Events New Books Apollyon - Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye Assassins - Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye Atomised - Michel Houellebecq Blind Eye - James B. Stewart The Century - Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster Charlotte Gray - Sebastian Faulkes Chocolat - Joanne Harris Darwin's Radio - Greg Bear Death du Jour - Kathy Reichs Dining with Peggy Guggenheim - Jane Turner Rylands Disgrace - J. M. Coetzee The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl: America's First Movie Star - Kelly R. Brown The Fortune Catcher - Susanne Pari The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King Hannibal - Thomas Harris Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling Hearts in Atlantis - Stephen King Irresistible Forces - Danielle Steel A Lake Beyond the Wind - Yahya Yakhlif The Mark of the Angel - Nancy Huston Paradise - Toni Morrison Sick Puppy - Carl Hiaasen Single & Single - John le Carré Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace - Terry Brooks Scattered Like Seeds - Shaw J. Dallal Suzanne Valadon: The Mistress of Montmartre - June Rose 'Tis - Frank McCourt Tara Road - Maeve Binchy The Testament - John Grisham Through the Stones - Diana Gabaldon Timeline - Michael Crichton Births Deaths February 8 - Iris Murdoch, writer, aged 79 February 22 - William Bronk, poet, aged 80 (or 81?) February 24 - Andre Dubus, writer March 4 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer, aged 77 May 10 - Shel Silverstein, children's poet, aged 68 July 2 - Mario Puzo, writer (The Godfather), aged 78 July 16 - John F. Kennedy, Jr, publisher, son of John F. Kennedy, aged 38 (airplane crash) October 3 - Heinz G. Konsalik, writer, aged 78 December 8 - Rupert Hart-Davis, editor, publisher December 12 - Joseph Heller, American novelist (Catch-22), aged 76 Awards Booker Prize: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace Finlandia Prize: * 1999 Kristina Carlson, Maan ääreen Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Bonnie Burnard: A Good House See 1999 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain Nebula Award: Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents Newbery Medal for children's literature: Louis Sachar, Holes Nobel Prize for Literature: Günter Grass Orange Prize for Fiction: Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood Prix Fémina: Maryline Desbiolles, Anchise Prix Goncourt: Jean Echenoz, Je m'en vais Prix Décembre: Claude Askolovitch, Voyage au bout de la France: Le Front National tel qu'il est Prix Médicis French: Michel Del Castillo, Colette, une certaine France Prix Médicis Non-Fiction: Christian Oster, Mon grand appartement Prix Médicis International: Bjorn Larsson, Le capitaine et les ręves Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Margaret Edson, Wit Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Michael Cunningham, The Hours Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mark Strand, Blizzard of One Samuel Johnson Prize: Antony Beevor, Stalingrad Viareggio Prize: Ernesto Franco, Vite senza fine Whitbread Best Book Award: Seamus Heaney, Beowulf