It always saddens me to post the annual list of literary figures we’ve lost during the current year, but the task is especially painful on a day that has seen the announcement of the death of Betty White.
For many years I compiled an annual list of the obituaries of literary figures. But compiling the list meant checking all the links and then formatting all the entries for publishing. It was a labor-intensive exercise, and I finally gave it up.
Now I let the news services compile the list.
Notable Deaths 2021: Books
The list from The New York Times includes links to its other lists in categories such as music, sports, and politics & public affairs.
People we’ve lost in 2021
CNN has assembled this photo gallery in its entertainment section, although it includes more than literary-related people.
Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2021
The Associated Press introduces its list with a few paragraphs that discuss political figures, sports figures, then people “from the world of arts and entertainment,” a category that includes authors as well as actors, musicians, and dancers. The rest of the (long) article comprises a month-by-month listing of names, most of them linked to an obituary.
© 2021 by Mary Daniels Brown
