Editing 1944 in literature

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{{Year nav topic5|1944|literature|poetry}}

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1944'''.
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==Events==
*[[February 6]] – The première of [[Jean Anouilh]]'s tragedy ''[[Antigone (Anouilh play)|Antigone]]'' takes place at the [[Théâtre de l'Atelier]] in [[Military Administration in France (Nazi Germany)|Nazi-occupied]] [[Paris]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Charles Delattre|title=Antigone, Jean Anouilh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmXJ_0EgDm8C&pg=PA7|year=1998|publisher=Editions Bréal|isbn=978-2-84291-150-8|pages=7|language=fr}}</ref>
*[[March 19]] – The première of [[Pablo Picasso]]'s play ''[[Desire Caught by the Tail]] (Le Désir attrapé par la queue)'' is a private reading in Paris by the author that includes [[Simone de Beauvoir]], [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], [[Valentine Hugo]] and [[Raymond Queneau]] directed by [[Albert Camus]].<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Richard B. K. |last1=McLanathan |first2=Gene |last2=Brown |title=The Arts |publisher=Ayer Publishing |year=1978 |page=60}}</ref>
*May – The première of [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]'s [[Existentialism|existentialist]] drama ''[[No Exit|Huis Clos]]'' is held at the [[Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier]] in Nazi-occupied Paris.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jean-Paul Sartre|title=Huis Clos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWnMKFZMQwoC&pg=PA29|date=3 December 1987|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-04003-7|pages=29}}</ref>
*[[June 1]] and [[June 5|5]] – The first and (modified) second lines respectively of [[Paul Verlaine]]'s [[1866 in literature|1866]] poem ''[[Chanson d'automne]]'' ("Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne / Bercent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone") are broadcast by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] over [[BBC]] [[Radio Londres]] among coded messages to the [[French Resistance]] to prepare for the [[D-Day landings]] (second broadcast at 22:15 local time).<ref>{{Cite book |author-link=M. R. D. Foot |last=Foot |first=M. R. D. |title=SOE: An Outline History of the Special Operations Executive 1940–46 |location=London |publisher=Pimlico |year=1999 |isbn=0-7126-6585-4 |page=143}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author-link=Edward Stourton (journalist) |first=Edward |last=Stourton |title=Auntie's War: the BBC during the Second World War |location=London |publisher=Doubleday |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-857-52332-7}}</ref>
*June
**D-Day landings and [[Invasion of Normandy]]: The English soldier-poet [[Keith Douglas]] is killed; [[William Golding]] commands [[Landing Craft Tank (Rocket)]] ''460'' at [[Gold Beach]]; [[Vernon Scannell]] (as John Bain) experiences the incident that gives rise to the poem "Walking Wounded" (1965) and is wounded; [[J. D. Salinger]], having landed on [[Utah Beach]], works on an early version of ''[[The Catcher in the Rye]]'' during lulls in the fighting; [[Dennis Wilson (poet)|Dennis B. Wilson]] writes the poem that appears as ''Elegy of a Common Soldier'' in 2012;<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kirby|first1=Terry|title=The strange and secretive life of Alexander Wilson|work=[[The Independent]]|location=London|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/writer-lover-soldier-spy-the-strange-and-secretive-life-of-alexander-wilson-2100874.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/writer-lover-soldier-spy-the-strange-and-secretive-life-of-alexander-wilson-2100874.html |archive-date=2022-05-01 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date=2010-10-08|access-date=2018-12-12}}{{cbignore}}</ref> [[Kingsley Amis]] and [[John Wyndham]] serve as signallers; [[Alexander Baron]]'s experiences of the invasion form the basis of his novel ''From the City, From the Plough'' ([[1948 in literature|1948]]).
**The final edition of the [[Breton nationalist]] newspaper ''[[L'Heure Bretonne]]'' is published.
*August – With the [[Liberation of Paris]], [[Jean Genet]]'s novel ''[[Our Lady of the Flowers|Notre Dame des Fleurs]]'' ([[1943 in literature|1943]]) can begin to circulate openly.
*[[September 14]] – [[Laurence Olivier]] takes the title rôle in the production of ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' that opens at [[The Old Vic]] in London.
*October 
**The contents of the [[Załuski Library]] are destroyed during the [[planned destruction of Warsaw]] by its Nazi occupiers.
**The teenage [[Günter Grass]], having volunteered for active service, is drafted into the [[Waffen-SS]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Virginia Quarterly Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b5i4tf37IxIC|year=2006|publisher=University of Virginia|page=1}}</ref>
*[[October 2]]
**After a few months' internment at [[Drancy internment camp|Drancy]] and [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Birkenau]], [[Benjamin Fondane]] is one of 700 prisoners put to death in the gas chamber – the last such killings before Birkenau is evacuated.<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=637–638 |chapter=Destinul unui poet |oclc=252065138}}</ref> Upon selection, Fondane is heard joking about the irony of his misfortune.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Răileanu |first1=Petre |last2=Carassou |first2=Michel |title=Fundoianu/Fondane et l'avant-garde |publisher=Fondation Culturelle Roumaine & Éditions Paris-Méditerranée |location=Bucharest & Paris |year=1999 |page=133 |isbn=2-84272-057-1}}</ref>
**[[Dylan Thomas]] is to be best man at the wedding of a friend and fellow Welsh poet, [[Vernon Watkins]], in London, but fails to turn up.
*[[November 9]] – Collaborationist [[Georges Suarez]] becomes the first journalist executed during the ''[[épuration légale]]'' in France.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lormier|first=Dominique|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_x1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT85|title=Les années interdites: Auteurs, journalistes et artistes dans la collaboration|year=2018|publisher=Archipel|isbn=978-2-8098-2553-4|pages=85|chapter=Georges Suarez}}</ref>
*[[November 22]] – [[Laurence Olivier]]'s film of ''[[Henry V (1944 film)|Henry V]]'' is released in the UK, and is the first film of a [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] play to be produced in colour.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NlZpWZn4JsC&pg=PA328|title=5001 Nights at the Movies|date=15 May 1991|isbn=9780805013672|access-date=19 April 2016|last1=Kael|first1=Pauline|publisher=Macmillan }}</ref>
*[[November 23]] – [[Arthur Miller]]'s play ''[[The Man Who Had All the Luck]]'' (written in [[1940 in literature|1940]]) has its [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] première at the [[Eugene O'Neill Theatre|Forrest Theatre]] in New York City, but runs for only four performances.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2002/legit/reviews/the-man-who-had-all-the-luck-4-1200549947/|title=The Man Who Had All the Luck|date=1 May 2002|author=Charles Isherwood|website=Variety|access-date=12 January 2025}}</ref>
*[[December 26]] – [[Tennessee Williams]]' semi-autobiographical "[[memory play]]" ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'', adapted from a short story, is premièred at the Civic Theatre in [[Chicago]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Tennessee Williams|title=The Glass Menagerie|publisher=New Directions|year=1999|editor=Robert Bray|isbn=9780811220750|page=vii}}</ref>
*''unknown date'' – The English [[actor-manager]] [[Geoffrey Kendal]] arrives in India for the first time with the [[Entertainments National Service Association]], touring [[Patrick Hamilton (writer)|Patrick Hamilton]]'s drama ''[[Gaslight (play)|Gaslight]]''; from [[1947 in literature|1947]] Kendal's touring repertory company "Shakespeareana" will perform [[Shakespeare]] in towns and villages across India for some decades.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Kuldip |last=Singh |title=Obituary: Geoffrey Kendal |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-geoffrey-kendal-1165113.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-geoffrey-kendal-1165113.html |archive-date=2022-05-01 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |location=London|date=1998-06-15 |access-date=2013-12-11}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

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

===Fiction===
*[[Samuel Hopkins Adams]] – ''[[Canal Town]]''
*[[Jorge Amado]] – ''[[Terras do Sem Fim]] (The Violent Land)''
*[[Esther Averill]] – ''The Cat Club''
*[[Vaikom Muhammad Basheer]] – ''[[Balyakalasakhi (novel)|Balyakalasakhi]]''
*[[H. E. Bates]] – ''[[Fair Stood the Wind for France]]''
*[[Saul Bellow]] – ''[[Dangling Man]]''
*[[Jorge Luis Borges]] – ''[[Ficciones]]''
* [[Caryl Brahms]] and [[S.J. Simon]] – ''[[No Nightingales]]''
*[[Christianna Brand]] – ''[[Green for Danger]]''
* [[John Brophy (writer)|John Brophy]] – ''[[Target Island]]''
*[[John Bude]] – ''[[Death in White Pyjamas]]''
*[[John Dickson Carr]]
**''[[Till Death Do Us Part (Carr novel)|Till Death Do Us Part]]''
**''[[He Wouldn't Kill Patience]]'' (as Carter Dickson)
*[[Joyce Cary]] – ''[[The Horse's Mouth]]''
*[[Louis-Ferdinand Céline]] – ''[[Guignol's Band]]''
*[[Peter Cheyney]] 
** ''[[The Dark Street]]''
** ''[[They Never Say When]]''
*[[Agatha Christie]]
**''[[Death Comes as the End]]''
**''[[Towards Zero]]''
**''[[Absent in the Spring]]'' (as Mary Westmacott)
*[[Colette]] – ''[[Gigi (novella)|Gigi]]''
*[[J.J. Connington]] – ''[[Jack-in-the-Box (novel)|Jack-in-the-Box]]''
*[[Edmund Crispin]] – ''[[The Case of the Gilded Fly]]''
*[[A. J. Cronin]] – ''[[The Green Years]]''
*[[Esther Forbes]] – ''[[Johnny Tremain]]''
*[[Anthony Gilbert (author)|Anthony Gilbert]] – ''[[The Scarlet Button]]''
*[[Walter Greenwood]] – ''[[Something in My Heart (novel)|Something in My Heart]]''
*[[L. P. Hartley]] – ''The Shrimp and the Anemone''
*[[John Hersey]] – ''[[A Bell for Adano (novel)|A Bell for Adano]]''
*[[Georgette Heyer]] – ''[[Friday's Child (novel)|Friday's Child]]''
*[[Dorothy B. Hughes]] – ''[[The Delicate Ape]]''
*[[Margaret Irwin (novelist)|Margaret Irwin]] – ''[[Young Bess (novel)|Young Bess]]''
*[[Charles R. Jackson]] – ''[[The Lost Weekend (novel)|The Lost Weekend]]''
*[[Pamela Hansford Johnson]] – ''[[The Trojan Brothers (novel)|The Trojan Brothers]]''
*[[Kalki Krishnamurthy]] – ''[[Sivagamiyin Sapatham]]'' (சிவகாமியின் சபதம், The Vow of Sivagami)
*[[Pär Lagerkvist]] – ''[[The Dwarf (Lagerkvist novel)|Dvärgen]]''
*[[Margaret Landon]] – ''[[Anna and the King of Siam (novel)|Anna and the King of Siam]]'' (semi-fictionalised biography, basis for 1951 musical ''[[The King and I]]'')
*[[Anne Morrow Lindbergh]] – ''[[The Steep Ascent]]''
*[[E. C. R. Lorac]] 
** ''[[Checkmate to Murder]]''
** ''[[Fell Murder]]''
*[[H. P. Lovecraft]] – ''[[Marginalia (collection)|Marginalia]]''
*[[Curzio Malaparte]] – ''[[Kaputt (novel)|Kaputt]]''
*[[W. Somerset Maugham]] – ''[[The Razor's Edge]]''
*[[Oscar Micheaux]] – ''The Case of Mrs. Wingate''
*[[Gladys Mitchell]] – ''[[My Father Sleeps]]''
*[[Alberto Moravia]] – ''Agostino (Two Adolescents)''
*[[Gunnar Myrdal]] – ''[[An American Dilemma]]''
*[[Anaïs Nin]] – ''[[Under a Glass Bell]]''
*[[Ernest Raymond]] – ''[[For Them That Trespass (novel)|For Them That Trespass]]''
*[[Rafael Sabatini]] – ''[[King in Prussia (novel)|King in Prussia]]''
*[[Anna Seghers]]
**''[[Transit Visa (novel)|Transit]]''
**"Der Ausflug der toten Mädchen" (The Excursion of the Dead Girls, short story)
*[[Anya Seton]] – ''[[Dragonwyck (novel)|Dragonwyck]]''
*[[Clark Ashton Smith]] – ''[[Lost Worlds (Smith collection)|Lost Worlds]]''
*[[Lady Eleanor Smith|Eleanor Smith]] – ''[[Magic Lantern (novel)|Magic Lantern]]''
*[[Howard Spring]] – ''[[Hard Facts]]''
*[[Philip Van Doren Stern]] – ''[[The Greatest Gift (story)|The Greatest Gift]]'' (first trade publication)
*[[Rex Stout]] – ''[[Not Quite Dead Enough]]''
*[[Cecil Street]] – ''[[Death Invades the Meeting]]''
*[[Phoebe Atwood Taylor]] (as Alice Tilton) – ''[[Dead Ernest (novel)|Dead Ernest]]''
*[[Donald Wandrei]] – ''[[The Eye and the Finger]]''
*[[Henry S. Whitehead]] – ''[[Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales]]''
*[[Martin Wickremasinghe]] – ''[[Gamperaliya (novel)|Gamperaliya]]''
*[[Vaughan Wilkins]] – ''Being Met Together''
* [[Valentine Williams]] – ''[[Courier to Marrakesh]]''
*[[Kathleen Winsor]] – ''[[Forever Amber (novel)|Forever Amber]]''

===Children and young people===
*[[Esther Averill]] – ''The Cat Club''
*[[Enid Blyton]] – ''[[The Island of Adventure]]''
*[[Robert Bright]] – ''Georgie''
*[[Alice Dalgliesh]] – ''[[The Silver Pencil]]''
*[[Eleanor Estes]] – ''[[The Hundred Dresses]]''
*[[Pipaluk Freuchen]] – ''Ivik, den faderløse'' (translated as ''Eskimo Boy'')
*[[Eric Linklater]] – ''[[The Wind on the Moon]]''
*[[Feodor Rojankovsky]] – ''The Tall Book of Nursery Tales''
*[[Margery Sharp]] – ''[[Cluny Brown (novel)|Cluny Brown]]''
*[[Tasha Tudor]] – ''[[Mother Goose (Tudor book)|Mother Goose]]''

===Drama===
<onlyinclude>
*[[Jean Anouilh]] – ''[[Antigone (Anouilh play)|Antigone]]''
*[[Reginald Beckwith]] – ''[[A Soldier for Christmas]]''
*[[Ugo Betti]] – ''[[:it:Corruzione al Palazzo di giustizia (dramma)|Corruzione al Palazzo di giustizia]]'' (Corruption in the Palace of Justice, written)
*[[Bertolt Brecht]] – ''[[The Caucasian Chalk Circle]] (Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis)'', written
*[[Mary Chase (playwright)|Mary Chase]] – ''[[Harvey (play)|Harvey]]''
*[[Daphne du Maurier]] – ''[[The Years Between (play)|The Years Between]]''
*[[Balwant Gargi]] – ''Lohākuṭ'' (Blacksmith)
*[[Philip King (playwright)|Philip King]] – ''[[See How They Run (play)|See How They Run]]''
*[[Max Otto Koischwitz]] – ''Vision of Invasion'' (broadcast propaganda)
*[[Esther McCracken]] – ''[[No Medals]]''
* [[J.B. Priestley]] – ''[[How Are They at Home?]]''
*[[Harold Purcell]] – ''[[The Rest is Silence (play)|The Rest is Silence]]''
*[[Terence Rattigan]] - ''[[Love In Idleness]]'' (rewriting of ''Less Than Kind'')
*[[Lawrence Riley]] – ''Time to Kill''
*[[Jean-Paul Sartre]] – ''[[No Exit]]'' (''Huis Clos'')
*[[John Van Druten]] – ''[[I Remember Mama (play)|I Remember Mama]]''
*[[Franz Werfel]] – ''Jacobowsky and the Colonel (Jacobowsky und der Oberst)''
*[[Tennessee Williams]] – ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]''</onlyinclude>

===Poetry===
*[[James K. Baxter]] – ''Beyond the Palisade''
*[[Paul Éluard]] – ''Au Rendez-vous allemand (To the German Rendezvous)''
*''[[Five Young American Poets]]'', volume 3, including work by [[Eve Merriam]], [[John Frederick Nims]], [[Jean Garrigue]], [[Tennessee Williams]] and [[Alejandro Carrión]]
*[[Nicholas Moore]] – ''The Glass Tower''
*[[Francis Brett Young]] – ''[[The Island (poem)|The Island]]''

===Non-fiction===
*[[Charles William Beebe]] – ''Book of Naturalists''
*[[F. Brunea-Fox]] – ''Orașul Măcelului'' (City of Slaughter)
*[[Aleister Crowley]] – ''The Book of Thoth''
*[[Friedrich Hayek]] – ''[[The Road to Serfdom]]''
*[[Max Horkheimer]] and [[Theodor W. Adorno]] – ''[[Dialectic of Enlightenment]] (Dialektik der Aufklärung)''
*[[Gunnar Myrdal]] – ''[[An American Dilemma]]''
*[[Beverley Nichols]] – ''Verdict on India''<ref>Mihir Bose: "A Hatred for Hindus", ''History Today'' (Vol 66/12, December 2016), p. 3.</ref>
*[[Karl Polanyi]] – ''[[The Great Transformation (book)|The Great Transformation]]''
*[[L. T. C. Rolt]] – ''[[Narrow Boat (book)|Narrow Boat]]''
*[[Charles Stevenson (philosopher)|Charles Stevenson]] – ''[[Ethics and Language]]''
*[[G. M. Trevelyan]] – ''English Social History: a survey of six centuries from Chaucer to Queen Victoria''

==Births==
*[[January 8]] – [[Terry Brooks]], American writer of [[fantasy fiction]]
*[[January 17]] – [[Jan Guillou]], Swedish author
*[[January 21]] – [[Jack Abbott (author)|Jack Abbott]], American writer (suicide [[2002 in literature|2002]])
*[[February 7]] – [[Witi Ihimaera]], New Zealand [[Māori people|Māori]] writer
*[[February 9]] – [[Alice Walker]], American novelist and poet
*[[February 11]] – [[Joy Williams (American writer)|Joy Williams]], American fiction writer
*[[February 14]]
**[[Carl Bernstein]], American journalist
**[[Alan Parker]], English director and writer (died [[2020 in literature|2020]])
*[[February 16]] – [[Richard Ford]], American novelist
*[[February 18]] – [[Elizabeth Nunez]], Trinidadian-born American novelist (died [[2024 in literature|2024]])
*[[February 27]]
**[[Ken Grimwood]], American writer (died [[2003 in literature|2003]])
**[[Roger Scruton]], English philosopher and writer (died [[2020 in literature|2020]])<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/01/12/sir-roger-scruton-conservative-philosopher-wide-interests-lightning/ Sir Roger Scruton, conservative philosopher of wide accomplishments – obituary<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*[[April 18]] – [[Kathy Acker]], American postmodernist experimental novelist and punk poet (died [[1997 in literature|1997]])
*[[May 13]] – [[Armistead Maupin]], American novelist
*[[May 17]] – [[Uldis Bērziņš]], Latvian poet and translator
*[[May 18]] – [[W. G. Sebald]], German novelist (died [[2001 in literature|2001]])
*[[June 5]]
**[[John Fraser (journalist)|John Fraser]], Canadian journalist
**[[Nigel Rees]], English writer and broadcaster
*[[June 9]] - [[Jeanne DuPrau]], American writer
*[[July 21]] – [[Buchi Emecheta]], Nigerian-born novelist and children's writer (died [[2017 in literature|2017]])
*[[August 10]] – [[Barbara Erskine]], English novelist
*[[August 18]] – [[Paula Danziger]], American young adult novelist (died [[2004 in literature|2004]])
*[[August 19]] – [[Bodil Malmsten]], Swedish writer (died [[2016 in literature|2016]])
*[[August 22]] – [[Tom Leonard (poet)|Tom Leonard]], Scottish dialect poet
*[[August 30]] – [[Molly Ivins]], American journalist (died [[2007 in literature|2007]])
*[[September 19]] – [[Ismet Özel]], Turkish poet
*[[September 24]] – [[Eavan Boland]], Irish poet (died [[2020 in literature|2020]])
*[[October 2]] – [[Vernor Vinge]], American science fiction novelist
*[[October 5]] – [[Tomás de Jesús Mangual]], Puerto Rican journalist (died [[2011 in literature|2011]])
*[[November 7]] – [[Peter Wilby]], English journalist
*[[November 24]] – [[Eintou Pearl Springer]], Trinidadian poet
*[[November 28]] – [[Rita Mae Brown]], American writer and political activist
*[[December 1]] – [[Tahar Ben Jelloun]], French Moroccan-born novelist
*[[December 2]] – [[Botho Strauss|Botho Strauß]], German writer and dramatist
*[[December 9]] – [[Ki Longfellow]], American novelist
*[[December 15]] – [[Elizabeth Arnold (children's writer)|Elizabeth Arnold]], English children's writer
*[[December 17]] – [[Jack L. Chalker]], American science fiction novelist (died [[2005 in literature|2005]])
*[[December 21]] – [[James Sallis]], American crime novelist
*''unknown dates''
**[[Margaret Busby]], Ghanaian-born British publisher
**[[Shena Mackay]], Scottish-born novelist
**[[Patrick O'Connell (poet)|Patrick O'Connell]], Canadian poet (died [[2005 in literature|2005]])

==Deaths==
*[[January 6]] – [[Ida Tarbell]], American journalist (born [[1857 in literature|1857]])
*[[January 7]] – [[Napoleon Lapathiotis]], Greek lawyer and poet (born [[1888 in literature|1888]])
*[[January 8]] – [[Joseph Jastrow]], Polish American psychologist (born [[1863 in literature|1863]])
*[[January 15]]– [[Armand Praviel]], French poet, novelist, and journalist (born [[1875 in literature|1875]])
*[[January 31]] – [[Jean Giraudoux]], French dramatist (born [[1882 in literature|1882]])
*February – [[David Vogel (author)|David Vogel]], [[Hebrew]] poet (died in concentration camp, born [[1891 in literature|1891]])<ref name="Kerbel2004">{{cite book|author=Sorrel Kerbel|title=The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqQsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1113|date=23 November 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-45607-8|pages=1113}}</ref>
*[[February 2]] – [[Jane Agnes Stewart]], American author, editor, and contributor to periodicals (born [[1860 in literature|1860]])
*[[February 9]] – [[Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux]], English-born poet, biographer and novelist (born [[1857 in literature|1857]])
*[[February 10]] – [[Israel Joshua Singer]], Yiddish novelist (born [[1893 in literature|1893]])
*[[February 12]] – [[Olive Custance]], Lady Alfred Douglas, English poet (born [[1874 in literature|1874]])
*[[February 23]] – [[Augusta Peaux]], Dutch poet (born [[1859 in literature|1859]])
*[[March 5]]
**[[Max Jacob]], French poet and critic (died in internment camp, born [[1876 in literature|1876]])
**[[Alun Lewis (poet)|Alun Lewis]], Welsh war poet (accidental shooting, born [[1915 in literature|1915]])
*[[March 11]] – [[Irvin S. Cobb]], American writer (born [[1876 in literature|1876]])
*[[March 28]] – [[Stephen Leacock]], English-born Canadian humorous writer and economist (born [[1869 in literature|1869]])
*[[April 21]] – [[Florence Trail]], American educator and author (born [[1854 in literature|1854]])
*[[May 3]] – [[Anica Černej]], Slovenian poet (in concentration camp, born [[1900 in literature|1900]])
*[[May 12]]
**[[Max Brand]], American Western, pulp fiction and screenwriter (killed as war correspondent, born [[1892 in literature|1892]])
**Sir [[Arthur Quiller-Couch]] ("Q"), English author and critic (born [[1863 in literature|1863]])
*[[May 16]] – [[George Ade]], American journalist and dramatist (born [[1866 in literature|1866]])
*[[May 24]] – [[Harold Bell Wright]], American writer (born [[1872 in literature|1872]])
*June – [[Joseph Campbell (poet)|Joseph Campbell]], Northern Irish poet (born [[1879 in literature|1879]])
*[[June 9]] – [[Keith Douglas]], English war poet (killed in action, born [[1920 in literature|1920]])
*[[June 13]] – [[Elizabeth Wharton Drexel]], American socialite and author (born [[1868 in literature|1868]])
*[[June 16]] – [[Marc Bloch]], French historian (executed, born [[1886 in literature|1886]])
*[[July 31]] – [[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]], French pilot and writer (lost in aircraft, born [[1900 in literature|1900]])
*[[August 13]] – [[Ethel Lina White]], Welsh-born English crime novelist (born [[1876 in literature|1876]])
*[[August 25]] – [[Musa Cälil]], Soviet [[Tatar literature|Tatar]] poet and resistance fighter (executed, born [[1905 in literature|1905]])
*[[September 4]] – [[Margery Williams]], English-born American children's writer (born [[1881 in literature|1881]])
*[[September 13]] – [[W. Heath Robinson]], English cartoonist and illustrator (born [[1872 in literature|1872]])
*[[October 2]] – [[Benjamin Fondane]], Romanian-born French poet, playwright and critic (Nazi gas chamber, born [[1898 in literature|1898]])
*[[October 8]] – [[Elsa Lindberg-Dovlette]], Swedish writer of harem stories (born [[1874 in literature|1874]])<ref>{{cite book|last=Åhlen|first=Bengt|title=Svensk bokkalender 1945: En översikt över 1944 års bokutgivning|location=Stockholm|publisher=Rabén & Sjögre|year=1945|page=82|oclc=924316513 |language=sv}}</ref>
*[[October 19]] – [[Karel Poláček]], Czech writer, humorist and journalist (born [[1892 in literature|1892]])
*[[October 29]] – [[Stephen Hudson]] (born Sydney Schiff), English novelist, translator and arts patron (born [[1868 in literature|1868]])
*[[November 15]] – [[Edith Durham]], English travel writer (born [[1863 in literature|1863]])
*[[December 2]] – [[Filippo Tommaso Marinetti]], Italian poet, art theorist and Futurist writer (born [[1876 in literature|1876]])
*[[December 17]] – [[Robert Nichols (poet)|Robert Nichols]], English poet and dramatist (born [[1893 in literature|1893]])
*[[December 30]] – [[Romain Rolland]], French author and Nobel laureate (born [[1866 in literature|1866]])

==Awards==
*[[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Eric Linklater]], ''[[The Wind on the Moon]]''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction: [[Forrest Reid]], ''Young Tom''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for biography: [[C. V. Wedgwood]], ''[[William the Silent]]''
*[[Newbery Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Esther Forbes]], ''[[Johnny Tremain]]''
*[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]: [[Johannes V. Jensen]]
*[[Premio Nadal]] (first award): [[Carmen Laforet]], ''Nada''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]]: [[Stephen Vincent Benét]], ''Western Star''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for the Novel]]: [[Martin Flavin]], ''[[Journey in the Dark]]''
*Shelley Memorial Award for Poetry: [[E. E. Cummings]]

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

{{Year in literature article categories}}