2004 in literature
See also: 2003 in literature, other events of 2004, 2005 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
- Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Englishman's Boy to be read across the nation
New Books
- The Big Why - Michael Winter
- The Bugatti Queen: In Search of a Motor-Racing Legend - Miranda Seymour
- Can America Survive? The Rage of the Left, The Truth, and What to Do About It - Ben Stein
- The Confession - Olen Steinhauer
- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents: America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction - Jon Stewart and writers of The Daily Show
- Eastern Standard Tribe - Cory Doctorow
- Free Culture - Lawrence Lessig
- How to Ruin Your Financial Life - Ben Stein
- Past Mortem - Ben Elton
- In the Place of Last Things - Michael Helm
- The Rocklopedia Fakebandica - T. Mike Childs
- Runaway - Alice Munro
- Song of Susannah - Stephen King
- Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories - Chuck Palahniuk
Births
Deaths
- January 4, John Toland, author and historian
- January 4, Joan Aiken, author of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
- January 4, Jeff Nuttall, poet, publisher, and author of Bomb Culture
- January 10, Alexandra Ripley, author of Scarlett
- January 10/11?, Spalding Gray, actor and author
- January 13, Zeno Vendler, philosopher and linguist
- January 14, Jack Cady, science fiction author
- January 15, Olivia Goldsmith, author
- January 15, Alex Barris, Canadian actor and writer
- January 22, George Woodbridge, illustrator
- January 29, M. M. Kaye, author of The Far Pavilions
- 29 January, Janet Frame, New Zealand author
- February 2, Alan Bullock, historian
- February 4, Hilda Hilst, Brazilian novelist
- February 5, Frances Partridge, last surviving member of the Bloomsbury group
- February 7, Norman Thelwell, cartoonist
- February 8, Julius Schwartz, comic book and pulp magazine editor
- February 16, Bill Oakley, comic book letterer
- February 19, Hermann Krings, German philosopher
- February 27, Paul Sweezy, economist and founding editor of the Monthly Review
- February 28, Daniel J. Boorstin, historian
- February 29, Jerome Lawrence, playwright
- March 9, Albert Mol, author, actor, and dancer
- March 30, Dr Michael King OBE New Zealand historian, author and biographer
- May 2, Paul Guimard, French writer
- April 26, Hubert Selby, Jr., American author.
- July 1, Peter Barnes, playwright
- October 16, Vincent Brome, English biographer and novellist
- October 20, Anthony Hecht, American poet
Awards
- The Hanging of Angelique - Afua Cooper
- Giller Prize: Alice Munro, Runaway
- Governor General's Awards: See 2004 Governor General's Awards.
- Nobel Prize for Literature: Elfriede Jelinek
- Orange Prize for Fiction: Andrea Levy, Small Island
de:2004 (Literatur)