See also: 1977 in literature, other events of 1978, 1979 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

New books

• Beggar Maid - Alice Munro
• Bloodlines - Sidney Sheldon
• Bright Flows The River - Taylor Caldwell
• Chesapeake - James A. Michener
• Coup - John Updike
• - Samuel R. Delany
• Evergreen - Belva Plain
• Eye of the Needle - Ken Follett
• Fools Die - Mario Puzo
• Going After Cacciato - Tim O'Brien
• A Good School - Richard Yates
• Hail The Conquering Hero - Frank Yerby
• The Holcroft Covenant - Robert Ludlum
• Illusions - Richard Bach
• An Imaginary Life - David Malouf
• In My Father's House - Ernest J.Gaines
• Jake's Thing - Kingsley Amis
• The Memoirs of Richard Nixon - Richard Nixon
• Mommie Dearest - Christina Crawford
• Night Shift - Stephen King (collection of short stories, most previously published elsewhere)
• Running Dogs - Don DeLillo
• Scruples - Judith Krantz
• Second Generation - Howard Fast
• The Stories of John Cheever - John Cheever
• Success - Martin Amis
• A Swiftly Tilting Planet - Madeleine L'Engle
• That Vanderbilt Woman - Philip Van Rensselaer
• War and Remembrance - Herman Wouk
• The Wolfen - Whitley Strieber
• The World According to Garp - John Irving
• Young Adolf - Beryl Bainbridge
• The Ends of Power - H. R. Haldeman

Births

Deaths

• March 24 - Leigh Brackett, science fiction writer

Awards

• Booker Prize: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea
• See 1978 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Nebula Award: Vonda McIntyre, Dreamsnake
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Isaac Bashevis Singer
• Prix Goncourt: Patrick Modiano , Rue des boutiques obscures
• Prix Médicis French: Georges Perec, La vie mode d'emploi
• Prix Médicis International: Alexandre Zinoviev , L’Avenir radieux - Russia
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Donald L. Coburn , The Gin Game
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: James Alan McPherson, Elbow Room
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Howard Nemerov, Collected Poems
• Viareggio Prize: Antonio Altomonte , Dopo il presidente