See also: 1995 in literature, other events of 1996, 1997 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."
• In the United Kingdom, the first Orange Prize for Fiction for female novelists is awarded.
• First performance of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues.

New books

• Absolute Power - David Baldacci
• Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
• Bandarshah - Al-Tayyib Salih
• By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee - Tama Janowitz
• Excession - Iain M. Banks
• Executive Orders - Tom Clancy
• Feet of Clay - Terry Pratchett
• Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
• Fighting for Canada (Maîtres Chanteurs Chez Nous!) - Diane Francis
• A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
• The Fourth Estate - Jeffrey Archer
• Gods and Generals - Jeff Shaara
• The Goldberg Variations - Nancy Huston
• The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie
• Hackers - short story collection
• Hogfather - Terry Pratchett
• How Stella Got Her Groove Back - Terry McMillan
• Intensity - Dean R. Koontz
• Kiki's Memoirs - Kiki, (translation by Samuel Putnam)
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
• Moonlight Becomes You - Mary Higgins Clark
• Polaroids From The Dead - Douglas Coupland
• Primary Colors - Joe Klein as "Anonymous"
• The Runaway Jury - John Grisham
• Selected Stories - Mavis Gallant
• Sofia; The Sultan's Daughter - Ann Chamberlin
• The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
• The Tenth Insight - James Redfield
• Undaunted Courage - Stephen Ambrose
• A Vicious Circle - Amanda Craig
• The Wicca Garden - Gerina Dunwich
• The Wicca Source Book - Gerina Dunwich

Births

Deaths

• January 28 - Jerry Siegel, cartoonist, creator of Superman
• February 11 - Bob Shaw, science fiction writer.
• December 11 Willie Rushton, UK comedian and cartoonist

Awards

• Booker Prize: Graham Swift, Last Orders
• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Margaret Atwood: - Alias Grace
• See 1996 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: David Malouf, Remembering Babylon
• Nebula Award: Nicola Griffith, Slow River
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Karen Cushman , The Midwife's Apprentice
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Wislawa Szymborska
• Prix Goncourt: Pascale Roze , Le Chasseur Zéro
• Prix Décembre: Régis Debray, Loués soient nos seigneurs: une éducation politique
• Prix Médicis French: Orlanda - Jacqueline Harpman and L'Organisation - Jean Rolin
• Prix Médicis International: Himmelfarb - Michael Kruger , Germany and Sonietchka - Ludmila Oulitskaïa , Russia
• Orange Prize for Fiction: Helen Dunmore, A Spell of Winter
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Jonathan Larson, Rent
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Richard Ford - Independence Day
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Jorie Graham : The Dream of the Unified Field
• Whitbread Best Book Award : Seamus Heaney, The Spirit Level