Individual
|
Background
|
Date of Death
|
Age
|
Cause of Death
|
Ref.
|
Mary Catherine Bateson
|
Daughter of Margaret Mead, American author and anthropologist
|
January 2
|
81
|
Brain damage
|
[99]
|
Eric Jerome Dickey
|
American novelist
|
January 3
|
59
|
Cancer
|
[100]
|
Neil Sheehan
|
American journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author
|
January 7
|
84
|
Complications from Parkinson's disease
|
[101]
|
Christopher Little
|
J. K. Rowling's literary agent
|
January 7
|
79
|
Cancer
|
[102][103]
|
Ved Mehta
|
MacArthur Fellow, New Yorker writer, influential mentor,[104] and chronicler of India
|
January 9
|
87
|
Complications from Parkinson's disease
|
[105]
|
Vassilis Alexakis
|
Greek-born French writer and translator
|
January 11
|
77
|
|
[106]
|
Sharon Kay Penman
|
American historian and novelist
|
January 22
|
75
|
Pneumonia
|
[107]
|
Martha Madrigal
|
Mexican poet
|
January 23
|
92
|
COVID-19
|
[citation needed]
|
Lars Norén
|
Swedish playwright, novelist and poet
|
January 26
|
77
|
COVID-19
|
[108]
|
Maria Guarnaschelli
|
American cookbook editor
|
February 6
|
79
|
Heart disease
|
[109]
|
Jean-Claude Carrière
|
French novelist, screenwriter and actor
|
February 8
|
89
|
|
[110]
|
Lawrence Otis Graham
|
American essayist and cultural critic
|
February 19
|
59
|
|
[111]
|
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
|
American beat poet, publisher, and co-founder of City Lights Bookstore
|
February 22
|
101
|
Interstitial lung disease
|
[112]
|
Enrique González Rojo, Jr.
|
Mexican writer and philosopher
|
March 5
|
92
|
|
[113]
|
N. S. Lakshminarayan Bhat
|
Indian poet
|
March 6
|
84
|
|
[114]
|
Valentin Kurbatov
|
Russian literary critic and writer
|
March 6
|
81
|
|
[115]
|
Djibril Tamsir Niane
|
Guinean writer and historian
|
March 8
|
89
|
COVID-19
|
[116]
|
Norton Juster
|
American writer
|
March 8
|
91
|
Complication from a stroke
|
[117]
|
Joan Walsh Anglund
|
American poet and children's book author and illustrator
|
March 9
|
95
|
Heart failure
|
[118]
|
Robert Middlekauff
|
American historian
|
March 10
|
91
|
Complication from a stroke
|
[119]
|
Nawal El Saadawi
|
Egyptian feminist and writer
|
March 21
|
89
|
|
[120]
|
Adam Zagajewski
|
Polish poet
|
March 21
|
75
|
|
[121]
|
Morris Dickstein
|
American literary critic and cultural historian
|
March 24
|
81
|
Complications from Parkinson's disease
|
[122]
|
Beverly Cleary
|
Children's book writer
|
March 25
|
104
|
|
[123]
|
Larry McMurtry
|
American storyteller
|
March 25
|
84
|
|
[124]
|
Giancarlo DiTrapano
|
Founder of Tyrant Books
|
March 30
|
47
|
|
[125][126]
|
Arthur Kopit
|
American playwright
|
April 2
|
83
|
|
[127]
|
Denis Donoghue
|
Irish academic and literary critic
|
April 6
|
92
|
|
[128]
|
Vartan Gregorian
|
Saved the New York Public Library
|
April 15
|
87
|
|
[129]
|
Anthony Thwaite
|
English poet and editor
|
April 22
|
90
|
|
[130]
|
Pieter Aspe
|
Belgian writer
|
May 2
|
68
|
|
[131]
|
Jesús Hilario Tundidor
|
Spanish poet
|
May 2
|
85
|
|
[132]
|
Lucinda Franks
|
Journalist and memoirist, first women to win a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting
|
May 5
|
74
|
|
[133]
|
Kentaro Miura
|
Japanese manga artist
|
May 6
|
54
|
Acute aortic dissection
|
[134]
|
Eric Carle
|
American children's book writer and illustrator
|
May 23
|
91
|
Kidney failure
|
[135]
|
Dan Frank
|
Editorial director of Pantheon Books
|
May 24
|
67
|
|
[136]
|
Friederike Mayröcker
|
Austrian poet and writer
|
June 4
|
96
|
|
[137]
|
Richard Robinson
|
Turned Scholastic into a major children's book publisher
|
June 5
|
84
|
|
[138]
|
Janet Malcolm
|
American journalist, biographer, and writer for The New Yorker
|
June 16
|
86
|
Lung cancer
|
[139]
|
Stephen Dunn
|
American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
|
June 24
|
82
|
Complications from Parkinson's disease
|
[140]
|
Elizabeth Martinez
|
American author who jumpstarted the Chicana movement
|
June 29
|
95
|
|
[141]
|
Athan Theoharis
|
American historian
|
July 3
|
84
|
Pneumonia
|
[142]
|
Roberto Calasso
|
Italian novelist, critic, scholar, and publisher
|
July 28
|
80
|
|
[143]
|
Jean Breeze
|
Jamaican dub poet and storyteller
|
August 4
|
65
|
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
|
[144]
|
Donald Kagan
|
American historian
|
August 6
|
89
|
|
[145]
|
Jill Murphy
|
British children's author and illustrator
|
August 18
|
72
|
Cancer
|
[146]
|
James W. Loewen
|
American sociologist and author
|
August 19
|
79
|
Bladder cancer
|
[147]
|
David Roberts
|
American adventure writer
|
August 20
|
78
|
|
[148]
|
Russ Kick
|
American writer and ediot
|
September 12
|
52
|
|
[149]
|
Charles W. Mills
|
American philosopher
|
September 20
|
70
|
Cancer
|
[150]
|
Takao Saito
|
Japanese manga artist
|
September 24
|
84
|
Pancreatic cancer
|
[151]
|
Gary Paulsen
|
American author
|
October 13
|
82
|
Cardiac arrest
|
[152]
|
Máire Mhac an tSaoi
|
Irish language scholar and poet
|
October 16
|
99
|
|
[153]
|
Brendan Kennelly
|
Irish poet
|
October 17
|
85
|
|
[154]
|
Jerry Pinkney
|
American children's book writer and illustrator
|
October 20
|
81
|
Heart attack
|
[155]
|
Raúl Rivero
|
Cuban poet
|
November 6
|
75
|
|
[156]
|
Sylvère Lotringer
|
French literary critic and founder of Semiotexte(e)
|
November 8
|
83
|
|
[157]
|
Jakucho Setouchi
|
Japanese feminist writer
|
November 9
|
99
|
Heart failure
|
[158]
|
Petra Mayer
|
American book editor
|
November 13
|
46
|
Pulmonary embolism
|
[159]
|
Etel Adnan
|
Lebanese-American novelist
|
November 14
|
96
|
|
[160]
|
Robert Bly
|
American poet, translator, and author
|
November 21
|
96
|
Complications of Alzheimer's disease
|
[161]
|
Almudena Grandes
|
Spanish novelist
|
November 21
|
94
|
Cancer
|
[162]
|
Andrew Vachss
|
American crime writer
|
November 23
|
79
|
Coronary artery disease
|
[163]
|
Marie-Claire Blais
|
Canadian writer
|
November 30
|
82
|
|
[164]
|
Miroslav Zikmund
|
Czech adventurer, travel writer and film director
|
December 1
|
102
|
|
[165]
|
Greg Tate
|
American journalist and cultural critic
|
December 7
|
64
|
|
[166]
|
Anne Rice
|
American author
|
December 12
|
80
|
Complications from a stroke
|
[167]
|
bell hooks
|
American author and feminist
|
December 15
|
69
|
Kidney failure
|
[168][169][170]
|
Madhur Kapila
|
Indian journalist, novelist, art critic, and reviewer of Hindi literature
|
December 19
|
79
|
Cardiac arrest
|
[171]
|
Myrna Manzanares
|
Belizean writer and activist
|
December 21
|
75
|
Complications from a stroke
|
[172]
|
Joan Didion
|
American author and memoirist
|
December 23
|
87
|
Complications from Parkinson's disease
|
[173]
|
Keri Hulme
|
New Zealand writer (The Bone People) and poet
|
December 25
|
74
|
Chronic medical issues
|
[174]
|