Events Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer (published 1979), reaches #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie is published. In 2001, the book would be named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library. New Books The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole Cosmos - Carl Sagan The Covenant - James A. Michener The Cradle Will Fall - Mary Higgins Clark Crossroads Marseilles 1940 - Mary Jayne Gold The Devil's Alternative - Frederick Forsyth The Fifth Horseman - Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre Firestarter - Stephen King Joshua Then and Now - Mordecai Richler In Loon Lake - E.L. Doctorow The Invasion of Canada - Pierre Berton The Key to Rebecca - Ken Follett The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco Princess Daisy - Judith Krantz Rage of Angels - Sidney Sheldon Random Winds - Belva Plain A Ring of Endless Light - Madeleine L'Engle Smiley's People - John le Carré Song of the Wild - Allan W. Eckert The Third Wave - Alvin Toffler Thy Neighbor's Wife - Gay Talese Births Deaths January 3 - Joy Adamson, conservationist and author of Born Free (killed by a servant in northern Kenya). June 7 - Henry Miller, writer December 2 - Romain Gary, writer December 8 - John Lennon, musician, author December 31 - Marshall McLuhan (author) Awards Booker Prize: William Golding, Rites of Passage See 1980 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. Nebula Award: Gregory Benford, Timescape Newbery Medal for children's literature: Joan Blos, A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal Nobel Prize for Literature: Czeslaw Milosz Prix Goncourt: Yves Navarre, Le Jardin d'acclimatation Prix Médicis French: Jean-Luc Benoziglio, Cabinet-portrait who refused the prize, thus it was given to Jean Lahougue's Comptine des Height Prix Médicis International: André Brink, Une saison blanche et sèche Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Lanford Wilson, Talley's Folly Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Norman Mailer, The Executioner's Song Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Donald Justice, Selected Poems Whitbread Best Book Award: David Lodge, How Far Can You Go?