28 Famous Writers Who Died In 2018

Find out which 28 famous writers died in 2018.

We lost lost many literary greats last year, including a Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

1. Amanda Kyle Williams – American crime writer best known for her Keye Street series of novels.
2. Amos Oz – Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual.
3. Anita Shreve – American author, magazine writer, and editor. Her novels included The Pilot’s Wife, and Body Surfing.
4. Anya Krugovoy Silver – American poet. She won a Guggenheim fellowship, and a Georgia Author of the Year Award.
5. Bobbie Louise Hawkins – American short story writer, monologist, and poet. She wrote more than twenty books of poetry and prose and she was member of the Beat movement.
6. Clive King – English author best known for his children’s book, Stig of the Dump.
7. Donald Hall – American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic. He was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States from 2006-2007
8. Emily Nasrallah – Lebanese writer and women’s rights activist.
9. Evelyn Anthony – British writer. She who wrote more than 50 novels, including The Tamarind Seed, which was turned into a hit film.
10. Harlan Ellison – American author of more than 1 700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, and criticisms. He is the author of I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream.
11. Jack Ketchum – American horror fiction author. He won four Bram Stoker Awards and his novels included Off Season, Red, and The Woman, which were adapted to film.
12. Julius Lester – American writer of books for children and adults. He is the author of Day of Tears.
13. Justin Cartwright – British novelist, originally from South Africa. He was the author of 13 novels, including In Every Face I Meet, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
14. Larry Eisenberg – American science fiction writer. He is also known for the limericks he posted in the comments sections of various articles in The New York Times.
15. Neil Simon – American playwright, screenwriter, television writer, and librettist. He was one of the most popular playwrights in the history of the American theatre.
16. Ntozake Shange – American playwright and poet. She was best known for writing For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.
17. Penny Vincenzi – British novelist, who wrote 17 bestselling novels and two collections of stories.
18. Peter Mayle – British travel memoirist who wrote A Year in Provence. His books have been adapted for television and film.
19. Philip Roth – Multiple award-winning American writer. He received a Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral.
20. Richard Peck – American novelist, known for his young adult literature. He was awarded the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder.
21. Sam Hamill – American poet and the co-founder of Copper Canyon Press.
22. Sergio Pitol – Mexican writer, translator, and diplomat. He received the Cervantes Prize in 2005.
23. Tom Wolfe – American author and journalist. His books include The Bonfire of the Vanities, and A Man in Full.
24. Tony Hoagland – American poet and writer. He was best known for his poetry collection, What Narcissism Means to Me.
25. Ursula K. Le Guin – American fantasy author. Her novels included the series, The Earthsea Cycle, which begins with A Wizard of Earthsea, and The Left Hand of Darkness, which won the Hugo and Nebula awards.
26. V.S. Naipaul – Trinidadian-British writer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. His novels include A House For Mr Biswas and A Bend in the River. [Read: V.S. Naipaul’s 7 Rules For Beginner Writers]
27. William Goldman – American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. His books include Marathon Man, and The Princess Bride, both of which Goldman adapted for film.
28. Wilson Harris – Guyanese writer. He initially wrote poetry, but subsequently became a well-known novelist and essayist.

Other literary figures who died:

1. Anthony Bourdain, American celebrity chef, author, travel documentarian, and television personality.
2. Audrey Geisel, Dr. Seuss’s widow and steward of his legacy.
3. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, American journalist, editor of the New York Times Book Review, critic, and novelist.
4. Fred Bass, who transformed his father’s small used-book store, the Strand, into a mammoth Manhattan emporium.
5. J. D. McClatchy, literary critic and poet.
6. James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress for nearly three decades.
7. Jin Yong, co-founder of the Hong Kong daily newspaper Ming Pao. He was Hong Kong’s most famous writer.
8. Mary Midgley, British philosopher.
9. Matthew Sweeney – Irish poet, whose “imagistic narratives” unfolded like miniature films.
10. Price Cobbs, psychiatrist and management consultant who co-authored Black Rage, which portrays the psychological trauma that racism and the legacy of slavery inflicts on black people.
11. Stan Lee, American comic book writer, editor, and publisher. Read 6 Superhero Writing Tips From Stan Lee
12. Todd Bol, the Little Free Library founder.
13. Walter Skold, The founder of the Dead Poets Society of America.
14. William Reese, leading seller of rare books.

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 by Amanda Patterson

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