This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2018. Events July – Stormzy's publisher imprint Merky Books is launched in London. August 11 – Writer V. S. Naipaul, on his deathbed in London, has Tennyson's poem "Crossing the Bar" read to him by the newspaper editor Geordie Greig. September 16 – Lady Mary Wroth's pastoral closet drama Love's Victory receives its first fully professional, publicly staged (filmed) performance, at Penshurst Place in England, where it was probably written about 1618. It is the first known original pastoral drama and thought to be the first original dramatic comedy to be written by a woman. October 19 – The exhibition Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, opening at the British Library, includes the earliest surviving will of an Englishwoman. Written on "a small, stained sheet of parchment", the detailed testament of Wynflæd is thought to date from the mid- to late 10th century. October 26 – Under the Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, a referendum in the Republic approves removing the offence of publishing or uttering blasphemous matter from the Constitution. November 19 – The Prix littéraire des collégiens in Quebec is suspended after five shortlisted authors condemn its sponsorship by Amazon as "promotion of a multinational that harms bookstores". New books Dates after each title indicate U.S. publication, unless otherwise indicated. Fiction Claudia Amengual - El lugar inalcanzable (April) Sharon Bala – The Boat People Jason Barker – Marx Returns (February 23, UK) Pat Barker – The Silence of the Girls (September 4, UK) Julian Barnes – The Only Story (February 1, UK) Belinda Bauer – Snap (May 15) John Boyne – A Ladder to the Sky Anna Burns – Milkman (May, UK) Jonathan Coe – Middle England (November 8, UK) Tsitsi Dangarembga – This Mournable Body Patrick deWitt – French Exit Nick Drnaso – Sabrina (May 22, graphic novel) Esi Edugyan – Washington Black (August) Chris Hammer – Scrublands Sarah Henstra – The Red Word Jonas Jonasson – The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man Stephen King – Elevation Torsten Krol – Foreverman Rachel Kushner – The Mars Room (June) Olivia Laing – Crudo (June, UK) Ian McDonald – Time Was (April 24, UK) Sophie Mackintosh – The Water Cure (May, UK) Rebecca Makkai – The Great Believers (June) Daniel Mason – The Winter Soldier (September 11) Andrés Neuman – Fractura (Madrid and Buenos Aires)