2015 in literature

• January 21 – The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launches a six-part television miniseries of Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.[1]
• March 8 – The BBC launches a new television series of Winston Graham's Poldark novels.[2][3]
• March 10 – Jacek Dukaj's cyberpunk novel The Old Axolotl is published in its original Polish version as Starość aksolotla as purely electronic literature including hypertext and 3D printable character models.
• March 19 – Kim Thúy's novel Ru wins the 2015 edition of Canada Reads.[4]
• July 7 – Jeff Lindsay releases his final novel in the "Dexter" series, writing off Dexter Morgan two years after the final episode in the television series.[5]
• c. October 14 – Start of Causeway Bay Books disappearances: Five staff of the political bookseller Causeway Bay Books in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, go missing, apparently detained by mainland Chinese authorities.
• November 10 – The Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford acquires its twelve millionth book, a unique copy of Shelley's subversive Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things by a "Gentleman of the University of Oxford", published in 1811.[6]
• November 25 – Singapore's Media Development Authority lifts prohibitions on 240 publications under the Undesirable Publications Act.[7]
• unknown date – English author Iain Pears' novel Arcadia is accompanied as an electronic book by an interactive app allowing readers to switch between multiple narratives.[8]

• January 4 – 50th anniversary of the death of Anglo-American poet T. S. Eliot
• April 23 – Centenary of the death of English poet Rupert Brooke, on active service
• June – Centenary of the publication of T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
• June 10 – Centenary of Saul Bellow's birth
• June 13 – 150th anniversary of W. B. Yeats, who was born on this date in 1865[9]
• September 26 – 75th anniversary of his death of Walter Benjamin
• October – Centenary of the publication of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung).
• November 26 – 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland[10]
• October 21 – 75th anniversary of the publication of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls
• December 21 – 75th anniversary of the death of American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald
• December 23 – Bicentenary of the publication of Jane Austen's Emma

The date in brackets after a title refers to U.S. publication unless otherwise stated.

• January 1 – Miller Williams, American poet, 84 (born 1930)[13][14]
• January 4 – Michele Serros, American novelist, poet, and staff writer, 48 (born 1966)[15][16]
• January 10 – Robert Stone, American novelist, 77 (born 1937)[17]
• January 12 – John Bayley, novelist and critic, 89 (born 1925)[18]
• January 25 – John Leggett, American author and academic, 97 (born 1917)
• January 27 – Suzette Haden Elgin, American linguist and science fiction author, 78 (born 1936)[19]
• January 28 – Lionel Gilbert, Australian historian, author, and academic, 90 (born 1924)[20]
• January 29 – Colleen McCullough, Australian author, 77 (born 1937)[21]
• February 6
  • André Brink, South African novelist and professor of literature, (born 1935)
  • Assia Djebar, Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker, (born 1936)
• February 13 – Faith Bandler, Australian author and civil rights activist, 96 (born 1918)[22]
• February 14 – Philip Levine, American poet laureate, 87 (born 1928)[23][24]
• February 23 – James Aldridge, Australian-born British novelist and journalist, 96 (born 1918)[25]
• February 26
  • Fritz J. Raddatz, German feuilleton writer, essayist and biographer (suicide, born 1931)[26]
  • Avijit Roy, Bangladeshi-American writer, 42 (stabbed, born 1972)[27]
• February 28 – Yaşar Kemal, Turkish writer and intellectual (born 1923)
• March 12 – Sir Terry Pratchett, English author of fantasy novels, 66 (posterior cortical atrophy, born 1948)[28]
• March 18 – Grace Ogot, Kenyan writer, 84 (born 1930)
• March 24 – Alan Seymour, Australian playwright, 87 (born 1927)[29]
• March 26 – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, translator, and Nobel prizewinner, 83 (born 1931)[30][31]
• April 9 – Ivan Doig, American novelist, 75 (born 1939).[32]
• April 13
  • Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist, 74 (lung cancer, born 1940)
  • Günter Grass, German novelist, poet, playwright, and Nobel prizewinner, 87 (lung infection, born 1927)[33]
• May 2 – Ruth Rendell, English crime and thriller writer, 85 (born 1930)[34]
• May 2 – William Zinsser American journalist and critic (born 1922)[35]
• May 20 – J. S. Harry, Australian poet, 76 (born 1939)[36]
• June 19 – James Salter, American novelist and short-story writer, 90 (born 1925)[37][38]
• July 21 – E. L. Doctorow, American novelist, 84 (born 1931)[39]
• July 31 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and radio reviewer, 75 (born 1940)
• August 30 – Oliver Sacks, British neurologist and author (Awakenings), 82 (born 1933)[40][41]
• October 2 – Brian Friel, Irish playwright and short-story writer, 86 (born 1929)[42]
• October 5 – Henning Mankell, Swedish novelist, children’s author and playwright, 67 (born 1948)
• October 18
  • Gamal El-Ghitani, Egyptian novelist and cultural critic, 70 (born 1945)[43]
  • Paul West, English-born American novelist, poet and essayist, 85 (born 1930)[44]
• November 30:
  • Dan Fante, American author and playwright, 71 (born 1944)
  • Hazel Holt, English novelist, 87 (born 1928)
• November 30 – Fatema Mernissi, Moroccan scholar and writer, 75 (born 1940)[45]
• December 5 – William McIlvanney, Scottish novelist, short-story writer and poet, 79 (born 1936)
• December 9 – Akiyuki Nosaka, Japanese writer (Grave of the Fireflies), 85 (born 1930)

• Akutagawa Prize, Japan: Masatsugu Ono for 9 Nen Mae no Inori (A Prayer Nine Years Ago) [46]
• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, U.S.: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
• Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction: How to Be Both by Ali Smith[47]
• Caine Prize for African Writing: Namwali Serpell, The Sack[48]
• Camões Prize, Portugal: Hélia Correia
• David Cohen Prize: Tony Harrison
• Dayne Ogilvie Prize, Canada: Alex Leslie
• Desmond Elliott Prize, U.K.: Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller[49]
• DSC Prize for South Asian Literature: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, India
• Folio Prize, U.K.: Family Life by Akhil Sharma[50]
• European Book Prize: Jean-Pierre Orban, Vera and, Robert Menasse, Der Europäische Landbote
• German Book Prize: Die Erfindung der Roten Armee Fraktion durch einen manisch-depressiven Teenager im Sommer 1969 by Frank Witzel
• Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia: Bei Dao (China) [51]
• Goldsmiths Prize, U.K.: Beatlebone by Kevin Barry[52]
• Gordon Burn Prize, U.K.: In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies[53]
• Governor General's Award for English-language fiction, Canada: Guy Vanderhaeghe, Daddy Lenin and Other Stories
• Governor General's Award for French-language fiction, Canada: Nicolas Dickner, Six degrés de liberté
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française: Les Prépondérants by Hédi Kaddour; 2084: la fin du monde by Boualem Sansal
• International Prize for Arabic Fiction: The Italian by Shukri Mabkhout, Tunisia
• International Dublin Literary Award: Harvest by Jim Crace
• Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award: Blue Is the Night by Eoin McNamee[54]
• Man Booker Prize: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
• Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Fernando del Paso
• Miles Franklin Award: The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna[55]
• National Book Award for Fiction, U.S.: Fortune Smiles By Adam Johnson
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Svetlana Alexievich, Belarus
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish
• PEN Center USA 2015 Fiction Award: Robert Thomas, Bridge[56]
• Premio Planeta de Novela, Spain: Hombres desnudos by Alicia Giménez-Bartlett; La isla de Alice by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
• Premio Strega, Italy: Nicola Lagioia
• Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing, U. S.: David Hackett Fischer
• Prix Goncourt: Boussole by Mathias Énard
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, U.S.: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr[57]
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: U.S.: Digest by Gregory Pardlo
• RBC Taylor Prize, Canada: They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, Canada: André Alexis, Fifteen Dogs
• Russian Booker Prize: Vera by Alexander Snegirev
• SAARC Literary Award: Sitakant Mahapatra, Selina Hossain, Suman Pokhrel, Nisar Ahmad Chaudhary, Aryan Aroon
• Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction, U.K.: Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman
• Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada: André Alexis, Fifteen Dogs
• Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, U.K.: The Ten Thousand Things by John Spurling
• Whiting Awards, U.S.: Fiction: Leopoldine Core, Dan Josefson, Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi; Nonfiction: Elena Passarello; Plays: Lucas Hnath, Anne Washburn; Poetry: Anthony Carelli, Aracelis Girmay, Jenny Johnson, Roger Reeves
• W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction, U.S.: Redeployment by Phil Klay[58]
• Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Ryszard Krynicki[59]

• 2015 in Australian literature
• 2015 in Japanese literature

• Books in 2015: the essential literary calendar from Books |The Guardian |January 2, 2015
• The most eagerly awaited fiction of 2015 from Books| The Guardian| December 29, 2014