See also: 1999 in literature, other events of 2000, 2001 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
- January 3 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published
New Books
- Daughter Of Fortune - Isabel Allende
- The Will - Reed Arvin
- The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
- The Beatles Anthology - The Beatles
- True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel - Michael Chabon
- The Bear And The Dragon - Tom Clancy
- Deck The Halls - Mary Clark and Carol Higgins Clark
- Hayati, My Life - Miriam Cooke
- The Last Precinct - Patricia Cornwell
- Code to Zero - Ken Follett
- Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood - Charles Foster
- The Brethren - John Grisham
- Blackberry Wine - Joanne Harris
- Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan
- Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver
- The Indwelling - Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
- The Mark - Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
- When Genius Failed - Roger Lowenstein
- The Prometheus Deception - Robert Ludlum
- Morgan's Run - Colleen McCullough
- Roses Are Red - James Patterson
- Winter Solstice - Rosamunde Pilcher
- The Measure Of A Man - Sidney Poitier
- Omerta - Mario Puzo
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling
- The Human Stain - Philip Roth
- Ingrid Caven - Jean-Jacques Schuhl
- Drowning Ruth - Christina Schwarz
- The House On Hope Street - Danielle Steel
- Journey - Danielle Steel
- The Prayer of Jabez - Bruce Wilkinson & David Kopp
- When I Lived in Modern Times - Linda Grant
Births
Deaths
- January 26 - A.E. van Vogt, science fiction author
- January 31 - Gil Kane, comic book writer
- February 12 - Charles Schulz, 77, creator of the Peanuts comic strip
- March 28 - Anthony Powell, British novelist
- April 13 - Giorgio Bassani, 84, Italian writer (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis)
- August 25 - Carl Barks, 99, illustrator of Donald Duck
- October 30 - Steve Allen, comedian, composer, talk show host, author
Awards
- Nobel Prize for Literature: Gao Xingjian.
- Orange Prize for Fiction: Linda Grant, When I Lived in Modern Times
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: C.K. Williams, Repair
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Donald Margulies, Dinner With Friends
- Newberry Medal for children's literature: Christopher Paul Curtis, Bud, Not Buddy
- Booker Prize: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
- Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost - tied with: David Adams Richards, Mercy Among the Children
- Business Week Best Book of the Year: Roger Lowenstein, When Genius Failed