- The Sands of Time - Sidney Sheldon
- The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
- Six Days in Havana - James A. Michener
- Solomon Gursky Was Here - Mordecai Richler
- Star - Danielle Steel
- The Temple of My Familiar - Alice Walker
- A Time to Kill - John Grisham
- Total Recall - Piers Anthony
- While My Pretty One Sleeps - Mary Higgins Clark
Births
Deaths
- February 3 - John Cassavetes, actor, director, writer
- April 19 - Daphne du Maurier, writer
Awards
- Booker Prize: Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day
- See 1989 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
- Nebula Award: Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, The Healer's War
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Paul Fleischman, Joyful Noise
- Nobel Prize for Literature: Camilo José Cela
- Prix Goncourt: Jean Vautrin, Un grand pas vers le Bon Dieu
- Prix Décembre: Guy Dupré, Les Manoeuvres d'automne
- Prix Médicis French: Serge Dubrovsky , Le Livre brisé
- Prix Médicis International: Alvaro Mutis, La Neige de l'amiral
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Wendy Wasserstein, The Heidi Chronicles
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Anne Tyler - Breathing Lessons
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Richard Wilbur: New and Collected Poems
- Whitbread Best Book Award: Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Early Visions