Editing 1940 in literature

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Year nav topic5|1940|literature|poetry}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2020}} 
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1940'''.
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==Events==
*January – The English literary magazine ''[[Horizon (British magazine)|Horizon]]'' first appears in London, with [[Cyril Connolly]], [[Peter Watson (arts benefactor)|Peter Watson]] and [[Stephen Spender]] contributing.
*February – The Canadian writer [[Robertson Davies]] leaves the [[Old Vic]] repertory company in the U.K.
*[[March 11]] – [[Ed Ricketts]], [[John Steinbeck]] and six others leave [[Monterey, California|Monterey]] for the [[Gulf of California]] on a marine invertebrate collecting expedition.
*April – [[Máirtín Ó Cadhain]] is interned by the Irish government at [[Curragh Camp]], as a member of the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–69)|Irish Republican Army]].
*[[May 14]] – The [[Battle of the Netherlands]] ends with the surrender of the main Dutch forces to Nazi German invaders. This evening, the gay Dutch Jewish writer [[Jacob Hiegentlich]] takes poison, dying four days later aged 33.
*[[June 5]] – The English novelist [[J. B. Priestley]] broadcasts his first Sunday evening radio ''Postscript'', "An excursion to hell", on the [[BBC Home Service]] in the U.K., marking the role of pleasure steamers in the [[Dunkirk evacuation]], which ended the day before.
*July
**[[Jean-Paul Sartre]] is taken prisoner by the Germans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boulé |first=Jean-Pierre |title=Sartre, Self-formation, and Masculinities |year=2005 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=1-57181-742-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sartreselfformat0000boul/page/114 114] |url=https://archive.org/details/sartreselfformat0000boul/page/114 }}</ref> [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]] also becomes a prisoner of war this year. [[P. G. Wodehouse]] is interned by the Germans as an [[enemy alien]].
**American [[science fiction]] and [[Fantasy literature|fantasy]] [[pulp magazine]] ''[[Fantastic Novels]]'' begins its first run.
*[[July 26]] – A movie adaptation of [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)|Pride and Prejudice]]'' is released, with [[Aldous Huxley]] as a screenwriter.
*September – In [[Uriage-les-Bains]], [[Vichy France]], [[Emmanuel Mounier]] and the ''[[Esprit (magazine)|Esprit]]'' circle establish a school of government and philosophy attuned to [[Catholic social teaching]]. Initially endorsing the ''[[Révolution nationale]]'', Uriage is put off by Vichy's [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaboration with Germany]], and blends into the [[Christian left]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Judt |first=Tony |author-link=Tony Judt |title=[[Past Imperfect: French Intellectuals, 1944-1956|Past Imperfect. French Intellectuals, 1944–1956]] |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=Berkeley |year=1992 |isbn=0-520-07921-3 |pages=28–30}}</ref>
*[[September 10]] – [[Virginia Woolf]]'s London house at 37 [[Mecklenburgh Square]] is destroyed by bombing. On October 18 she sees the ruins of her previous home, 52 [[Tavistock Square]], [[Bloomsbury]], similarly destroyed.<ref>Chronology in [[Oxford World's Classics]] editions of her works.</ref>
*October 
**[[Graham Greene]]'s London house on [[Clapham Common Northside]] is destroyed by bombing, an event reflected in his novels ''[[The Ministry of Fear]]'' (1943) and ''[[The End of the Affair]]'' (1951).
**[[Philip Larkin]] enters [[St John's College, Oxford]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradford |first=Richard |title=First Boredom Then Fear: The Life of Philip Larkin |location=London |publisher=Peter Owen |isbn=0-7206-1147-4 |year=2004|page=39}}</ref>
*[[October 4]] – [[Brian O'Nolan]]'s first  "Cruiskeen Lawn" humorous column is published in ''[[The Irish Times]]'' (Dublin). In the second column he assumes the pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen. The original columns are composed in [[Irish language|Irish]]. He continues the column until the year of his death in [[1966 in literature|1966]].
*December – [[Penguin Books]] launches its [[Puffin Books]] children's imprint in the United Kingdom with ''War on Land'' by James Holland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Penguin Archive Timeline |url=http://www.bristol.ac.uk/library/resources/specialcollections/archives/penguin/timeline |publisher=[[University of Bristol]] |access-date=2013-10-30}}</ref>
*[[December 21]] – [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] dies of a heart attack aged 44 in the apartment of [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] gossip columnist [[Sheilah Graham]], leaving his novel ''[[The Last Tycoon]]'' unfinished. The following day, his friend and fellow novelist and screenwriter, [[Nathanael West]], is killed aged 37 in an automobile accident in California.
*[[December 29]] – Heavy bombing causes a [[Second Great Fire of London]], destroying the premises of Simpkin, Marshall, the U.K.'s largest book wholesaler, and of many publishers also in the [[Paternoster Row]] area, including [[Longman]], together with some 25,000 volumes in the [[Guildhall Library]]'s stores and a copy of the ''[[Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam]]'' in a jewelled binding by [[Sangorski & Sutcliffe]] (1939).<ref>{{Cite book |isbn=978-184831-247-0 |title=Love, Sex, Death & Words: Surprising Tales from a Year in Literature |first1=John |last1=Sutherland |author-link1=John Sutherland (author) |first2=Stephen |last2=Fender |location=London |publisher=Icon |year=2011 |chapter=29 December}}</ref> On dawn patrol as a fighter pilot, [[Douglas Blackwood]] sees his family's publishing business, [[William Blackwood]], burning.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Trevor |last=Royle |title=Obituary: Wing Cdr Douglas Blackwood |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |location=London |date=1997-03-07 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-wing-cdr-douglas-blackwood-1271458.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-wing-cdr-douglas-blackwood-1271458.html |archive-date=2022-05-01 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=2014-04-11}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
*[[December 31]] – ''[[Echternacher Anzeiger]]'', a Luxembourg newspaper, ends publication.<ref>Romain Hilgert: [http://www.gouvernement.lu/publications/download/zeitungen_FR_2004.pdf ''Les journaux au Luxembourg. 1704-2004''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229044306/http://www.gouvernement.lu/publications/download/zeitungen_FR_2004.pdf |date=2009-12-29 }}, p. 98-99.</ref>
*''unknown dates''
**The Russian poet [[Anna Akhmatova]]'s collection ''From Six Books'' appears in the [[Soviet Union]], but distribution is soon suspended, copies pulped and remaining issues prohibited.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.caxtonclub.org/reading/2007/apr07.pdf |last=Martin |first=R. Eden |title=Collecting Anna Akhmatova |journal=The Caxtonian |volume=15 |issue=4 |date=April 2007 |publisher=[[Caxton Club]] |access-date=2018-01-19 |page=9}}</ref>
**Wills & Hepworth of [[Loughborough]] begins publishing [[Ladybird Books]] in the United Kingdom in a new format,<ref>{{cite book|author=Bill Rees|title=The Loneliness of the Long Distance Book Runner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RG_pDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT65|date=17 October 2011|publisher=Parthian Books|isbn=978-1-908946-04-1|pages=65}}</ref> with ''Bunnykin's Picnic Party: a story in verse for children with illustrations in colour''.<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Lorraine |last1=Johnson |first2=Brian |last2=Alderson |author-link2=Brian Alderson (children's book critic) |title=The Ladybird Story: children's books for everyone |location=London |publisher=[[British Library]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7123-5728-9}}</ref>

==New books==
<!-- (''Title of published book translation''), ("Title of published poem/story translation"), (Literal translation of title) -->

===Fiction===
* [[Eric Ambler]] – ''[[Journey into Fear (novel)|Journey into Fear]]''
*[[Thomas Armstrong (author)|Thomas Armstrong]] – ''[[The Crowthers of Bankdam]]''
*[[Frank Baker (author)|Frank Baker]] – ''Miss Hargreaves''
*[[Pridi Banomyong]] – ''The King of the White Elephant''
*[[Giorgio Bassani]] – ''Una città di pianura''
*[[Henry Bellamann]] – ''[[Kings Row]]''
*[[Pierre Benoit (novelist)|Pierre Benoit]] – ''[[The Environs of Aden]]''
* [[Phyllis Bottome]] – ''[[Heart of a Child (novel)|Heart of a Child]]''
* [[Marjorie Bowen]] – ''[[The Crime of Laura Sarelle]]''
*[[Karin Boye]] – ''[[Kallocain]]''
* [[Lynn Brock]] – ''[[The Stoat]]''
* [[John Brophy (writer)|John Brophy]] – ''Green Ladies''
*Douglas Brown and [[Christopher Serpell]] – ''Loss of Eden: a cautionary tale''
*[[Heðin Brú]] – ''[[Feðgar á ferð]]'' (The Old Man and His Sons)
*[[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] – ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]''
*[[Gerald Butler (writer)|Gerald Butler]] – ''[[Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (novel)|Kiss the Blood Off My Hands]]''
*[[Dino Buzzati]] – ''[[The Tartar Steppe]] (Il deserto dei Tartari)''
*[[Arthur Calder-Marshall]] – ''[[The Way to Santiago]]''
*[[Erskine Caldwell]] – ''Trouble in July''
*[[Taylor Caldwell]] – ''The Earth is the Lord's''
* [[Victor Canning]] – ''[[Mr. Finchley Takes the Road]]''
*[[Joyce Carey]] – ''Charley is My Darling''
*[[John Dickson Carr]]
**''The Department of Queer Complaints''
**''[[The Man Who Could Not Shudder]]''
**''[[And So To Murder]]'' (as Carter Dickson)
**''[[Murder in the Submarine Zone]]'' (as Carter Dickson)
*[[Adolfo Bioy Casares]] – ''[[The Invention of Morel]] (La invención de Morel)''
*[[Willa Cather]] – ''Sapphira And The Slave''
*[[Raymond Chandler]] – ''[[Farewell, My Lovely]]''
*[[Peter Cheyney]] 
** ''[[You Can't Keep the Change]]''
** ''[[You'd Be Surprised (novel)|You'd Be Surprised]]''
*[[Agatha Christie]]
**''[[Sad Cypress]]''
**''[[One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (novel)|One, Two, Buckle My Shoe]]''
*[[Walter Van Tilburg Clark|Walter Clark]] – ''[[The Ox-bow Incident]]''
*[[G.D.H. Cole]] and [[Margaret Cole]] – ''[[Murder at the Munition Works]]''
*[[J.J. Connington]] – ''[[The Four Defences]]''
* [[Freeman Wills Crofts]] – ''[[Golden Ashes (novel)|Golden Ashes]]''
*[[James Daugherty]] – ''[[Daniel Boone]]''
*[[Georges Duhamel (author)|Georges Duhamel]] – ''[[Les Maîtres]]''
*[[Mircea Eliade]] – ''[[The Secret of Dr. Honigberger]]'' (''Secretul doctorului Honigberger''; published with ''Nights at Serampore'')
*[[Margita Figuli]] – ''[[Three Chestnut Horses]]''
* [[Anthony Gilbert (author)|Anthony Gilbert]] – ''[[Dear Dead Woman]]''
*[[Graham Greene]] – ''[[The Power and the Glory]]''
*[[Ernest Hemingway]] – ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]''
*[[Georgette Heyer]] – ''[[The Corinthian (novel)|The Corinthian]]''
*[[Anne Hocking]] – ''[[The Wicked Flee]]''
*[[Dorothy B. Hughes]] – ''[[The So Blue Marble]]''
* [[Hammond Innes]] 
**''[[The Trojan Horse (novel)|The Trojan Horse]]''
**''[[Wreckers Must Breathe]]''
* [[Michael Innes]] 
**  ''[[The Secret Vanguard]]''
** ''[[There Came Both Mist and Snow]]''
*[[Anna Kavan]] – ''Asylum Piece'' (short stories)
*[[Arthur Koestler]] – ''[[Darkness at Noon]]''
*[[E. C. R. Lorac]] – ''[[Death at Dyke's Corner]]''
*[[Marie Belloc Lowndes]] – ''[[The Christine Diamond]]''
*[[Carson McCullers]] – ''[[The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter]]''
*[[Ngaio Marsh]] – ''[[Death at the Bar]]''
*[[W. Somerset Maugham]] – ''[[The Mixture as Before]]'' (short stories)
*[[Gladys Mitchell]] – ''[[Brazen Tongue]]''
*[[Nancy Mitford]] – ''Pigeon Pie''
*[[John O'Hara]] – ''[[Pal Joey (novel)|Pal Joey]]''
*[[E. Phillips Oppenheim]] – ''[[Last Train Out]]''
*[[Raymond Postgate]] – ''[[Verdict of Twelve]]''
*[[John Cowper Powys]] – ''[[Owen Glendower (novel)|Owen Glendower]]''
*[[Clayton Rawson]] -- ''[[The Headless Lady]]''
*[[Michael Sadleir]] – ''[[Fanny by Gaslight (novel)|Fanny by Gaslight]]''
*[[Mikhail Sholokov]] – ''[[The Don Flows Home to the Sea]]'' (English translation of part 2 of ''Тихий Дон – Tikhii Don, The Quiet Don'')
*[[C. P. Snow]] – ''[[George Passant]]'' (first in the ''[[Strangers and Brothers]]'' series)
*[[Christina Stead]] – ''[[The Man Who Loved Children]]''
*[[Rex Stout]]
**''[[Over My Dead Body (novel)|Over My Dead Body]]''
**''[[Where There's a Will (novel)|Where There's a Will]]''
*[[Cecil Street]] 
** ''[[Death on the Boat Train]]''
** ''[[Death Takes a Flat]]''
** ''[[Mr. Westerby Missing]]''
** ''[[Murder at Lilac Cottage]]''
*[[Phoebe Atwood Taylor]]
**''The Criminal C. O. D.''
**''The Deadly Sunshade''
**''[[The Left Leg]]'' (as Alice Tilton)
*[[Dylan Thomas]] – ''[[Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog]]'' (short stories)
*[[Luis Trenker]] – ''[[Captain Ladurner]]''
*[[Sachchidananda Vatsyayan]] – ''[[Shekhar: Ek Jivani]]''
* [[Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet|Henry Wade]] – ''[[Lonely Magdalen]]''
* [[Ethel Lina White]] – ''[[While She Sleeps (novel)|While She Sleeps]]''
*[[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]] – ''[[Native Son]]''
*[[Francis Brett Young]] – ''[[Mr. Lucton's Freedom]]''
*[[Xiao Hong]] (蕭紅) – ''Ma Bole'' (马伯乐)

===Children and young people===
*[[Enid Blyton]] – ''[[The Naughtiest Girl in the School]]''
*[[Godfried Bomans]] – ''Eric in the Land of the Insects ([[Erik of het klein insectenboek]])''
*[[Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire]] – ''Abraham Lincoln''
*[[Doris Gates]] – ''[[Blue Willow]]''
*[[Dorothy Kunhardt]] – ''[[Pat the Bunny]]''
*[[Phyllis Matthewman]] – ''Chloe Takes Control'' (first in the Danewood series of seven books)
*[[Arthur Ransome]] – ''[[The Big Six]]''
*[[Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings]] – ''When the Whippoorwill''
*[[Dr. Seuss]] – ''[[Horton Hatches the Egg]]''
*[[Armstrong Sperry]] – ''[[Call It Courage]]''
*[[Jakob Streit]] – ''Beatuslegenden''
*[[Geoffrey Trease]] – ''[[Cue for Treason]]''
*[[John R. Tunis]] – ''The Kid from Tomkinsville''
*[[Laura Ingalls Wilder]] – ''[[The Long Winter (novel)|The Long Winter]]''

===Drama===
<onlyinclude>
*[[Jean Anouilh]] – ''[[Léocadia]]''
*[[Ugo Betti]] – ''Il cacciatore di anitre'' (The Duck Hunter)
* [[Peter Blackmore (screenwriter)|Peter Blackmore]] – ''[[The Blue Goose]]''
*[[Bertolt Brecht]] – ''[[Mr Puntila and his Man Matti]]'' (''Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti'', written)
*[[Agatha Christie]] – ''[[Peril at End House (play)|Peril at End House]]''
*[[Jean Cocteau]] – ''Le Bel indifférent''
*[[Hermann Heuvers]] – ''Hosokawa Gracia Fujin''
*[[Artturi Järviluoma]] – ''[[Pohjalaisia (play)|Pohjalaisia]]''
*[[Terence Rattigan]] and Anthony Goldsmith – ''Follow My Leader'' (first performed)
*[[Lawrence Riley]] – ''Return Engagement''
*[[George Shiels]] – ''The Rugged Path''
*[[Vernon Sylvaine]] – ''[[Nap Hand (play)|Nap Hand]]''
*[[John Van Druten]] – 
** ''[[Leave Her to Heaven (play)|Leave Her to Heaven]]''
** ''[[Old Acquaintance (play)|Old Acquaintance]]''
*[[Emlyn Williams]] 
**''[[The Corn Is Green]]''
**''[[The Light of Heart]]''</onlyinclude>

===Non-fiction===
*[[Mortimer J. Adler]] – ''[[How to Read a Book]]''
*"Cato" ([[Michael Foot]], [[Frank Owen (politician)|Frank Owen]], and [[Peter Howard (journalist)|Peter Howard]]) – ''[[Guilty Men]]''
*[[George Gamow]] – ''[[The Birth and Death of the Sun]]''
*[[G. H. Hardy]] – ''[[A Mathematician's Apology]]''
*[[Bernard Leach]] – ''A Potter's Book''
*[[C. S. Lewis]] – ''[[The Problem of Pain]]''
*[[Karl Mannheim]] – ''Man and Society in the Age of Reconstruction''
*[[Arthur Marder]] – ''The Anatomy of British Sea Power: a history of British naval policy in the pre-Dreadnought era, 1880–1905''
*[[A. A. Milne]] – ''War with Honour''
*[[Malcolm Muggeridge]] – ''The Thirties''
*[[Hugh Trevor-Roper]] – ''Archbishop Laud, 1573–1645''
*[[Edmund Wilson]] – ''[[To the Finland Station]]''

==Births==
*[[January 4]] – [[Gao Xingjian]] (高行健), Chinese novelist
*[[January 15]] – [[Ted Lewis (writer)|Ted Lewis]], English novelist (died [[1982 in literature|1982]])
*[[January 23]] – [[Mario Levrero]], Uruguayan novelist (died [[2004 in literature|2004]])
*[[February 6]] – [[Tom Brokaw]], American television journalist and author<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/tom-brokaw-9227130|title=Tom Brokaw Biography: News Anchor, Journalist (1940–)|work=Biography.com ([[A&E Networks]])|access-date=June 25, 2013}}</ref>
*[[February 8]] – [[Ted Koppel]], American journalist
*[[February 9]] 
** [[J. M. Coetzee]], South African novelist<ref>{{cite book|title=J. M. Coetzee and the Ethics of Reading: Literature in the Event|url=https://archive.org/details/jmcoetzeeethicso0000attr|url-access=registration|first=Derek|last=Attridge|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|year=2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/jmcoetzeeethicso0000attr/page/94 94]|isbn=978-0-226-03117-0}}</ref>
** [[Seamus Deane]], Irish poet and novelist (died [[2021 in literature|2021]])<ref>{{cite news|title=Seamus Deane, leading Irish writer and critic, has died aged 81|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/seamus-deane-leading-irish-writer-and-critic-has-died-aged-81-1.4564018|first=Martin|last=Doyle|date=13 May 2021|access-date=13 May 2021|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]}}</ref>
*[[March 16]] – [[Bernardo Bertolucci]], Italian writer and film director (died [[2018 in film|2018]]
*[[March 23]] – [[Ama Ata Aidoo]], Ghanaian playwright (died [[2023 in literature|2023]])
*[[March 28]] – [[Russell Banks]], American novelist and poet (died [[2023 in literature|2023]])
*[[April 6]] - [[Homero Aridjis]], Mexican poet, novelist and environmentalist
*[[April 13]] – [[J. M. G. Le Clézio]], French novelist
*[[April 15]] – [[Jeffrey Archer]], English novelist, politician and perjurer
*[[April 24]] – [[Sue Grafton]], American detective novelist (died [[2017 in literature|2017]])
*[[April 30]] – [[Jeroen Brouwers]], Dutch writer (died [[2022 in literature|2022]])
*[[May 1]] – [[Bobbie Ann Mason]], American novelist, short story writer, essayist and literary critic
*[[May 7]] – [[Angela Carter]], English novelist (died [[1992 in literature|1992]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Angela Carter|url=https://www.bl.uk/people/angela-carter|website=The British Library|access-date=27 March 2019}}</ref>
*[[May 8]] – [[Peter Benchley]], American novelist (died [[2006 in literature|2006]])
*[[May 13]] – [[Bruce Chatwin]], English novelist and travel writer (died [[1989 in literature|1989]])
*[[May 24]] – [[Joseph Brodsky]], Russian-born American poet and essayist (died [[1996 in literature|1996]])
*[[May 28]] – [[Maeve Binchy]], Irish novelist (died [[2012 in literature|2012]])
*[[July 17]] – [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]], English comedy writer and performer (died 2020)
*[[July 31]] – [[Fleur Jaeggy]], Swiss-Italian fiction writer
*[[September 1]] – [[Annie Ernaux]], French author and Nobel laureate<ref>{{cite web|date=2022-10-06|title=French author Annie Ernaux wins 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature|url=https://www.onmanorama.com/news/world/2022/10/06/french-author-annie-ernaux-nobel-prize-literature-2022.html|access-date=2022-10-06 |website=Onmanorama}}</ref>
*[[September 3]] – [[Eduardo Galeano]], Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist (died [[2015 in literature|2015]])
*[[September 14]] – [[Ventseslav Konstantinov]], Bulgarian writer and translator (died [[2019 in literature|2019]])
*[[October 11]] – [[David McFadden (poet)|David McFadden]], Canadian poet, fiction and travel writer (died [[2018 in literature|2018]])
*[[October 15]] – [[Fanny Howe]], American poet, novelist and short story writer
*[[October 20]] – [[Robert Pinsky]], American poet
*[[November 15]] – [[René Avilés Fabila]], Mexican writer (died [[2016 in literature|2016]])
*[[November 20]] – [[Wendy Doniger]] O'Flaherty, American [[Indologist]] and translator
*[[December 5]] – [[Peter Pohl]], Swedish novelist
*[[December 29]] – [[Brigitte Kronauer]], German novelist (died [[2019 in literature|2019]])
*[[Stan Grant (Wiradjuri elder)|Stan Grant]], [[Wiradjuri]] Australian writer

==Deaths==
*[[January 1]] – [[Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao]], Indian writer (born [[1865 in literature|1865]])
*[[January 5]] – [[Humbert Wolfe]], British poet and epigrammist (born [[1885 in literature|1885]])
*[[January 27]] – [[Isaak Babel]], Russian journalist and dramatist (executed, born [[1894 in literature|1894]])
*[[February 11]] – [[John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir|John Buchan]], Scottish novelist (born [[1875 in literature|1875]])
*[[February 29]]
**[[E. F. Benson]], English novelist, biographer, memoirist and short-story writer (born [[1867 in literature|1867]])
**[[Emma Shaw Colcleugh]], American author  (born [[1846 in literature|1846]])
*[[March 7]] – [[Edwin Markham]], American poet (born [[1852 in literature|1852]])
*[[March 10]] – [[Mikhail Bulgakov]], Russian novelist and playwright (born [[1891 in literature|1891]])
*[[March 11]] – [[John Monk Saunders]], American writer (born [[1897 in literature|1897]])
*[[March 12]] – [[Florence White (writer)|Florence White]], English food writer (born [[1863 in literature|1863]])
*[[March 16]]
**Sir [[Thomas Little Heath]], English classicist and translator (born [[1861 in literature|1861]])
**[[Selma Lagerlöf]], Swedish children's writer and Nobel laureate (born [[1858 in literature|1858]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Selma Lagerlöf {{!}} Swedish author |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Selma-Lagerlof |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=24 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
*[[April 13]] – [[Mary Bathurst Deane]], English novelist (born [[1843 in literature|1843]])
*[[June 1]] – [[Jan F. E. Celliers]], South African Afrikaans-language poet, essayist, dramatist and critic (born [[1865 in literature|1865]])
*[[June 10]] – [[Marcus Garvey]], Jamaican journalist and publisher (born [[1887 in literature|1887]])
*[[June 20]] – [[Charley Chase]], American screenwriter (born [[1893 in literature|1893]])
*[[June 21]] – [[Hendrik Marsman]], Dutch poet (born [[1899 in literature|1899]])
*[[August 4]] – [[Ze'ev Jabotinsky]], Russian-born Zionist leader, novelist and poet (heart attack, born [[1880 in literature|1880]])
*[[August 7]] – [[T. O'Conor Sloane]], American editor (born [[1851 in literature|1851]])
*[[September 8]] – [[Constantin Banu]], Romanian politician, journalist, cultural promoter and aphorist (born [[1873 in literature|1873]])
*[[September 26]] – [[W. H. Davies]], Welsh poet (born [[1871 in literature|1871]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Lawrence Normand|title=W.H. Davies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9IfAQAAIAAJ|date=1 September 2003|publisher=Seren|isbn=978-1-85411-261-3|page=152}}</ref>
*[[November 27]] – [[Nicolae Iorga]], Romanian historian, politician, culture critic, poet and playwright (assassinated, born [[1871 in literature|1871]])
*[[December 21]] – [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], American novelist (born [[1896 in literature|1896]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=Matthew J. Bruccoli|author1-link=Matthew J. Bruccoli|author2=Judith Baughman|title=F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Marketplace: The Auction and Dealer Catalogues, 1935-2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EOvZ6JNVskAC&pg=PR21|year=2009|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-57003-799-3|pages=21}}</ref>
*[[December 22]] – [[Nathanael West]], American screenwriter and satirist (born [[1903 in literature|1903]])

==Awards==
*[[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Kitty Barne]], ''[[Visitors from London]]''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction: [[Charles Langbridge Morgan|Charles Morgan]], ''The Voyage''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for biography: [[Hilda F. M. Prescott]], ''Spanish Tudor: [[Mary I of England]]''
*[[Newbery Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[James Daugherty]], ''[[Daniel Boone (book)|Daniel Boone]]''
*[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]: not awarded
*[[Prix Goncourt]]: [[Francis Ambrière]], ''[[The Long Holiday|Les grandes vacances]]'' (awarded in retrospect)<ref>{{cite book|first=Gisèle |last=Sapiro |author-link=Gisèle Sapiro|title=The French Writers' War, 1940-1953|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=okPbAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT540|date=23 April 2014|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-9512-6|pages=540}}</ref>
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]: [[William Saroyan]], ''[[The Time of Your Life]]''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]]: [[Mark Van Doren]], ''Collected Poems''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for the Novel]]: [[John Steinbeck]], ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]''
*[[Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry|King's Gold Medal for Poetry]]: [[Michael Thwaites]]

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

{{Year in literature article categories}}