1998 in literature

See also: 1997 in literature, other events of 1998, 1999 in literature, list of years in literature.

Deaths

• January 2 - Frank Muir, comedy writer
• January 11 - John Wells, satirical writer
• January 23 - John Forbes, Australian poet
• January 27 - Geoffrey Trease, historical novelist
• February 7 - Lawrence Sanders, author
• February 17 - Ernst Jünger, novelist and war memoirist
• March 15 - Dr Benjamin Spock, childcare expert
• April 11 - Francis Durbridge, playwright
• April 19 - Octavio Paz, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature
• April 27 - Pauline Réage, author
• April 27 - Carlos Castaneda
• May 9 - Nat Perrin, comedy writer
• June 10 - Hammond Innes, novelist
• June 11 - Dame Catherine Cookson, bestselling novelist
• July 1 - Martin Seymour-Smith, biographer
• July 5 - Johnny Speight, comedy writer
• July 14 - Miroslav Holub, Czech poet
• July 23 - John Hopkins, film and television writer
• September 28 - Eric Malling, journalist
• October 22 - Eric Ambler, novelist
• October 28 - Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate
• November 8 - Rumer Godden, novelist
• date unknown - Ian Wallace, science fiction author