Editing 1959 in literature

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Year nav topic5|1959|literature|poetry}}

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1959'''.
<!-- Redlinks will be removed. They make no sense in a list. Add pages as you write them. -->

==Events==
*[[January 31]] – [[Sandu Tudor]] begins a 40-year sentence at [[Jilava Prison]] for "conspiracy against social order" and "intense activity against the working class", as meted out by a [[Communist Romania|Romanian communist]] tribunal. He will die in [[1962 in literature|1962]] at [[Aiud prison]], possibly from torture.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Ioana |last=Diaconescu |url=http://www.romlit.ro/sandu_tudor_si_gruparea_rugul_aprins |title=Sandu Tudor și gruparea 'Rugul Aprins' |journal=[[România Literară]] |issue=43 |year=2006 |language=ro |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064240/http://www.romlit.ro/sandu_tudor_si_gruparea_rugul_aprins |archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref>
*[[April 30]] – [[Bertolt Brecht]]'s ''[[Saint Joan of the Stockyards]]'' receives its stage première. It was originally performed on radio in 1932.
*[[May 7]] – Scientist and novelist [[C. P. Snow]] delivers in the [[Senate House (University of Cambridge)|Senate House, University of Cambridge]] a [[Rede Lecture]] on ''[[The Two Cultures]]'', to do with a perceived breakdown of communication between the [[science]]s and [[humanities]]. It is later published as ''The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution''.
*[[May 28]] – The [[Mermaid Theatre]] opens in the [[City of London]].
*[[July 21]] – [[D. H. Lawrence]]'s ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' is one of three books whose bans are overturned in court with assistance from the lawyer [[Charles Rembar]] in the United States, the others being ''[[Tropic of Cancer (novel)|Tropic of Cancer]]'' and ''[[Fanny Hill]]''.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15811131582924106766 Grove Press, Inc. v. Christenberry, 175 F. Supp. 488 (SDNY 1959)], 21 July 1959.</ref> The book, published in 1928, legally circulates in the U.S. after a 31-year obscenity ban.
*[[July 29]] – The U.K. [[Obscene Publications Act 1959|Obscene Publications Act]] becomes law, coming into force on August 29. It requires a work to be seen as a whole, permitting a "public good" defence against a prosecution for obscenity, and making prosecutions for [[obscene libel]] difficult.
*September – [[Anthony Burgess]], teaching in [[Brunei]], suffers a breakdown and is forced to return to the UK, where he becomes a full-time novelist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content.time.com/time/travel/article/0,31542,1951949,00.html|title=Anthony Burgess's Take on Brunei|date=6 June 2010|author=Tim Kindseth|publisher=TIME magazine|access-date=13 December 2020}}</ref>
*[[October 29]] – [[Astérix]] the Gaul makes a first appearance in the first regular issue of the [[Franco-Belgian comics magazines|comic magazine]] ''[[Pilote]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |work=BDoubliées |title=Les BD oubliées D'Astérix |url=http://bdoubliees.com/journalpilote/series1/asterix.htm |language=fr |access-date=2013-10-03}}</ref>
*[[November 11]] – In the United States, the short film ''[[Pull My Daisy]]'' is released, adapted from an unperformed play by [[Jack Kerouac]], ''[[Beat Generation (play)|Beat Generation]]'', and narrated by him. It stars poets [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[Peter Orlovsky]] and [[Gregory Corso]].
*''unknown dates''
**[[Aldous Huxley]] turns down a [[knighthood]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/world/europe/britain-releases-partial-list-of-those-declining-knighthood.html|title=Which is cooler: To accept a knighthood from the queen, or to turn one down?| author=Sarah Lyall|
date=January 26, 2012|website=New York Times|access-date=December 13, 2020}}</ref> 
**[[Colin Dexter]] begins teaching at [[Corby]] Grammar School.<ref name="Peacock2001">{{cite book|author=Scot Peacock|title=Contemporary Authors New Revision Series|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gwP3esLxdHoC|date=September 2001|publisher=Cengage Gale|isbn=978-0-7876-4608-0|page=93}}</ref>
**[[Frank Herbert]] begins researching ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]''.
**[[Frederik Pohl]] becomes an editor of the American science fiction magazine ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction|Galaxy]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Cusatis|title=Research Guide to American Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsD3_EGyqSEC&pg=PA81|year=2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-3405-5|pages=81}}</ref>
**[[Marcel Achard]] is elected to the [[Académie française]].<ref>{{cite book|title=France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5O9DnjW8vIoC&pg=RA17-PA10|year=1971|publisher=French Embassy, Press and Information Division.|pages=17}}</ref>
**[[Literature Wales]] is established as The Academi Gymreig.<ref>{{cite book|author=Janet Davies|title=The Welsh Language: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmCuBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA153|date=15 January 2014|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-1-78316-020-4|pages=153}}</ref>
**The first [[butoh]] performance, ''Kinjiki'' by [[Tatsumi Hijikata]], is played at a [[dance festival]] in Japan. It is based on the novel of that name (''[[Forbidden Colors]]'') by [[Yukio Mishima]] and explores the taboos of [[male homosexuality]] and [[pedophilia]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sanders|first=Vicki|title=Dancing and the Dark Soul of Japan: An Aesthetic Analysis of "Butō"|journal=Asian Theatre Journal|date=Autumn 1988|volume=5|issue=2|page=148|jstor=25161489}}</ref>

==New books==
===Fiction===
* [[Eric Ambler]] – ''[[Passage of Arms]]''
*[[Isaac Asimov]] – ''[[Nine Tomorrows]]''
*[[H.E. Bates]] – ''[[A Breath of French Air]]''
*[[Saul Bellow]] – ''[[Henderson the Rain King]]''
* [[Derek Bickerton]] – ''[[Payroll (novel)|Payroll]]''
*[[Robert Bloch]] – ''[[Psycho (novel)|Psycho]]''
*[[Antoine Blondin]] – ''[[A Monkey in Winter (novel)|A Monkey in Winter]] (Un Singe en hiver)''
*[[Heinrich Böll]] – ''[[Billiards at Half-Past Nine]] (Billard um halb zehn)''
*[[Ray Bradbury]] – ''[[A Medicine for Melancholy]]''
*[[Jurij Brězan]] – ''Der Gymnasiast''
* [[John Brophy (writer)|John Brophy]] – ''[[The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (novel)|The Day They Robbed the Bank of England]]'' 
*[[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]]
**''Echo in the Skull''
**''[[The World Swappers]]''
*[[Algis Budrys]] – ''[[The Falling Torch]]''
*[[William S. Burroughs]] – ''[[Naked Lunch]]''
*[[Taylor Caldwell]] – ''Dear and Glorious Physician''
*[[John Dickson Carr]] – ''[[Scandal at High Chimneys]]: A Victorian Melodrama''
*[[Henry Cecil Leon|Henry Cecil]] – ''[[Settled Out of Court (novel)|Settled Out of Court]]''
*[[James Hadley Chase]] – ''[[The World in My Pocket (novel)|The World in My Pocket]]''
*[[Agatha Christie]] – ''[[Cat Among the Pigeons]]''
*[[Ivy Compton-Burnett]] – ''[[A Heritage and Its History]]''
*[[Barbara Comyns]] – ''[[The Vet's Daughter]]''
*[[Richard Condon]] – ''[[The Manchurian Candidate]]''
*[[Alexander Cordell]] – ''[[Rape of the Fair Country]]''
*[[Julio Cortázar]] – ''[[Las armas secretas]]'' (The Secret Weapons, short stories)
*[[Robert Crichton (novelist)|Richard Crichton]] – ''The Great Impostor''
*[[Cecil Day-Lewis]] – ''[[The Widow's Cruise]]''
*[[Allen Drury]] – ''[[Advise and Consent]]''
*[[Alfred Duggan]] – ''Children of the Wolf''
*[[Jane Duncan]] – ''My Friends the Miss Boyds'' (first in the My Friends series of 19 books)
*[[Shusaku Endo]] (遠藤 周作) – ''[[Wonderful Fool]] (おバカさん)''
*[[William Faulkner]] – '' [[The Mansion (novel)|The Mansion]]''
*[[Ian Fleming]] – ''[[Goldfinger (novel)|Goldfinger]]''
* [[Sarah Gainham]] – ''[[The Stone Roses (novel)|The Stone Roses]]''
*[[Paul Gallico]] – ''[[Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris]]''
*[[William Golding]] – ''[[Free Fall (Golding)|Free Fall]]''
*[[Richard Gordon (English author)|Richard Gordon]] – ''[[Doctor and Son]]''
*[[Günter Grass]] – ''[[The Tin Drum]]'' (''Die Blechtrommel'')
* [[Walter Greenwood]] – ''[[Saturday Night at the Crown]]''
*[[Vasily Grossman]] – ''[[Life and Fate]]'' («Жизнь и судьба»; completed but unpublished until the 1980s)
*[[Mark Harris (author)|Mark Harris]] – ''Wake Up, Stupid''
*[[Robert A. Heinlein]]
**''[[The Menace From Earth (collection)|The Menace From Earth]]''
**''[[Starship Troopers]]''
**''[[The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (collection)|The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag]]''
*[[Dorothy Hewett]] – ''Bobbin Up''
*[[Hwang Sun-won]] – "[[Rain Shower]]" (소나기, ''Sonagi'', short story)
*[[Jabra Ibrahim Jabra]] – ''Tammūz fī al-Madīnah'' (Tammuz in the city)
* [[Michael Innes]] – ''[[Hare Sitting Up]]''
*[[Shirley Jackson]] – ''[[The Haunting of Hill House]]''
*[[Uwe Johnson]] – ''Mutmassungen über Jakob'' (Speculations about Jakob)
*[[John Knowles]] – ''[[A Separate Peace]]''
*[[Manuel Lopes (writer)|Manuel Lopes]] – ''O Galo Que Cantou na Baía''
*[[H. P. Lovecraft]] etc. – ''[[The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces]]''
*[[John Lymington]] – ''[[Night of the Big Heat]]''
*[[John D. MacDonald]]
**''Deadly Welcome''
**''The Beach Girls''
**''The Crossroads''
*[[Ross Macdonald]] – ''[[The Galton Case]]''
*[[Colin MacInnes]] – ''[[Absolute Beginners (novel)|Absolute Beginners]]''
*[[Compton Mackenzie]] – ''[[The Lunatic Republic]]''
*[[Alistair MacLean]]
**''[[The Last Frontier (novel)|The Last Frontier]]''
**''[[Night Without End (novel)|Night Without End]]''
*[[Naguib Mahfouz]] – ''[[Children of Gebelaawi]]'' (أولاد حارتنا)
*[[Norman Mailer]] – ''[[Advertisements for Myself]]''
*[[Ngaio Marsh]] – ''[[Singing in the Shrouds]]''
*[[James A. Michener]] – ''[[Hawaii (novel)|Hawaii]]''
*[[Walter M. Miller Jr.]] – ''[[A Canticle for Leibowitz]]''
*[[Gladys Mitchell]] – ''[[The Man Who Grew Tomatoes]]''
*[[V.S. Naipaul]] – ''[[Miguel Street]]''
* [[Patrick O'Brian]] – ''[[The Unknown Shore]]''
*[[Mervyn Peake]] – ''[[Titus Alone]]''
*[[David Piper (curator)|David Piper]] (as Peter Towry) – ''Trial by Battle'' 
*[[Raymond Queneau]] – ''[[Zazie dans le Métro (novel)|Zazie in the Metro]] (Zazie dans le Métro)''
*Robert Randall (as [[Robert Silverberg]] and [[Randall Garrett]]) – ''[[The Dawning Light]]''
*[[Mordecai Richler]] – ''[[The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (book)|The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz]]''
*[[Kate Roberts (author)|Kate Roberts]] – ''Te yn y grug'' (short stories)
*[[Philip Roth]] – ''[[Goodbye, Columbus]]''
*[[Robert Ruark]] – ''Poor No More''
*[[Nathalie Sarraute]] – ''Le Planétarium''
*[[André Schwarz-Bart]] – ''[[The Last of the Just]] (Le Dernier des justes)''
*[[Mary Shelley]] (died 1851) – ''[[Mathilda (novella)|Mathilda]]'' (novella, written 1819–20)
*[[Alan Sillitoe]] – ''[[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner]]''
*[[Andrew Sinclair]] – ''The Breaking of Bumbo'', ''My Friend Judas ''
*[[Aimée Sommerfelt]] – ''[[The Road to Agra]] (Veien til Agra)''
*[[Terry Southern]] – ''[[The Magic Christian (novel)|The Magic Christian]]''
*[[Howard Spring]] – ''[[All the Day Long]]''
*[[Rex Stout]] – ''[[Plot It Yourself]]''
*[[Valerie Taylor (novelist)|Valerie Taylor]] – ''[[The Girls in 3-B]]''
*[[John Updike]] – ''[[The Same Door]]''
*[[Kurt Vonnegut]] – ''[[The Sirens of Titan]]''
*[[Keith Waterhouse]] – ''[[Billy Liar]]''
*[[Sheila Watson (writer)|Sheila Watson]] – ''[[The Double Hook]]''

===Children and young people===
*[[Rev. W. Awdry]] – ''[[List of Railway Series Books#The Little Old Engine|The Little Old Engine]]'' (Fourteenth in ''[[The Railway Series]]'' of 42 books by him and his son [[Christopher Awdry]])
*[[Richard Hough|Bruce Carter]] – ''Four Wheel Drift''
*[[René Goscinny]] – ''[[Le petit Nicolas]]''
*[[Joseph Krumgold]] – ''[[Onion John]]''
*[[Spike Milligan]] – ''Silly Verse for Kids''
*[[Bill Peet]]
**''[[Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure]]''
**''[[Goliath II]]''
*[[Dr. Seuss]] – ''[[Happy Birthday to You!]]''
*[[Margery Sharp]] – ''[[The Rescuers (book)|The Rescuers]]'' (first in the eponymous series of nine novels)

===Drama===
<onlyinclude>
*[[Edward Albee]]
**''[[The Death of Bessie Smith]]'' (written)
**''[[The Zoo Story]]'' (premiered in German)
*[[Jean Anouilh]] – ''[[Becket]]''
*[[John Arden]] – ''[[Serjeant Musgrave's Dance]]''
*[[Alan Ayckbourn]] (as Roland Allen) – ''The Square Cat''
*[[Samuel Beckett]] – ''[[Embers]]'' (first broadcast)
*[[Bertolt Brecht]] (died 1956) – ''[[Saint Joan of the Stockyards]]'' (''Die Heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe'', first stage performance)
*[[Albert Camus]] – ''[[The Possessed (play)|The Possessed]] (Les Possédés)''
*[[Beverley Cross]] – ''One More River''
*[[William Douglas Home]] – ''[[Aunt Edwina]]''
*[[Refik Erduran]] – ''Cengiz Han’ın Bisikleti'' (The Bicycle of Genghis Khan)
*[[Jack Gelber]] – ''[[The Connection (1959 play)|The Connection]]''
*[[Jean Genet]] – ''[[The Blacks (play)|The Blacks: A Clown Show]]'' (''Les Nègres, clownerie'', first performed)
*[[Lorraine Hansberry]] – ''[[A Raisin in the Sun]]''
*[[Eugène Ionesco]] – ''[[The Killer (play)|The Killer]] (Tueur sans gages)''
*[[Geoffrey Lumsden]] – ''[[Caught Napping]]''
*[[Harold Pinter]] – ''[[The Caretaker (play)|The Caretaker]]'' (first published)
*[[Zofia Posmysz]] – ''Pasażerka z kabiny 45'' (Passenger from Cabin 45, radio drama)
*[[Jean-Paul Sartre]] – ''[[The Condemned of Altona]]'' (''Les Séquestrés d'Altona'', translated as ''Loser Wins'')
*[[N. F. Simpson]] – ''[[One Way Pendulum (play)|One Way Pendulum]]''
*[[Wole Soyinka]] – ''[[The Lion and the Jewel]]''
*[[Arnold Wesker]]
**''[[Roots (play)|Roots]]''
**''The Kitchen''
*[[Tennessee Williams]] – ''[[Sweet Bird of Youth]]''
*[[Egon Wolff]] – ''Parejas de trapo''</onlyinclude>
*[[Zhou Xinfang]] with Xu Siyan – ''Hai Rui Submits His Memorial'' (海瑞上疏, ''[[Hai Rui]] Shangshu'')

===Non-fiction===
*[[Kenneth Anger]] – ''[[Hollywood Babylon]]''
*[[L. Sprague de Camp]] – ''[[Engines (children's book)|Engines]]''
*[[August Derleth]]
**''[[Arkham House: The First 20 Years]]''
**''[[Some Notes on H. P. Lovecraft]]''
*[[Savitri Devi]] – ''[[Impeachment of Man]]''
*[[G. H. Dury]] – ''The Face of the Earth''
*[[C. S. Forester]] – ''[[Sink the Bismarck!]]'' (also as ''The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck'')
*[[Georges Friedmann]] – ''Signal d'une troisième voie?''
*[[Erving Goffman]] – ''[[The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life]]''
*[[Laurie Lee]] – ''[[Cider With Rosie]]''
*[[Miguel León-Portilla]] – ''[[The Broken Spears|Visión de los vencidos: Relaciones indígenas de la conquista]]''
*[[Garrett Mattingly]] – ''[[The Defeat of the Spanish Armada]]''
*[[Czesław Miłosz]] – ''Rodzinna Europa'' (Native Realm)
*[[Iona and Peter Opie]] – ''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren''
*[[James Pope-Hennessy]] – ''Queen [[Mary of Teck|Mary]] 1867–1953''
*[[Karl Popper]] – ''[[The Logic of Scientific Discovery]]''
*[[Cornelius Ryan]] – ''[[The Longest Day (book)|The Longest Day]]''
*[[William Strunk Jr.]] and [[E. B. White]] – ''[[The Elements of Style]]''
*[[Wilfred Thesiger]] – ''[[Arabian Sands]]''
*[[Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger]] (with V. G. Seal and R. Chambers) – ''Social Science and Social Pathology''

==Births==
*[[January 8]] – [[Ovidiu Pecican]], Romanian writer and poet
*[[January 9]] – [[Rigoberta Menchú]], Guatemalan writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner
*[[January 20]] – [[R. A. Salvatore]], American science fiction and fantasy author
*[[January 28]] – [[Megan McDonald]], American children's author
*[[February 2]] – [[Jari Tervo]], Finnish author
*[[March 11]] – [[Dejan Stojanović (writer)|Dejan Stojanović]], Serbian-American poet and essayist
*[[March 15]] – [[Ben Okri]], Nigerian poet and novelist
*[[March 18]] – [[Frédéric-Yves Jeannet]], French-born writer in French and Spanish
*[[April 15]] – [[Emma Thompson]], English actress and screenwriter
*[[April 30]] – [[Alessandro Barbero]], Italian historian, novelist and essayist
*c. [[May 1]] – [[Yasmina Reza]], French novelist and dramatist
*[[May 3]] – [[Ben Elton]], English comedian, novelist and screenwriter<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ben Elton|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/ben_elton/|access-date=2020-11-13|website=British Comedy Guide|language=en-GB}}</ref>
*[[May 13]] – [[Zeruya Shalev]], Israeli novelist
*[[June 12]] – [[Hilary McKay]], English children's writer
*[[June 13]] – [[Maurice G. Dantec]], French science fiction author
*[[July 19]] – [[Vigdis Hjorth]], Norwegian novelist
*[[August 6]] – [[Deborah Levy]], South African-born British writer
*[[August 17]] – [[Jonathan Franzen]], American essayist and novelist
*[[August 27]] – [[Jeanette Winterson]], English novelist
*[[September 9]] – [[Matti Rönkä]], Finnish television journalist and novelist
*[[September 29]]
**[[Jon Fosse]], Norwegian fiction writer, playwright and poet
**[[Benjamin Sehene]], Rwandan writer
*[[October 1]] – [[Brian P. Cleary]], American humorist, author and poet
*[[October 7]] – [[Steven Erikson]], Canadian novelist and fantasy author
*[[October 31]] – [[Neal Stephenson]], American science fiction writer<ref>
{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/17/business/sound-bytes-orwell-class-of-1994.html |title=SOUND BYTES; Orwell – Class of 1994 |date=April 17, 1994 |first=Lawrence M. |last=Fisher |work=The New York Times |access-date=December 13, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121206202414/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/17/business/sound-bytes-orwell-class-of-1994.html |archive-date=December 6, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
*[[November 1]] – [[Susanna Clarke]], English novelist
*[[November 22]] – [[Christoph Klimke]], German writer
*[[December 20]] – [[Sandra Cisneros]], Mexican-born American author
*''unknown dates''
**[[Moira Young]], Canadian children's novelist

==Deaths==
*[[January 3]] – [[Edwin Muir]], Scottish poet, novelist and translator (born [[1887 in literature|1887]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/edwin-muir|work=Scottish Poetry Library|title=Edwin Muir 1887-1959|access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref>
*[[January 14]] – [[G. D. H. Cole]], English political theorist, economist and historian (born [[1889 in literature|1889]])<ref>{{cite news |title=G. D. H. Cole |work=The Times |location=London |date=15 January 1959 }}</ref>
*[[January 26]] – [[Margaret Elizabeth Egan]], American librarian (born [[1905 in literature|1905]])
*[[January 29]] – [[Pauline Smith]], South African novelist (born [[1882 in literature|1882]])
*[[February 20]] – [[Laurence Housman]], English playwright and writer (born [[1865 in literature|1865]])
*[[February 22]] – [[Percy F. Westerman]], English children's author (born [[1876 in literature|1876]])
*[[February 23]] – [[Luis Palés Matos]], Puerto Rican poet (heart failure) (born [[1898 in literature|1898]])<ref>{{Cite web|last=Poets|first=Academy of American|date=|title=About Luis Palés Matos {{!}} Academy of American Poets|url=https://poets.org/poet/luis-pales-matos|access-date=13 October 2020|website=poets.org}}</ref>
*[[February 28]] – [[Maxwell Anderson]], American playwright and film writer (born [[1888 in literature|1888]])
*[[March 4]] – [[W. W. Greg]], English literary scholar (born [[1875 in literature|1875]])
*[[March 17]] – [[Galaktion Tabidze]] (Galaktioni), Georgian poet (suicide, born [[1892 in literature|1892]])<ref>[[Rayfield, Donald]] (2000), ''[[The Literature of Georgia: A History]]'', pp.&nbsp;251–4. [[Routledge]], {{ISBN|0-7007-1163-5}}</ref>
*[[March 26]] – [[Raymond Chandler]], American crime writer (born [[1888 in literature|1888]])
*[[April 12]] – [[James Gleason]], American actor, playwright and screenwriter (born [[1882 in literature|1882]])
*[[April 14]] – [[Julien Josephson]], American screenwriter (born [[1881 in literature|1881]])
*[[April 16]] – [[Ramón Armando Rodríguez]], Venezuelan writer (born [[1895 in literature|1895]])
*[[May 15]] – [[Jeanne de Flandreysy]], French writer (born [[1874 in literature|1874]])
*[[May 18]] – [[Apsley Cherry-Garrard]], English memoirist and explorer (born [[1886 in literature|1886]])
*[[May 20]] – [[Alfred Schütz]], Austrian philosopher and sociologist (born [[1899 in literature|1899]])
*[[May 30]] – [[Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz]], Argentine writer, journalist, essayist and poet (born [[1898 in literature|1898]])
*[[June 1]] – [[Sax Rohmer]] (Arthur Henry Ward), English novelist (born [[1883 in literature|1883]])
*[[June 23]] – [[Boris Vian]], French novelist (heart attack, born [[1920 in literature|1920]])
*[[June 30]] – [[José Vasconcelos]], Mexican poet and political writer (born [[1882 in literature|1882]])
*[[July 3]] – [[Johan Bojer]], Norwegian novelist (born [[1872 in literature|1872]])
*[[July 26]] – [[Manuel Altolaguirre]], Spanish poet, editor and publisher (car accident, born [[1905 in literature|1905]])
*[[August 8]] – [[Emil František Burian]], Czech poet, journalist and playwright (born [[1904 in literature|1904]])
*[[September 5]] – [[Marta Rădulescu]], Romanian novelist and poet (born [[1912 in literature|1912]])
*[[September 14]] – [[Laxmi Prasad Devkota]], Nepali poet, playwright, and novelist (born [[1909 in literature|1909]])
*[[September 18]] – [[Benjamin Péret]], French poet (born [[1899 in literature|1899]])
*[[October 12]] – [[Arnolt Bronnen]], Austrian playwright and director (born [[1895 in literature|1895]])
*[[November 29]] – [[Hans Henny Jahnn]],  German playwright and novelist (born [[1894 in literature|1894]])<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoingaylesb00robe|title=Who's who in gay and lesbian history : from antiquity to World War II|date=2002|publisher=Routledge |editor1=Aldrich, Robert |editor2=Wotherspoon, Garry |isbn=0415159822|location=London|oclc=50479290|url-access=registration}}</ref>
*[[December 2]] – [[Giuseppe Zucca]], Italian screenwriter (born [[1887 in literature|1887]])

==Awards==
*[[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Rosemary Sutcliff]], ''[[The Lantern Bearers (Sutcliff novel)|The Lantern Bearers]]''
*[[Hugo Award for Best Novel]]: [[James Blish]], ''[[A Case of Conscience]]''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction: [[Morris West]], ''The Devil's Advocate''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for biography: [[Christopher Hassall]], ''[[Edward Marsh (polymath)|Edward Marsh]]''
*[[Miles Franklin Award]]: [[Vance Palmer]], ''[[The Big Fellow (novel)|The Big Fellow]]''
*[[Newbery Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Elizabeth George Speare]], ''[[The Witch of Blackbird Pond]]''
*[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]: [[Salvatore Quasimodo]]
*[[Premio Nadal]]: [[Ana Maria Matute|Ana María Matute]], ''Primera memoria''
*[[Prix Goncourt]]: [[André Schwarz-Bart]], ''[[The Last of the Just|Le dernier des Justes]]''<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lQgOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CnkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5475,1250481&dq=the+last+of+the+just+andr%C3%A9+schwarz-bart]{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} January 22, 1961 St. Petersburg Times</ref> 
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]: [[Archibald MacLeish]], ''[[J.B. (play)|J. B.]]''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]]: [[Robert Lewis Taylor]], ''[[The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters]]''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]]: [[Stanley Kunitz]], ''Selected Poems 1928-1958''
*[[Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry]]: [[Francis Cornford]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Year in literature article categories}}