Editing 1939 in literature

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Year nav topic5|1939|literature|poetry}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2020}} 
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1939'''.
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==Events==
*Early – The [[Pocket Books]] mass-market [[paperback]] imprint is launched in the United States. The first of the nationally distributed titles is [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]]'s ''[[Lost Horizon]]''.
*January
**American [[literary magazine]] ''[[The Kenyon Review]]'' is founded and edited by [[John Crowe Ransom]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kenyonreview.org/about-history.php |title=History |publisher=The Kenyon Review |access-date=2007-01-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230133942/http://www.kenyonreview.org/about-history.php |archive-date=2008-12-30}}</ref>
**The American [[Pulp magazine|pulp]] [[science fiction magazine]] ''[[Startling Stories]]'' appears, edited by [[Mort Weisinger]]. It includes ''[[The Black Flame (novel)|The Black Flame]]'' by [[Stanley G. Weinbaum]] as lead novel.
**[[Eando Binder]]'s story "[[I, Robot (short story)|I, Robot]]" appears in the U.S. science fiction magazine ''[[Amazing Stories]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Despina Kakoudaki|title=Anatomy of a Robot: Literature, Cinema, and the Cultural Work of Artificial People|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2014|ISBN=9780813562179|page=129}}</ref>
**''[[The Criterion (magazine)|The Criterion]]'', a British literary quarterly, is founded and edited by [[T. S. Eliot]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=T. S. Eliot's ''Criterion'': The Editor and His Contributors |first=Herbert |last=Howarth |journal=Comparative Literature |volume=11 |issue=2 |date=Spring 1959 |pages=97–110 |doi=10.2307/1768640 |jstor=1768640}}</ref>
**[[W. H. Auden]] and [[Christopher Isherwood]] set sail from England for the United States.
*January/February – ''[[Poetry London|Poetry London: a Bi-Monthly of Modern Verse and Criticism]]'', founded and edited by [[Tambimuttu]] (with [[Dylan Thomas]] and others), is first published.
*[[February 6]] – [[Raymond Chandler]]'s California [[private detective]] [[Philip Marlowe]] is introduced in his first full-length work of [[crime fiction]], ''[[The Big Sleep]]'', which reworks elements from earlier short stories. It is published by [[Alfred A. Knopf]] in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Steve |last=King |title=Chandler, Marlowe, The Big Sleep |work=Today in Literature |url=http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=2/6/1939 |access-date=2015-10-21}}</ref>
*March – [[Isaac Asimov]]'s first published [[short story]], "[[Marooned off Vesta]]", appears in ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Astounding Science-Fiction]]'' magazine.
*[[March 4]] – [[BBC Television]] broadcasts one of the first specially written [[television play]]s, ''[[Condemned To Be Shot]]'' by R. E. J. Brooke (perhaps the actor Reginald Brooke), live from its London studios at [[Alexandra Palace]]. The production notably uses a camera as the first-person view by the play's unseen central character.
*[[March 31]] – [[20th Century Fox]] releases a film version of ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939 film)|The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'', first of a [[Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series)|Sherlock Holmes film series]] starring [[Basil Rathbone]] as [[Sherlock Holmes]] and [[Nigel Bruce]] as [[Dr Watson]].
*[[April 13]] – The [[United Artists]] film version of ''[[Wuthering Heights (1939 film)|Wuthering Heights]]'', starring [[Merle Oberon]] and [[Laurence Olivier]], is released.
*May – [[Jorge Luis Borges]]' first short story in his later characteristic style, "[[Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote|Pierre Menard, autor del ''Quijote'']]", is published in the [[Buenos Aires]] literary magazine ''[[Sur (magazine)|Sur]]''.
*[[May 4]] – [[James Joyce]]'s last work, ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'', is published in full by [[Faber and Faber]] in London.
*[[May 15]] – Russian writer [[Isaac Babel]] is arrested by the [[NKVD]] at his [[dacha]] as part of the [[Great Purge]] in the [[Soviet Union]], and incarcerated in the [[Lubyanka Building]] in Moscow.
*c. August – [[Ernest Vincent Wright]] publishes his [[lipogram]]matic novel ''[[Gadsby (novel)|Gadsby]]'', "a story of over 50,000 words without using the letter 'E'", in [[Los Angeles]] a few months before his death on October 7.
*August 
**[[Mikhail Bulgakov]], while secretly working on ''[[The Master and Margarita]]'', prepares the propaganda play ''Batumi'', to romanticize events in [[Joseph Stalin]]'s youth. The project is shelved by Stalin himself once Bulgakov announces he will interview witnesses personally.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Montefiore |first=Simon Sebag |author-link=Simon Sebag Montefiore |title=Young Stalin |publisher=Phoenix |location=London |year=2007 |page=100 |isbn=978-1-4072-2145-8}}</ref>
**[[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s first published short story, "[[Life-Line]]", appears in ''Astounding Science-Fiction''.
*Before September – After a pledge drive led by Renaud de Jouvenel and [[Lucien Lévy-Bruhl]], the Romanian poet [[Benjamin Fondane]] is [[French nationality law|naturalized French]] and in September conscripted into the [[French Army]], to serve in the [[Phony War]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daniel |first=Paul |editor-last=Fondane |editor-first=Benjamin |editor-link=Benjamin Fondane |title=Poezii |publisher=Editura Minerva |location=Bucharest |year=1978 |pages=633–635 |chapter=Destinul unui poet |oclc=252065138}}</ref>
*[[September 2]] – [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] is conscripted into the French Army, where he will serve as a [[meteorologist]].
*[[September 3]] – Yorkshire-born novelist and playwright [[J. B. Priestley]] reads the first installment of his novel ''[[Let the People Sing (novel)|Let the People Sing]]'', a celebration of local democracy (published on January 4), on [[BBC Home Service]] radio in the UK, the day war is declared.<ref>{{cite book|first=Hugh|last=Chignell|title=Public Issue Radio: Talks, News and Current Affairs in the Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVjwmj2evkIC&pg=PT50|year=2011|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-34645-1|page=50}}</ref>
*[[September 18]] – The Polish painter, playwright and novelist [[Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz]] (born [[1885 in literature|1885]]) commits suicide after the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]].
*September/October – ''[[Famous Fantastic Mysteries]]'', a [[pulp magazine]] reprinting American [[science fiction]] and [[Fantasy literature|fantasy]], begins publication in New York.
*Fall – [[Frank Herbert]] lies about his age to get his first job as a local newspaper reporter.
*November – The teenage [[Brendan Behan]] is arrested in [[Liverpool]] for possessing explosives.
*[[November 8]] – [[Lindsay and Crouse]]'s stage adaptation of [[Clarence Day]]'s ''[[Life with Father]]'' opens at the [[Empire Theatre (42nd Street)]] in New York. Running until 12 July 1947, it becomes the all-time longest-running non-musical play in [[Broadway theatre]].<ref>{{Cite news |author-link=Mark Lawson |first=Mark |last=Lawson |title=The daddy of Broadway |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=2014-11-01 |page=18 (Review)}}</ref>
*November/December – [[Captain Marvel (DC Comics)|Captain Marvel]] makes his first appearance, in ''[[Whiz Comics]]'' #2 (cover date February 1940).

==New books==


[[File:Joyce wake.jpg|thumb|right|120px]]
{{cquote|
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!}}—From ''[[Finnegans Wake]]''

===Fiction===
*[[Eric Ambler]] – ''[[The Mask of Dimitrios (novel)|The Mask of Dimitrios]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Ian Ousby|title=The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Literature in English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=43oBE1nJXaMC&pg=PA9|date=23 February 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-43627-4|pages=9}}</ref>
*[[Sholem Asch]] – ''The Nazarene''
*[[William Attaway]] – ''Let Me Breathe Thunder''
*[[H. E. Bates]] – ''[[My Uncle Silas]]'' (short stories)
*[[Arna Wendell Bontemps]] – ''Drums at Dusk''
*[[Pearl S. Buck]] – ''The Patriot''
*[[Karel Čapek]] (died 1938) – ''[[Život a dílo skladatele Foltýna]]'' (Life and Work of the Composer Foltýn, translated as ''The Cheat'', unfinished)
*[[Joyce Carey]] – ''[[Mister Johnson (novel)|Mister Johnson]]''
*[[John Dickson Carr]]
**''[[The Black Spectacles]]''
**''[[The Problem of the Wire Cage]]''
**''[[The Reader is Warned]]'' (as Carter Dickson)
**''[[Drop to His Death]]'' (with [[John Rhode]])
*[[Aimé Césaire]] – "[[Cahier d'un retour au pays natal]]" (in ''Volontés'', August)
*[[Raymond Chandler]] – ''[[The Big Sleep]]''
*[[James Hadley Chase]] – ''[[No Orchids for Miss Blandish (novel)|No Orchids for Miss Blandish]]''
*[[Agatha Christie]]
**''[[Murder is Easy]]''
**''[[The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories]]''
**''[[And Then There Were None|Ten Little Niggers]]''
* [[G.D.H. Cole]] and [[Margaret Cole]] – ''[[Greek Tragedy (novel)|Greek Tragedy]]''
* [[Cecil Day-Lewis]] – ''[[The Smiler with the Knife]]''
*[[Jeffrey Dell]] – ''[[Nobody Ordered Wolves]]''
*[[Pierre Drieu La Rochelle]] – ''[[Gilles (novel)|Gilles]]''
*[[John Fante]] – ''[[Ask the Dust]]''
*[[William Faulkner]] – ''[[If I Forget Thee Jerusalem (The Wild Palms/Old Man)]]''
*[[Vardis Fisher]] – ''Children of God''
*[[Zona Gale]] – ''Magna''
*[[Konstantine Gamsakhurdia]] – ''[[The Right Hand of the Grand Master]]'' (დიდოსტატის კონსტანტინეს მარჯვენა)
*[[Rumer Godden]] – ''[[Black Narcissus (novel)|Black Narcissus]]''
*[[Henry Green]] – ''[[Party Going (novel)|Party Going]]''
*[[Yaroslav Halan]] – ''[[The Mountains are Smoking]]''
*[[Cyril Hare]] – ''[[Suicide Excepted]]''
*[[Ernest Hemingway]] – [[The Snows of Kilimanjaro (short story)|''The Snows of Kilimanjaro'']]
*[[Rayner Heppenstall]] – ''The Blaze of Noon''
*[[Anne Hocking]] – ''[[Old Mrs. Fitzgerald]]''
*[[Zora Neale Hurston]] – ''[[Moses, Man of the Mountain]]''
*[[Aldous Huxley]] – ''[[After Many a Summer]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Aldous Huxley|title=After Many a Summer: A Novel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7K8AAAAIAAJ|year=1939|publisher=Chatto and Windus}}</ref>
*[[Christopher Isherwood]] – ''[[Goodbye to Berlin]]''
*[[James Joyce]] – ''[[Finnegans Wake]]''
*[[Arthur Koestler]] – ''[[The Gladiators (book)|The Gladiators]]''
*[[Richard Llewellyn]] – ''[[How Green Was My Valley]]''<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/richard-llewellyn/index.shtml | title=Richard Llewellyn| publisher=BBC Wales | date=28 November 2008 | access-date=25 December 2011}}</ref>
*[[H. P. Lovecraft]] – ''[[The Outsider and Others]]''
*[[Ngaio Marsh]] – ''[[Overture to Death]]''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Drayton |first1=Joanne |title=Ngaio Marsh: Her Life in Crime |date=2008 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978000 7328680 |pages=136–147}}</ref> 
*[[Henry Miller]]'' – [[Tropic of Capricorn (novel)|Tropic of Capricorn]]''
*[[Gladys Mitchell]] – ''[[Printer's Error]]''<ref>Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. Page 1089</ref>
*[[Christopher Morley]] – ''[[Kitty Foyle (novel)|Kitty Foyle]]''
*[[Ian Niall]] (as John McNeillie) – ''Wigtown Ploughman''
*[[Anaïs Nin]] – ''[[Winter of Artifice]]''
*[[Brian O'Nolan|Flann O'Brien]] – ''[[At Swim-Two-Birds]]''
*[[John O'Hara]] – ''Files on Parade''
*[[Juan Carlos Onetti]] – ''[[El pozo (novel)|El pozo]]'' (The Pit)
*[[George Orwell]] – ''[[Coming Up for Air]]''
*[[Ellery Queen]] – ''[[The Dragon's Teeth]]''
*[[Katherine Anne Porter]] – ''[[Pale Horse, Pale Rider]]''
*[[Clayton Rawson]] – ''[[The Footprints on the Ceiling]]''
*[[Seymour Reit]] – ''[[The Friendly Ghost]]''
*[[Jean Rhys]] – ''[[Good Morning, Midnight (Rhys novel)|Good Morning, Midnight]]''
*[[Dorothy L. Sayers]] – ''[[In the Teeth of the Evidence]]''
*[[Pierre Schaeffer]] – ''Chlothar Nicole (Clotaire Nicole)''
*[[John Steinbeck]] – ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]''
*[[Gladys Bronwyn Stern]] – ''[[The Woman in the Hall (novel)|The Woman in the Hall]]''
*[[Rex Stout]] – ''[[Some Buried Caesar]]''
*[[Jan Struther]] – ''[[Mrs. Miniver (character)|Mrs. Miniver]]''<ref>{{cite book|author1=Deidre Lynch|author2=William Beatty Warner|title=Cultural Institutions of the Novel|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1996|ISBN=9780822318439|page=169}}</ref>
*[[Phoebe Atwood Taylor]] – ''[[Cold Steal]]'' (as Alice Tilton)
*[[Dalton Trumbo]] – ''[[Johnny Got His Gun]]''
*[[S. S. Van Dine]] – ''[[The Winter Murder Case]]''
*[[Simon Vestdijk]] – ''Sint Sebastiaan'' (first book chronologically in the [[Anton Wachter cycle]])
*[[Elio Vittorini]] – ''[[Conversations in Sicily]] (Conversazione in Sicilia)''
*[[Nathanael West]] – ''[[The Day of the Locust]]''
*[[Ernest Vincent Wright]] – ''[[Gadsby (novel)|Gadsby]]''
*[[Marguerite Yourcenar]] – ''[[Coup de Grâce (novel)|Coup de Grâce]]''

===Children and young people===
*[[Ludwig Bemelmans]] – ''[[Madeline]]'' (first in an eponymous series of seven books)
*[[Enid Blyton]] – ''[[The Enchanted Wood (novel)|The Enchanted Wood]]''
*[[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] – ''[[Tarzan the Magnificent (novel)|Tarzan the Magnificent]]''
*[[Lavinia R. Davis]] – ''Hobby Horse Hill''
*[[Hardie Gramatky]] – ''[[Little Toot]]''
*[[Carolyn Haywood]] – ''"B" is for Betsy'' (first in Betsy series)
*[[Robert Lawson (author)|Robert Lawson]] – ''[[Ben and Me]]: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin By His Good Mouse Amos''
*[[Hilda Lewis]] – ''The Ship That Flew''
*[[Lucy Maud Montgomery]] – ''[[Anne of Ingleside]]''
*[[Violet Needham]] – ''The Black Riders'' (first in the Stormy Petrel series)
*[[Carola Oman]] – ''Alfred, King of the English''
*[[Arthur Ransome]] – ''[[We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea]]''
*[[Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings]] – ''[[The Yearling]]''
*[[Joan G. Robinson]] – ''A Stands for Angel''
*[[Felix Salten]] – ''Bambis Kinder, eine Familie in Walde ([[Bambi's Children]])''
*[[Alison Uttley]] – ''A Traveller in Time''
*[[Laura Ingalls Wilder]] – ''[[By the Shores of Silver Lake]]''
*[[Ursula Moray Williams]] – ''[[Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse]]''

===Drama===
<onlyinclude>
*[[Philip Barry]] – ''[[The Philadelphia Story (play)|The Philadelphia Story]]''
*[[Bertolt Brecht]]
**''[[Life of Galileo]]'' (''Leben des Galilei''; completed)
**''[[Mother Courage and Her Children]]'' (''Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder''; written)
*[[Mikhail Bulgakov]] – ''Batumi'' (left unfinished)
*[[Max Catto]] – ''[[Punch without Judy]]''<ref>''Theatre World, Volume 33, Issues 180-186''. Iliffe Specialist Publications, 1940. p.116</ref>
*[[T. S. Eliot]] – ''[[The Family Reunion]]''
*[[Jean Giraudoux]] – ''[[Ondine (play)|Ondine]]''
*[[Ian Hay]] – ''[[Little Ladyship]]''
*[[Frank Harvey (English screenwriter)|Frank Harvey]] – ''[[Saloon Bar (play)|Saloon Bar]]''<ref>Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''.  Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Page 769</ref>
*[[Lillian Hellman]] – ''[[The Little Foxes]]''<ref>{{cite web| title=The Little Foxes| url=http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/2851/The-Little-Foxes| publisher=[[Playbill#Playbill Vault|Playbill Vault]]| access-date=2014-04-24}}</ref>
*[[George S. Kaufman]] and [[Moss Hart]] – ''[[The Man Who Came to Dinner]]''
*[[Joseph Kesselring]] – ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace (play)|Arsenic and Old Lace]]''<ref>"''Arsenic and Old Lace''{{-"}}, Brooks Atkinson, ''The New York Times'', 11 January 1941.</ref>
*[[Clare Boothe Luce]] – ''[[Margin for Error (play)|Margin for Error]]''<ref>{{cite news |title=''Margin for Error'' Opens |work=The New York Times |date=October 15, 1939 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/10/15/archives/margin-for-error-opens-clare-boothes-new-play-is-presented-in.html |page=48}}</ref>
*[[Hugh Mills (writer)|Hugh Mills]] and [[Wells Root]] – ''[[As You Are (play)|As You Are]]''
*[[William Saroyan]] – ''[[The Time of Your Life]]''</onlyinclude>
* [[William Matthew Scott|Will Scott]] – ''[[Married for Money]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Wearing, J. P.|title=The London Stage 1930–1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2014|page=769}}</ref>

===Poetry===
{{Main article|1939 in poetry}}
*[[W. H. Auden]]
**''Journey to a War'' (with diary entries and nonfiction prose by [[Christopher Isherwood]]; March 16)<ref name=cocel>{{Cite book |editor=Cox, Michael |title=The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-860634-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseoxfordchr00coxm}}</ref>
**"[[September 1, 1939]]" (in ''[[The New Republic]]'' (U.S.) October 18)
*[[Vladimir Cavarnali]] – ''Răsadul verde al inimii stelele de sus îl plouă'' (The Heart's Green Seedling Is Rained upon by the Stars Above)
*[[Aimé Césaire]] – ''Cahier d'un retour au pays natal'' (Notebook on a Return to the Native Land)
*[[T. S. Eliot]] – ''[[Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats]]''
*[[José Gorostiza]] – ''Muerte sin fin'' (Death without End)<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://figshare.le.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Oneiric_landscapes_of_creation_Visions_of_life_and_death_in_Jos_Gorostiza_s_Muerte_sin_fin_/10107590?file=18220352|title=Oneiric landscapes of creation: Visions of life and death in José Gorostiza's 'Muerte sin fin'|author=Sheldon C. Penn|journal=Romance Studies|year=2011|issue=29 (4)|pages=255-268}}</ref>
*[[Javier del Granado]] – ''Rosas Pálidas'' (Pale Roses)
*[[Changampuzha Krishna Pillai]] – ''Rahtapuspangal''
*[[Christopher Smart]] (died 1771) – ''[[Jubilate Agno]]'' (as ''Rejoice in the Lamb: A Song from Bedlam'', edited by [[W. F. Stead]]; completed by [[1763 in literature|1763]])

===Non-fiction===
*[[Adrian Bell]] – ''Men and the Fields''
*[[Lord David Cecil]] – ''The Young Melbourne and the Story of his Marriage with Caroline Lamb''
*[[Savitri Devi]] – ''[[A Warning to the Hindus]]''
*[[Norbert Elias]] – ''[[The Civilizing Process]] (Über den Prozeß der Zivilisation)''
*[[Mary Lascelles]] – ''Jane Austen and Her Art''
*[[Erwin Panofsky]] – ''Studies in [[Iconology]]''
*[[Ed Ricketts]] – ''[[Between Pacific Tides]]''
*[[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]] – ''[[Wind, Sand and Stars]] (Terre des hommes)''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=John R. |last2=Fay |first2=Eliot G. |jstor=381288 |title=Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: A Bibliography |journal=The French Review |publisher=[[American Association of Teachers of French]] |volume=19 |issue=5 |date=1946 |pages=299–309 [p. 300] }}</ref>
*[[Ronald Syme]] – ''[[The Roman Revolution]]''
*[[Bill W.]] and [[Bob Smith (doctor)|Dr. Bob]] – ''[[The Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous)|The Big Book]]''
*[[Gamel Woolsey]] – ''Death's Other Kingdom''

==Births==
*[[January 10]] – [[Jared Carter (poet)|Jared Carter]], American poet and author
*[[January 12]] – [[Jacques Hamelink]], Dutch poet, novelist and literary critic, best known for short stories (died [[2021 in literature|2021]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rd.nl/artikel/951333-dichter-en-schrijver-jacques-hamelink-82-overleden|title=Dichter en schrijver Jacques Hamelink (82) overleden|website=rd.nl|date=18 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407103700/https://www.rd.nl/artikel/951333-dichter-en-schrijver-jacques-hamelink-82-overleden |archive-date=7 April 2023}}</ref>
*[[January 29]] – [[Germaine Greer]], Australian-born [[Feminism|feminist]] author<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen Pollard|title=Ten Days that Changed the Nation: The Making of Modern Britain|publisher=Simon & Schuster| year=2009|page=200}}</ref>
*[[February 19]] – [[Erin Pizzey]], English novelist and founder of world's first domestic violence shelter<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JYrAQAAIAAJ |title=World Who's Who Of Women 1990/91 |date=July 1, 1990 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |via=Google Books}}</ref>
*[[February 25]] – [[Gerald Murnane]], Australian novelist
*[[March 15]] – [[Alicia Freilich]], Venezuelan novelist
*[[March 25]] – [[Toni Cade Bambara]], African-American writer (died [[1995 in literature|1995]])
*[[April 10]] – [[Penny Vincenzi]], née Hannaford, English novelist (died [[2018 in literature|2018]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/28/penny-vincenzi-obituary|title=Penny Vincenzi obituary|date=February 28, 2018|author=Danuta Kean|website=The Guardian|access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref>
*[[April 12]] – [[Alan Ayckbourn]], English dramatist<ref>{{cite book|author=Sidney Howard White|title=Alan Ayckbourn|publisher=Twayne|year=1984|isbn=9780805768701|page=1}}</ref>
*[[April 13]] – [[Seamus Heaney]], Irish poet (died [[2013 in literature|2013]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/30/seamus-heaney|title=Seamus Heaney obituary|author=Neil Corcoran|website=The Guardian|date=30 August 2013|access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref>
*[[April 22]] – [[Jason Miller (playwright)|Jason Miller]], American playwright and actor (died [[2001 in literature|2001]])<ref>{{cite news|last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/15/arts/jason-miller-playwright-and-actor-dies-at-62.html |title=Jason Miller, Playwright and Actor, Dies at 62 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 15, 2001 |access-date=August 27, 2016}}</ref>
*[[May 4]] – [[Amos Oz]], né Klausner, Israeli author (died [[2018 in literature|2018]])<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/obituaries/amos-oz-dead.html |title=Amos Oz, Israeli Author and Peace Advocate, Dies at 79 |last=Kershner |first=Isabel |author-link=Isabel Kershner|date=28 December 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=29 December 2018}}</ref>
*[[June 5]] – [[Margaret Drabble]], English novelist<ref>{{cite book|author1=Vicki K. Janik|author2=Del Ivan Janik|author3=Emmanuel Sampath Nelson|title=Modern British Women Writers: An A-to-Z Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKkxuhw7kowC&pg=PA99|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31030-0|pages=99}}</ref>
*[[June 14]] – [[Penelope Farmer]], English children's writer
*[[June 15]] – [[Brian Jacques]], English writer (died [[2011 in literature|2011]])<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-02-08 |title=Brian Jacques |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/8311935/Brian-Jacques.html |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref>
*[[July 2]] – [[Ferdinand Mount]], English journalist and novelist
*[[July 27]] – [[Michael Longley]], Northern Irish poet (died [[2025 in literature|2025]])
*[[August 1]] – [[Robert James Waller]], American novelist (died [[2017 in literature|2017]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/books/robert-james-waller-bridges-of-madison-county-author-dies.html|title=Robert James Waller, Author of 'The Bridges of Madison County', Dies at 77|accessdate=March 11, 2017|work=The New York Times}}</ref>
*[[September 6]] – [[Dan Cragg]], American science-fiction author
*[[September 16]] – [[Breyten Breytenbach]], South African writer and painter<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/breyten-breytenbach |title=Breyten Breytenbach |publisher=South African History Online |access-date=30 July 2014}}</ref>
*[[September 9]] – [[Ed Victor]], American-born literary agent (died [[2017 in literature|2017]])<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/08/ed-victor-obituary |title=Ed Victor obituary  |last=Barnett |first=David |access-date=9 June 2017 |work=[[The Guardian]] |publication-date=8 June 2017 }}</ref>
*[[September 24]] – [[Jacky Gillott]], English novelist (suicide [[1980 in literature|1980]])
*[[October 6]] – [[Melvyn Bragg]], English novelist, critic and broadcast presenter<ref>{{cite web |title=Bragg, Baron, (Melvyn Bragg) (born 6 Oct. 1939) |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-8507 |website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO |year=2007 |access-date=5 May 2021 |isbn=978-0-19-954088-4 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u8507}}</ref>
*[[October 7]] – [[Clive James]], Australian writer, humorist and television personality (died [[2019 in literature|2019]])<ref>{{cite news|last= Jeffries| first= Stuart| title= Clive James Obituary| url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/nov/27/clive-james-obituary| work= [[The Guardian]]| date= 27 November 2019| access-date= 20 July 2020}}</ref>
*[[October 8]] – [[Harvey Pekar]], American memoirist and graphic-novel scriptwriter (died [[2010 in literature|2010]])<ref>"{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/arts/design/13pekar.html|title=Harvey Pekar, 'American Splendor' Creator, Dies at 70 |first=William|last=Grimes|work=The New York Times|date=July 12, 2010}}</ref>
*[[October 9]] – [[John Pilger]], Australian-born journalist and documentary filmmaker<ref>{{cite book|author=Europa Publications|title=International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phhhHT64kIMC&pg=PA444|year=2003|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-1-85743-179-7|pages=444}}</ref>
*[[October 28]] – [[Giulio Angioni]], Italian writer and anthropologist (died [[2017 in literature|2017]]){{cn|date=September 2024}}
*[[October 29]] – [[Malay Roy Choudhury]], Bengali poet, novelist and creator of the Indian [[Hungry generation]] literary and cultural movement<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newagebd.net/article/216031/bengali-poet-malay-roy-choudhury-dies|title=Bengali poet Malay Roy Choudhury dies|date=26 October 2023|website=New Age|access-date=17 September 2024}}</ref>
*[[November 17]] – [[Auberon Waugh]], English journalist and novelist (died [[2001 in literature|2001]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffrey Heath|title=Picturesque Prison: Evelyn Waugh and His Writing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jI_hMlMHd2gC&pg=PA148|date=1 January 1983|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-6088-8|pages=148}}</ref>
*[[November 18]] – [[Margaret Atwood]], Canadian novelist and poet<ref>{{cite book|author=Margaret Atwood|editor1=Jan Garden Castro|editor2=Kathryn Van Spanckeren|title=Margaret Atwood: Vision and Forms|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|year=1988|ISBN=9780809314089|page=xxix}}</ref>
*[[November 25]] – [[Shelagh Delaney]], English dramatist (died [[2011 in literature|2011]])<ref>{{cite news|last=Barker|first=Dennis|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/nov/21/shelagh-delaney|title=Obituary: Shelagh Delaney|work=The Guardian|date=21 November 2011|access-date=10 June 2014}}</ref>
*[[December 3]] – [[Lee Israel]], American biographer and literary forger (died [[2014 in literature|2014]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11415893/Lee-Israel-literary-forger-obituary.html|title=Lee Israel, literary forger - obituary|website=The Telegraph|date=24 February 2015|access-date=1 April 2024}}</ref>
*[[December 11]] – [[Thomas McGuane]], American writer
*[[December 18]] – [[Michael Moorcock]], English science fiction writer<ref>{{cite book|author1=Wilfried Wilms|author2=William Rasch|title=Bombs Away!: Representing the Air War Over Europe and Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNid3h0IuaQC&pg=PA235|year=2006|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=90-420-1759-7|pages=235}}</ref>

==Deaths==
*[[January 8]] – [[Caton Theodorian]], Romanian dramatist and novelist (born [[1871 in literature|1871]])
*[[January 27]] - [[Lewis Jones (writer)|Lewis Jones]], Welsh miners' leader and novelist (born [[1897 in literature|1897]])<ref>{{cite book|title=The Anglo-Welsh Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IKAeAQAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Dock Leaves Press|page=62}}</ref>
*[[January 28]] – [[W. B. Yeats]], Irish poet (born [[1865 in literature|1865]])<ref>{{cite book|author=K. P. S. Jochum|title=The Reception of W. B. Yeats in Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMkOxnrae8UC&pg=PA224|date=6 October 2006|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-5963-3|pages=224}}</ref>
*[[February 2]] – [[Amanda McKittrick Ros]], Irish novelist and poet noted for her [[purple prose]] (born [[1860 in literature|1860]])<ref>{{cite book|first=Frank|last=Ormsby|title=Thine in Storm and Calm: An Amanda McKittrick Ros Reader|location=Belfast St Paul|publisher=Blackstaff Press|year=1988|isbn=978-0-85640-408-5|page=4}}</ref>
* [[February 5]] &ndash; [[Teresa Mañé]], Spanish teacher, editor and writer (born [[1865 in literature|[1865]])<ref>{{cite book|last=Davies|first=Catherine|title=Spanish Women's Writing 1849&ndash;1996|chapter=The Libertarian Superwoman: Federica Montseny (1905-1994)|year=1998|publisher=Athlone Press|location=London|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppRtzQXGS8wC&pg=PA138|page=78|isbn=0-485-91006-3|lccn=98-11468|oclc=468307323}}</ref>
*[[February 18]] – [[Okamoto Kanoko]] (岡本 かの子, Ohnuki Kano), Japanese ''[[tanka]]'' poet (born [[1889 in literature|1889]])
*[[February 22]] – [[Antonio Machado]], Spanish poet (born [[1875 in literature|1875]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=William Arrowsmith|author2=James Fearon Brown|title=The Chimera: A Rough Beast|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgIwAAAAMAAJ|year=1966|page=5}}</ref>
*[[March 7]] – [[Ludwig Fulda]], German playwright and poet, suicide (born [[1862 in literature|1862]])<ref>{{cite book|last=Lester|first=David|title=Suicide and the Holocaust|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R1nkj-xSzYgC&dq=%22ludwig+fulda%22+suicide&pg=PA73|year=2005|publisher=[[Nova Publishers]]|isbn=978-1-59454-427-9|page=73}}</ref>
*[[March 23]] – [[Richard Halliburton]], American travel writer (born [[1900 in literature|1900]])
*[[April 5]] – [[Sibyl Marvin Huse]], French-born American author and teacher (born [[1866 in literature|1866]]).<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary, Sibyl Marvin Huse. Died April 5, 1939. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112286224/obituary-sibyl-marvin-huse-died-april/ |access-date=30 October 2022 |work=The Courier-News |date=6 April 1939 |page=1}}</ref>
*[[April 11]] – [[S. S. Van Dine]] (Willard Huntington Wright), American crime novelist and art critic (born [[1888 in literature|1888]])<ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia Americana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E45UAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Grolier Incorporated|isbn=978-0-7172-0135-8|page=894}}</ref>
*[[May 23]] – [[Margarete Böhme]], German novelist (born [[1867 in literature|1867]])<ref>{{cite book | last = Smith | first = Brian | title = An encyclopedia of German women writers, 1900-1933 : biographies and bibliographies with exemplary readings | publisher = E. Mellen Press | location = Lewiston, N.Y | year = 1997 | isbn = 9780773485846 | page=81}}</ref>
*[[May 27]] – [[Joseph Roth]], Austrian novelist (born [[1894 in literature|1894]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.krakowpost.com/1334/2009/05|title=Joseph Roth: The Legend of the Holy Drinker|date=May 27, 2009|author=Martin Kraft|website=Krakow Post|access-date=October 31, 2022}}</ref>
*[[June 5]] – [[Solomon Cleaver]], Canadian storyteller and novelist (born [[1855 in literature|1855]])
*[[June 13]] – [[Volter Kilpi]], Finnish novelist (born [[1874 in literature|1874]])<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kansallisbiografia.fi/english/?id=4972  |title=Kilpi, Volter (1874-1939) |last1=Assmann |first1=Dietrich |last2= |first2= |date= |website=The National Biography of Finland |publisher=Biografiakeskus, Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura |access-date=27 September 2016}}</ref>
*[[June 14]] – [[Vladislav Khodasevich]], Russian poet and critic (born [[1886 in literature|1886]])
*[[June 26]] – [[Ford Madox Ford]] (Ford Hermann Hueffer), English novelist (born [[1873 in literature|1873]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=August Nemo|author2=Camille Flammarion|title=Essential Novelists - Ford Madox Ford: The Redefinition of Modern Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UZugDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT3|date=3 July 2019|publisher=Tacet Books|isbn=978-85-7777-331-2|pages=3}}</ref>
*[[July 5]] – [[Amy Catherine Walton|Mrs. O. F. Walton]], English writer of Christian children's books (born [[1849 in literature|1849]])
*[[July 8]] – [[Havelock Ellis]], English sexual [[psychologist]] and writer (born [[1859 in literature|1859]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vAtPAQAAIAAJ|year=1968|publisher=Royal College of Physicians|page=121}}</ref>
*[[August 7]] – [[Leonard Merrick]], English novelist (born [[1864 in literature|1864]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Who's who in the Theatre|publisher=Pitman|year=1967|page=1664}}</ref>
*[[August 15]] – [[Federico Gamboa]], Mexican diplomat and writer (born [[1864 in literature|1864]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Bulletin of the Pan American Union|publisher=The Union|year=1939|page=676}}</ref>
*[[August 20]] – [[Agnes Giberne]], English children's writer (born [[1845 in literature|1845]])<ref>{{cite ODNB |last1=Copson|first1=Belinda |title=Giberne, Agnes (1845–1939) |date=2004-09-23|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/58972|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/58972 |accessdate=2020-10-18 }}</ref>
*[[August 23]] 
** [[Sidney Howard]], American writer (born [[1891 in literature|1891]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Arthur Gewirtz|title=Sidney Howard and Clare Eames: American Theater's Perfect Couple of the 1920s|publisher=McFarland, Incorporated|year=2004|isbn=9780786417513|page=281}}</ref>
** [[Robin Hyde]] (Iris Guiver Wilkinson), South African-born New Zealand poet and novelist, suicide (born [[1905 in literature|1905]])
*[[August 31]] – [[Wilhelm Bölsche]], German journalist, editor and science writer (born [[1861 in literature|[1861]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz5042.html|title = Bölsche, Wilhelm - Deutsche Biographie}}</ref>
*[[September 6]] – [[Arthur Rackham]], English book illustrator (born [[1867 in literature|1867]])<ref>{{Cite ODNB |last=Hamilton |first=James Stanley |title=Rackham, Arthur, (1867-1939) |date=2004-09-23|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35645 }}</ref>
*[[September 7]] &ndash; [[Kyōka Izumi]], Japanese author (b. [[1873]])<ref>{{cite book | last=Keene | first=Donald | title=Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era | chapter=Izumi Kyōka | pages=202–219 | location=New York |  publisher=Columbia University Press | year=1998 | isbn=0-231-11435-4}}</ref>
*[[September 19]] – [[Ethel M. Dell]], English romantic novelist (born [[1881 in literature|1881]])
*[[October 23]] – [[Zane Grey]], American western novelist (born [[1872 in literature|1872]])
*[[October 29]] – [[Dwight B. Waldo]], American educator and historian (born [[1864 in literature|1864]])
*November – [[Pedro Nolasco Cruz Vergara]], Chilean literary critic, novelist, writer, and politician (born [[1857 in literature|1857]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=Alone|author2=Hernán Díaz Arrieta|title=Diario íntimo, 1917-1947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOEcAQAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Zig-Zag|page=72}}</ref>
*[[November 6]] – [[Eliza D. Keith]], American educator, author, and journalist (born [[1854 in literature|1854]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108406075/obituary-for-eliza-d-keith|date=November 6, 1939|work=San Francisco Examiner|title=Obituary for Eliza D. Keith|access-date=August 27, 2022}}</ref>
*[[December 2]] – [[Llewelyn Powys]], English novelist and autobiographer (born [[1884 in literature|1884]])<ref>{{cite book|author=George Santayana|title=The Letters of George Santayana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=61iA6tDeiXwC&pg=PA143|year=2001|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-19495-2|pages=143}}</ref>
*[[December 13]] – [[Frances Brackett Damon]] (Percy Larkin), American writer (born [[1857 in literature|1857]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Mrs. Frances B. Damon |url=http://obits.abbott-library.com/readobit.php?obitid=3717 |publisher=The Eastern Gazette 12-14-1939, p.5 |via=abbott-library.com |access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref>
*''unknown dates''
**[[Mrs. Findley Braden|Anna Braden]], American author, editor, elocutionist (born [[1858 in literature|1858]])
**[[Mary Frances Dowdall]], English novelist and non-fiction writer (born [[1876 in literature|1876]])
**[[Culai Neniu]], Moldovan folklorist and dramatist (shot; born [[1905 in literature|1905]])

==Awards==
*[[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Eleanor Doorly]], ''[[The Radium Woman]]''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction: [[Aldous Huxley]] ''[[After Many a Summer|After Many a Summer Dies the Swan]]''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for biography: [[David C. Douglas]], ''English Scholars''
*[[Newbery Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Elizabeth Enright]], ''[[Thimble Summer]]''
*[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]: [[Frans Eemil Sillanpää]]
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]: [[Robert E. Sherwood]], ''[[Abe Lincoln in Illinois (play)|Abe Lincoln in Illinois]]''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]]: [[John Gould Fletcher]], ''Selected Poems''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for the Novel]]: [[Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings]], ''[[The Yearling]]''<ref>{{cite book|author1=Heinz-D. Fischer|author2=Erika J. Fischer|title=Chronicle of the Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction: Discussions, Decisions and Documents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yjj7FiO4p44C&pg=PA12|date=14 February 2012|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-097330-3|pages=12}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Year in literature article categories}}