See also: 1998 in literature, other events of 1999, 2000 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized. He does not continue with his next book, On Writing, until July.

New Books

• Apollyon - Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye
• Assassins - Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye
• Atomised - Michel Houellebecq
• Battle Royale - Koushun Takami
• Blind Eye - James B. Stewart
• The Century - Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster
• Le Chambre des Officiers (The Officers' Ward) - Marc Dugain
• Charlotte Gray - Sebastian Faulks
• Chocolat - Joanne Harris
• Darwin's Radio - Greg Bear
• Death du Jour - Kathy Reichs
• Dining with Peggy Guggenheim - Jane Turner Rylands
• Disgrace - J. M. Coetzee
• The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
• Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl: America's First Movie Star - Kelly R. Brown
• The Fortune Catcher - Susanne Pari
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King
• Glamorama - Bret Easton Ellis
• Hannibal - Thomas Harris
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
• Hearts in Atlantis - Stephen King
• Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk
• Irresistible Forces - Danielle Steel
• A Lake Beyond the Wind - Yahya Yakhlif
• The Mark of the Angel - Nancy Huston
• Miss Wyoming - Douglas Coupland
• Paradise - Toni Morrison
• Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain – Jeffrey Moore
• Sick Puppy - Carl Hiaasen
• Single & Single - John le Carré
• Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
• Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace - Terry Brooks
• Scattered Like Seeds - Shaw J. Dallal
• Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk
• Suzanne Valadon: The Mistress of Montmartre - June Rose
• 'Tis - Frank McCourt
• Tara Road - Maeve Binchy
• Temple - Matthew Reilly
• The Testament - John Grisham
• Through the Stones - Diana Gabaldon
• Timeline - Michael Crichton

Births

Deaths

• February 8 - Iris Murdoch, writer, aged 79
• February 22 - William Bronk, poet, aged 80 (or 81?)
• February 24 - Andre Dubus, writer
• March 4 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer, aged 77
• May 10 - Shel Silverstein, children's poet, aged 68
• July 2 - Mario Puzo, writer (The Godfather), aged 78
• July 16 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., publisher, son of John F. Kennedy, aged 38 (airplane crash)
• October 3 - Heinz G. Konsalik, writer, aged 78
• October 19 - Nathalie Sarraute, Russian born Francophone lawyer and writer
• December 8 - Rupert Hart-Davis, editor, publisher
• December 12 - Joseph Heller, American novelist (Catch-22), aged 76

Awards

• Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
• Finlandia Prize: * 1999 Kristina Carlson, Maan ääreen
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Bonnie Burnard: A Good House
• See 1999 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Hugo Award for Best Novel: Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog
• IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain
• Nebula Award: Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Louis Sachar, Holes
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Günter Grass
• Orange Prize for Fiction: Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood
• Prix Femina: Maryline Desbiolles, Anchise
• Prix Goncourt: Jean Echenoz, Je m'en vais
• Prix Décembre: Claude Askolovitch, Voyage au bout de la France: Le Front National tel qu'il est
• Prix Médicis French: Michel Del Castillo, Colette, une certaine France
• Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: Christian Oster, Mon grand appartement
• Prix Médicis International: Bjorn Larsson, Le capitaine et les rêves
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Margaret Edson, Wit
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Michael Cunningham, The Hours
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mark Strand, Blizzard of One
• Samuel Johnson Prize: Antony Beevor, Stalingrad
• Viareggio Prize: Ernesto Franco, Vite senza fine
• Whitbread Best Book Award: Seamus Heaney, Beowulf