Books in 1961

There were lots of great books published during the year 1961, many of which are still read today.
This list from wikipedia is a good place to start looking at books published in 1961. Some of the better known books from that year include Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel, Ian Fleming's Thunderball, Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Joseph Heller's Catch 22, Madeline l'Engel's A Wrinkle in Time, Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, John Wyndham's The Chrysalids, and J.D. Salinger's Franny & Zooey. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child is a culinary classic.
The Pulitizer Prize for fiction went to Harper Lee for To Kill a Mockingbird, which had been published the previous year.
The Nobel Prize for Literature went to a Yugoslav (Bosnian) writer named Ivo Andric.
Significant non-fiction works that year included John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me and Memos from Purgatory by science fiction cult author (and soon-to-be Star Trek script-writer) Harlan Ellison.
Information on the (American) National Book Awards can be found here, while Canadian literary awards for 1961 can be viewed here.