See also: 1994 in literature, other events of 1995, 1996 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• - Rice & Zelikow
• Simon & Schuster paid US$4.2 million for the hardcover publishing rights for The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans after the self-published book appeared on the New York Times bestseller list.

New books

• Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective - Mark Epstein
• The Apocalypse Watch - Robert Ludlum
• Blood Sport - James B. Stewart
• The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield
• The First Man (Le premier homme) - Albert Camus
• Five Days In Paris - Danielle Steel
• The Horse Whisperer - Nicholas Evans
• Independence Day - Richard Ford
• The Information - Martin Amis
• The Island of the Day Before - Umberto Eco
• Landscape and Memory - Simon Schama
• The Lost World - Michael Crichton
• Man Ray, 1890-1976 - Man Ray, Andre Breton
• Maskerade - Terry Pratchett
• Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
• Miracle in Seville - James A. Michener
• Morning, Noon, & Night - Sidney Sheldon
• Northern Lights (published in the US as The Golden Compass) - Philip Pullman
• Our Game - John le Carré
• Puerto Vallarta Squeeze - Robert James Waller
• The Rainmaker - John Grisham
• - Miranda Seymour
• Rose Madder - Stephen King
• Silent Night - Mary Higgins Clark
• The Tortilla Curtain - T.C. Boyle
• The Wicca Book of Days - Gerina Dunwich

Births

Deaths

• January 9 - Peter Cook, comedian, satirist and writer
• January 31 - George Abbott, writer, director, producer
• February 4 - Patricia Highsmith, author
• February 12 - Robert Bolt, writer
• February 21 - Calder Willingham , writer
• February 23 - James Herriot, author
• June 14 - Roger Zelazny, American writer of fantasy and science fiction
• August 3 - Edward Whittemore, writer
• October 22 - Kingsley Amis, author
• November 16 - Robert H. Adleman, American novelist and historian
• December 2 - Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist
• May Sarton - American writer

Awards

• Booker Prize: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
• Carnegie Medal: Philip Pullman, Northern Lights
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance
• See 1995 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Nebula Award: Robert Sawyer, The Terminal Experiment
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Seamus Heaney
• Prix Goncourt: Andreï Makine, Le Testament français
• Prix Décembre: Jean Échenoz , Les Grandes Blondes
• Prix Médicis French: Vassilis Alexakis , La Langue maternelle and Andreï Makine, Le testament français
• Prix Médicis International: Alessandro Baricco, Les châteaux de la colère
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Horton Foote, The Young Man From Atlanta
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Philip Levine, The Simple Truth
• Whitbread Best Book Award : Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum