See also: 1986 in literature, other events of 1987, 1988 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author.

Published books

• Beloved - Toni Morrison
• Black Dahlia - James Ellroy
• The Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe
• The Bourne Supremacy - Robert Ludlum
• The Child in Time - Ian McEwan
• Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks
• Einstein's Monsters - Martin Amis
• Ellen Foster - Kaye Gibbons
• Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
• Espedair Street - Iain Banks
• Fine Things - Danielle Steel
• The Forge of God - Greg Bear
• Heaven and Hell - John Jakes
• In the Skin of A Lion - Michael Ondaatje
• - Salman Rushdie
• Kaleidoscope - Danielle Steel
• Legacy - James A. Michener
• Leaving Home - Garrison Keillor
• Misery - Stephen King
• Mort - Terry Pratchett
• Not Without My Daughter - Betty Mahmoody
• L'Obsédante obèse et autres agressions - Gilles Archambault
• Patriot Games - Tom Clancy
• Presumed Innocent - Scott Turow
• The Rules of Attraction - Bret Easton Ellis
• The Runaways - Ruth Thomas
• Spycatcher - Peter Wright
• Swann - Carol Shields
• Time Flies - Bill Cosby
• The Tommyknockers - Stephen King
• Weaveworld - Clive Barker
• When Rabbit Howls - Truddi Chase
• Windmills of the Gods - Sidney Sheldon

Births

Deaths

• February 2 - Alistair MacLean, British thriller writer, heart attack
• February 22 - Andy Warhol, artist, director, writer
• March 4 - Maria Jolas, literary publisher
• April 4 - C. L. Moore, science ficton author
• October 31 - Joseph Campbell, author and expert on mythology

Awards

• Booker Prize: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger
• See 1987 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Nebula Award: Pat Murphy, The Falling Woman
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Sid Fleischman The Whipping Boy
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Joseph Brodsky
• Prix Goncourt: Tahar ben Jelloun, La Nuit sacrée
• Prix Médicis French: Pierre Mertens, Les Éblouissements
• Prix Médicis International: Antonio Tabucchi, Nocturne indien
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: August Wilson, Fences
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah
• Whitbread Best Book Award : Christopher Nolan, Under the Eye of the Clock