Editing 1961 in literature

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{{Year nav topic5|1961|literature|poetry}}

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1961'''.
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==Events==
*[[January 24]] – The American dramatist [[Arthur Miller]] and the film star [[Marilyn Monroe]] are granted a divorce in Mexico on grounds of incompatibility.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1961: End of the road for Monroe and Miller |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/24/newsid_4588000/4588212.stm |publisher=[[BBC]] |work=On This Day |date=24 January 1961 |access-date=2013-04-18}}</ref>
*February – [[Sylvia Plath]] suffers a miscarriage. Several of her poems, including "Parliament Hill Fields", address the event.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kirk |first=Connie Ann |year=2004 |title=Sylvia Plath: A Biography |location=Westport, CN |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-33214-2 |page=85}}</ref>
*[[March 15]] – [[Hugh Wheeler]]'s comedy ''[[Big Fish, Little Fish (play)|Big Fish, Little Fish]]'' opens at the [[August Wilson Theatre|ANTA Theater]] in [[New York City]], directed by Sir [[John Gielgud]]. It is one of the early [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] plays to explore frankly the issue of male [[homosexuality]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Senelick |first=Laurence |year=2013 |title=Theatre Arts on Acting |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1134723751 |page=74}}</ref>
*[[March 20]] – The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], becomes the [[Royal Shakespeare Theatre]] and its company the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]], with [[Peter Hall (director)|Peter Hall]] as director.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/history-key-dates.aspx |title=Key Dates |publisher=Royal Shakespeare Company |year=2010 |access-date=30 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616162051/http://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/history-key-dates.aspx |archive-date=16 June 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
*May – Grove Press publishes [[Henry Miller]]'s ''[[Tropic of Cancer (novel)|Tropic of Cancer]]'' in the United States 27 years after its original publication in France. The book leads to one of many obscenity trials (Grove Press, Inc., v. Gerstein) that test American laws on pornography in the 1960s.
*[[May 27]] – The British bookseller [[WHSmith]] closes the last of its in-store circulating library branches.<ref>{{Cite book |title=British Librarianship and Information Science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KeQ4AQAAIAAJ |year=1961 |publisher=Library Association |page=228}}</ref>
*[[August 8]] – The first issue of ''[[Fantastic Four]]'', by [[Stan Lee]] and [[Jack Kirby]], is published. It is considered the beginning of the post-World War II [[Marvel Comics]] line of superhero comic books.
*[[August 18]] – The British magazine ''[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]]'' publishes a letter from playwright [[John Osborne]] beginning "Damn You, England..."<ref>{{cite book|author=Luc Gilleman|title=John Osborne: Vituperative Artist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMPKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA238|date=4 February 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-84281-1|pages=238}}</ref>
*[[September 8]] – Publication of the [[science fiction]] novel series ''[[Perry Rhodan]], der Erbe des Universums'', originally written by [[K. H. Scheer]] and [[Walter Ernsting]], is begun by Arthur Moewig Verlag in Germany in ''Romanhefte'' (partwork) format. It is then published every week, attaining more than 2880 issues and around two billion total copies sold worldwide by the end of 2016.<ref>{{cite book|title=Imprimatur: Ein Jahrbuch Für Bücherfreunde|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRrhAAAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Im Verlag der Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen|page=186|language=de}}</ref>
*[[September 14]] – Novelist [[William Golding]], having resigned a teaching post at [[Bishop Wordsworth's School]] in [[Salisbury]], sets off for the academic year 1961/1962 to teach at [[Hollins College]], Virginia, United States.<ref>{{Cite book |first=John |last=Carey |author-link=John Carey (critic) |title=William Golding: The Man Who Wrote 'Lord of the Flies' |location=London |publisher=Faber |year=2009 |isbn=9780571231638 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/williamgoldingma0000care}}</ref>
*[[November 10]] – [[Joseph Heller]]'s satirical novel ''[[Catch-22]]'' is first put on sale by [[Simon & Schuster]] in the United States, after favorable advance reviews in October. Heller has been working on the book since 1953, based on his experiences as a [[Bombardier (aircrew)|bombardier]] during [[World War II]]. Its title, which becomes a phrase referring to a [[no-win situation]], had previously been ''Catch-18''.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Harold |last=Bloom |author-link=Harold Bloom |title=Joseph Heller's Catch-22 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=What is Catch-22? And why does the book matter? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1868619.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=2002-03-12 |access-date=2016-01-23}}</ref>
*''unknown date'' – [[Michael Halliday]] publishes a seminal paper on the [[systemic functional grammar]] model.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Halliday |first=M. A. K. |year=1961 |title=Categories of the theory of grammar |journal=[[WORD (journal)|WORD]] |publisher=[[International Linguistic Association]] |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=241–292|doi=10.1080/00437956.1961.11659756 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==New books==
===Fiction===
*[[Brian Aldiss]] – ''[[The Primal Urge]]''<ref>{{Cite book |author=Michael R. Collings |title=Brian Aldiss |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E7evXX56elIC&pg=PA15 |date=1 January 1986 |publisher=Wildside Press LLC |isbn=978-0-916732-74-5 |pages=15}}</ref>
*[[Poul Anderson]] – ''[[Three Hearts and Three Lions]]''<ref>{{cite book|author1=Norris J. Lacy|author2=Geoffrey Ashe|author3=Sandra Ness Ihle|title=The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: New edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf6zAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|date=5 September 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-60633-5|pages=8}}</ref>
*[[J. G. Ballard]] – ''[[The Wind From Nowhere]]''
*[[James Barlow (author)|James Barlow]] – ''[[Term of Trial (novel)|Term of Trial]]''<ref>{{cite book|title=National Education|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pRCQi9hO4-sC|year=1965|page=166}}</ref>
*[[Sheila Burnford]] – ''[[The Incredible Journey]]''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=graiX5o4tMYC|title=Children's books and their creators|author=Anita Silvey|publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]]|year=1995|isbn=0395653800|access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref>
*[[Morley Callaghan]] – ''A Passion in Rome''
*[[John Dickson Carr]] – ''[[The Witch of the Low Tide]]: An Edwardian Melodrama''<ref>{{cite book|author=John Dickson Carr|title=The Witch of the Low-tide: An Edwardian Melodrama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgc5AQAAIAAJ|year=1961|publisher=Harper}}</ref>
*[[Jean Cau (writer)|Jean Cau]] – ''[[The Mercy of God]]''
*[[Henry Cecil Leon|Henry Cecil]] – ''[[Daughters in Law]]''
*[[Sid Chaplin]] – ''[[The Day of the Sardine]]''
*[[James Hadley Chase]] – ''[[A Lotus for Miss Quon]]''
*[[Agatha Christie]]
**''[[Double Sin and Other Stories]]''
**''[[The Pale Horse]]''
*[[A. J. Cronin]] – ''[[The Judas Tree]]''
*[[Jennifer Dawson]] – ''The Ha-Ha''
* [[Cecil Day-Lewis]] – ''[[The Worm of Death]]''
*[[L. Sprague de Camp]] – ''[[The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate]]''
*[[R. F. Delderfield]] – ''[[Stop at a Winner]]''
*[[August Derleth]] – ''[[The Reminiscences of Solar Pons]]''
*[[Cyprian Ekwensi]] – ''[[Jagua Nana]]''
*[[Ian Fleming]] – ''[[Thunderball (novel)|Thunderball]]'' (based on screen treatment by [[Kevin McClory]], [[Jack Whittingham]] and the author)
*[[Gillian Freeman]] (as Eliot George) – ''The Leather Boys''
*[[Gabriel García Márquez]] – ''[[No One Writes to the Colonel]]'' (''El coronel no tiene quien le escriba'')
*[[Martyn Goff]] – ''The Youngest Director''
* [[Richard Gordon (English author)|Richard Gordon]] – ''[[Doctor on Toast]]''
*[[Edward Gorey]] (as Ogdred Weary) – ''[[The Curious Sofa]]. A Pornographic Tale''
*[[Winston Graham]] – ''[[Marnie (novel)|Marnie]]''
*[[Vasily Grossman]] – ''Everything Flows'' (Все течет; first published [[1989 in literature|1989]])
*[[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison]] – ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat]]''
*[[Robert A. Heinlein]] – ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]''
*[[Joseph Heller]] – ''[[Catch-22]]''
*[[Marlen Haushofer]] – ''[[The Wall (novel)|The Wall]]''
*[[Patricia Highsmith]] – ''[[This Sweet Sickness]]''<ref>{{Cite book |author=Benjamin Mangrum |title=Land of Tomorrow: Postwar Fiction and the Crisis of American Liberalism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 |date=November 2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-090937-6 |pages=87}}</ref>
*[[Richard Hughes (writer)|Richard Hughes]] -''[[The Fox in the Attic]]''<ref>{{Cite book |author=Randall Stevenson |title=A Reader's Guide to the Twentieth-century Novel in Britain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ul-8hrkUzR4C&pg=PA91 |year=1993 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=0-8131-0823-3 |pages=91}}</ref>
* [[Michael Innes]] – ''[[Silence Observed]]''
*[[James Kennaway]] – ''[[Household Ghosts]]'' <ref>{{Cite book |author=James Kennaway |title=Household Ghosts: A James Kennaway Omnibus: A James Kennaway Omnibus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-zJ1SXPKk3IC&pg=PR1 |date=1 July 2010 |publisher=Canongate Books |isbn=978-1-84767-494-4 |pages=1}}</ref>
*[[Ismith Khan]] – ''The Jumbie Bird''
*[[Margaret Laurence]] – ''[[The Stone Angel]]''<ref>{{Cite book |author=Sharon Rose Wilson |title=Margaret Atwood's fairy-tale sexual politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZI_VKA9_aLcC&pg=PA354 |year=1993 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-61703-424-4 |pages=354}}</ref>
*[[John le Carré]] – ''[[Call for the Dead]]''
*[[Stanisław Lem]] – ''[[Solaris (novel)|Solaris]]''
*[[Audrey Erskine Lindop]] – ''[[The Way to the Lantern]]''<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Bookmark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ddKAQAAMAAJ |year=1961 |publisher=New York State Library |page=131}}</ref>
*[[H. P. Lovecraft]] – ''[[The Shunned House]]''
* [[Ross Macdonald]] – ''[[The Wycherly Woman]]''
*[[Compton Mackenzie]] – ''[[Mezzotint (novel)|Mezzotint]]''
*[[Gladys Mitchell]] – ''[[The Nodding Canaries]]''
*[[Iris Murdoch]] – ''[[A Severed Head]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Russell Kirk|title=Modern Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6BdnAAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Foundation for Foreign Affairs|page=74}}</ref>
*[[V. S. Naipaul]] – ''[[A House for Mr. Biswas]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Anthony Boxill|title=V.S. Naipaul's Fiction: In Quest of The Enemy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_JyAAAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=York Press|isbn=978-0-919966-34-5|page=7}}</ref>
*[[R. K. Narayan]] – ''[[The Man-Eater of Malgudi]]''
*[[Juan Carlos Onetti]] – ''[[El astillero]]'' (The Shipyard)<ref>{{cite book|author=Dr. Paul Jordan|title=The Author in the Office: Narrative Writing in Twentieth-century Argentina and Uruguay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cUFevZmFncAC&pg=PA24|year=2006|publisher=Tamesis Books|isbn=978-1-85566-126-4|pages=24}}</ref>
*[[Walker Percy]] – ''[[The Moviegoer]]''
*[[Emeric Pressburger]] – ''[[Killing a Mouse on Sunday]]''
*[[Caradog Prichard]] – ''[[Un Nos Ola Leuad]]'' (One Moonlit Night)<ref>{{cite book|author=Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (London, England)|title=The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iA4iAQAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=The Society|page=214}}</ref>
*[[Harold Robbins]] – ''[[The Carpetbaggers]]''
*[[J. D. Salinger]] – ''[[Franny and Zooey]]''
*[[Leonardo Sciascia]] – ''[[Il giorno della civetta]]''
*[[Muriel Spark]] – ''[[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (novel)|The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael B. Snyder|title=Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_tZM1mhQPMC&pg=PA240|year=2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31346-2|pages=240}}</ref>
*[[Howard Spring]] – ''[[I Met a Lady]]''
*[[John Steinbeck]] – ''[[The Winter of Our Discontent]]''
*[[Irving Stone]] – ''[[The Agony and the Ecstasy (novel)|The Agony and the Ecstasy]]''
*[[Rex Stout]] – ''[[The Final Deduction]]''
*[[Theodore Sturgeon]] – ''[[Some of Your Blood]]''
*[[Jun'ichirō Tanizaki]] (谷崎 潤一郎) – ''The Diary of a Mad Old Man'' (瘋癲老人日記)<ref>{{cite book|author1=H. Paul Varley|title=Japanese Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPNxAAAAMAAJ|year=1984|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-0927-0|page=248}}</ref>
*[[Leon Uris]] – ''[[Mila 18]]''
*[[Rose Valland]] – ''Le Front de l'art''
*[[H. Russell Wakefield]] – ''[[Strayers from Sheol]]''
*[[Edward Lewis Wallant]] – ''[[The Pawnbroker]]''
*[[Evelyn Waugh]] – ''[[Unconditional Surrender (novel)|Unconditional Surrender]]''
*[[Morris West]] – ''Daughter of Silence''
*[[Angus Wilson]] – ''[[The Old Men at the Zoo]]''
*[[Richard Yates (novelist)|Richard Yates]] – ''[[Revolutionary Road]]''

===Children and young people===
*[[Rev. W. Awdry]] – ''[[List of Railway Series Books#The Branch Line Engines|Branch Line Engines]]'' (sixteenth in ''[[The Railway Series]]'' of 42 books by him and his son [[Christopher Awdry]])
*[[Roald Dahl]] – ''[[James and the Giant Peach]]''
*[[L. Sprague de Camp]] – non-fiction
**''[[The Heroic Age of American Invention]]''
**''[[Man and Power|Man and Power: The Story of Power from the Pyramids to the Atomic Age]]''
*[[Barbara C. Freeman]] – ''Two-Thumb Tom''
*[[Rumer Godden]] – ''Miss Happiness and Miss Flower''
*[[René Goscinny]] and [[Albert Uderzo]] – ''[[Asterix the Gaul]]'' (''Astérix le Gaulois'')
*[[Maria Gripe]] – ''Josephine''
*[[Norton Juster]] – ''[[The Phantom Tollbooth]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|title=Reports of the President and of the Treasurer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpDWAAAAMAAJ|year=1969|publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|page=184}}</ref>
*[[Bill Peet]] – ''Huge Harold''
*[[Kin Platt]] – ''[[The Blue Man]]''
*[[Wilson Rawls]] – ''[[Where the Red Fern Grows]]''
*[[George Selden (author)|George Selden]] – ''[[The Cricket in Times Square]]'' (first in an unnamed sequence of seven books)
*[[Dr. Seuss]] – ''[[The Sneetches and Other Stories]]''
*[[Elizabeth George Speare]] – ''[[The Bronze Bow]]''
*[[John Rowe Townsend]] – ''Gumble's Yard''
*[[Tomi Ungerer]] – ''[[The Three Robbers]]''

===Drama===
*[[John Barton (director)|John Barton]] – [[The Hollow Crown (anthology)|''The Hollow Crown'' (anthology)]]
*[[Samuel Beckett]]
**''[[Happy Days (play)|Happy Days]]''
**''[[Rough for Radio I]]''
**''[[Rough for Radio II]]''
*[[Emilio Carballido]] – ''Un pequeño día de ira''
*[[Spiro Çomora]] – ''Karnavalet e Korçës'' (Carnival at Korçë)
*[[Henry Denker]] – ''[[A Far Country]]''
*[[Friedrich Dürrenmatt]] – ''[[The Physicists]]'' (''Die Physiker'')
*[[Max Frisch]] – ''[[Andorra (play)|Andorra]]''
*[[Jean Genet]] – ''[[The Screens]]'' (''Les Paravents'')
*[[Girish Karnad]] – ''Yayati''
*[[Heiner Müller]] – ''Die Umsiedlerin'' (The Resettler Woman)
*[[Tom Murphy (playwright)|Tom Murphy]] – ''[[A Whistle in the Dark]]''
*[[John Osborne]] – ''[[Luther (play)|Luther]]''
*[[Neil Simon]] – ''[[Come Blow Your Horn]]''
*[[John Whiting]] – ''[[The Devils (play)|The Devils]]''
*[[Tennessee Williams]] – ''[[The Night of the Iguana]]''
*[[Wu Han (historian)|Wu Han]] (as Liu Mianzhi) – ''[[Hai Rui Dismissed from Office]]'' (海瑞罢官, ''Hǎi Ruì bà guān'', published)

===Poetry===
{{Main article|1961 in poetry}}
*[[August Derleth]] editor – ''[[Fire and Sleet and Candlelight]]''

===Non-fiction===
*[[Alison Adburgham]] – ''A Punch History of Manners and Modes, 1841–1940''
*''[[The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook]]'' – with recipes from 150 famous writers and artists<ref>{{cite news |last1=Popova |first1=Maria |authorlink=Maria Popova|title=The Artists’ & Writers’ Cookbook: A Rare 1961 Treasure Trove of Unusual Recipes and Creative Wit |url=https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/04/17/the-artists-writers-cookbook-1961/ |work=The Marginalian |date=17 April 2013}}</ref>
*[[Wayne C. Booth]] – ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''
*[[E. H. Carr]] – ''[[What Is History?]]''
*[[Frantz Fanon]] – ''[[The Wretched of the Earth]] (Les Damnés de la Terre)''
*[[Fritz Fischer (historian)|Fritz Fischer]] – ''Griff nach der Weltmacht: Die Kriegzielpolitik des kaiserlichen Deutschland 1914–1918''<ref>{{cite book|author=Christian Haase|title=Pragmatic Peacemakers: Institutes of International Affairs and the Liberalization of West Germany 1945-73|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S64rAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Wissner-Verlag|isbn=978-3-89639-603-7|page=198}}</ref>
*[[Georges Friedmann]] – ''The Anatomy of Work'' (English translation)<ref>{{Cite book |author=Edmund Byrne |title=Work, Inc.: A Philosophical Inquiry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPFpN5dHvsgC&pg=PA297 |date=11 March 1992 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-0-87722-957-5 |pages=297}}</ref>
*[[Ernest K. Gann]] – ''[[Fate Is the Hunter]]''
*[[Jane Jacobs]] – ''[[The Death and Life of Great American Cities]]''
*[[Richard Foster Jones]] – ''Ancients and Moderns: A Study of the Rise of the Scientific Movement in Seventeenth Century England''
*[[Theodora Kroeber]] – ''[[Ishi in Two Worlds]]''
*[[R. D. Laing]] – ''[[Self and Others]]''
*[[John C. Lilly]] – ''Man and Dolphin''
*[[Marshall McLuhan]] – ''[[The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man]]''
*[[Louis Nizer]] – ''[[My Life in Court]]''
*[[Karl Popper]] – ''The Poverty of Historicism''
*[[Anant Priolkar]] – ''[[The Goa Inquisition]]''
*[[Maxime Rodinson]] – ''[[Muhammad (book)|Muhammad]]''
*[[Bertrand Russell]] – ''Has Man a Future?''
*[[Colin Turnbull]] – ''[[The Forest People]]''
*''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]''
*[[Theodore H. White]] – ''[[The Making of the President 1960]]''
*[[Raymond Williams]] – ''[[The Long Revolution]]''
*[[Peter Wessel Zapffe]] – ''Indføring i litterær dramaturgi'' (Introduction to literary dramaturgy)

==Births==
*[[January 8]] – [[Arnaldur Indriðason]], Icelandic crime novelist<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://bokmenntaborgin.is/en/literature-web/author/arnaldur-indridason |title=Arnaldur Indriðason |website=Reykjavik UNESCO City of Literature |access-date=29 January 2019 |archive-date=5 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805150532/https://bokmenntaborgin.is/en/literature-web/author/arnaldur-indridason |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[January 11]] – [[Jasper Fforde]], English fantasy novelist
*[[January 12]] – [[Simon Russell Beale]], Malaysian-born English Shakespearean actor<ref>{{Cite book |author=Richard Burt |title=Shakespeares After Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRIrAQAAIAAJ |year=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-33118-3 |page=745}}</ref>
*[[January 28]] – [[Arnaldur Indridason]], Icelandic writer<ref>{{Cite book |title=Contemporary Authors |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Df7iAAAAMAAJ |date=August 2006 |publisher=Cengage Gale |isbn=978-0-7876-7876-0 |page=215}}</ref>
*[[May 4]] – [[Ishita Bhaduri]], Indian poet and writer
*[[May 17]] – [[Han Dong (writer)|Han Dong]], Chinese poet and novelist
*[[May 19]] – [[Jennifer Armstrong]], American children's author
*[[May 22]] – [[Andrea Dunbar]], English playwright (died [[1990 in literature|1990]])
*[[June 9]] – [[Aaron Sorkin]], American screenwriter, producer and playwright
*[[June 23]] – [[David Leavitt]], American novelist
*[[June 24]] – [[Rebecca Solnit]], American writer and essayist
*[[July 7]] – [[Eric Jerome Dickey]], American writer
*[[July 10]] – [[Carol Anne Davis]], Scottish crime writer
*[[July 18]] – [[M. J. Alexander]], American author and photographer
*July – [[Richard Flanagan]], Australian novelist
*[[August 20]] – [[Greg Egan]], Australian science fiction author
*[[September 13]] – [[Tom Holt]], English historical and comic novelist and poet
*[[September 26]] – [[Will Self]], English novelist, political commentator and broadcaster
*[[October 5]] – [[Sílvia Soler]], Catalan writer and journalist
*[[October 29]] – [[Michael Gurr]], Australian playwright (died [[2017 in literature|2017]])
*[[November 9]] – [[Jackie Kay]], Scottish poet and novelist
*[[November 14]] – [[Jurga Ivanauskaitė]], Lithuanian writer (died [[2007 in literature|2007]])
*[[November 18]] – [[Steven Moffat]], Scottish TV writer
*[[November 24]] – [[Arundhati Roy]], Indian writer and activist
*November – [[Sarah Holland]], English novelist, actress and singer
*[[December 8]] – [[Ann Coulter]], American author<ref>{{Cite book |editor=Benjamin F. Shearer |title=Home Front Heroes &#91;Three Volumes&#93; |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzBxCP9QUo0C&pg=PA187 |date=September 2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-04705-3 |pages=187}}</ref>
*[[November 20]] – [[David Mills (TV writer)|David Mills]], American journalist and TV writer (died [[2010 in literature|2010]])
*[[December 23]] – [[Ezzat el Kamhawi]], Egyptian novelist and journalist
*[[December 30]] – [[Douglas Coupland]], Canadian author<ref>{{cite book|author=Douglas Coupland|title=Shampoo Planet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWkihiil8OgC&pg=PA309|date=May 1993|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-671-75506-5|pages=309}}</ref>
*''unknown date'' – [[Winsome Pinnock]], British playwright

==Deaths==
*[[January 10]] – [[Dashiell Hammett]], American crime writer and screenwriter (lung cancer, born [[1894 in literature|1894]])<ref>Hellman, Lilian, Introduction to posthumous Hammett, Dashiell, ''The Big Knockover: Selected Stories and Short Novels'' (Houghton Mifflin: 1962).</ref>
*[[January 21]] – [[Blaise Cendrars]] (Frédéric-Louis Sauser), Swiss novelist and poet (born [[1887 in literature|1887]])<ref>{{Cite book |title=Collector's Quest |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40MYmHteQNoC |year=1968 |page=38}}</ref>
*[[January 30]] – [[Dorothy Thompson]], American journalist (born [[1893 in literature|1893]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=John Arthur Garraty|author2=Mark Christopher Carnes|title=American National Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_espAQAAMAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-512800-0|page=544}}</ref>
*[[February 4]] – [[Hazel Heald]], American pulp fiction writer (born 1896)
*[[March 18]] – [[E. Arnot Robertson]], English novelist (born [[1903 in literature|1903]])
*[[April 9]] – [[Oliver Onions]] (George Oliver), English novelist and [[ghost story]] writer (born [[1873 in literature|1873]])
*[[April 22]] – [[Joanna Cannan]], English [[pony book]] writer and detective novelist (born [[1896 in literature|1896]])
*[[April 30]] – [[Jessie Redmon Fauset]], American editor, writer and educator (born [[1882 in literature|1882]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=Carolyn Wedin Sylvander|title=Jessie Redmon Fauset, Black American Writer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5JaAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=Whitston Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-87875-196-9|page=23}}</ref>
*[[May 26]] – [[William Troy (educator)|William Troy]], American writer and teacher (cancer, born [[1903 in literature|1903]])
*[[June 2]] – [[George S. Kaufman]], American dramatist and critic (born [[1889 in literature|1889]])<ref>{{cite news |date=June 3, 1961 |title=George S. Kaufman Dies at 71 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/06/03/archives/george-s-kaufman-dies-at-71-shared-2-pulitzers-for-drama-cited-for.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 14, 2018 }}</ref>
*[[June 15]] – [[Peyami Safa]], Turkish journalist and writer (born [[1899 in literature|1899]])<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biyografi.net/kisiayrinti.asp?kisiid=259 |publisher=Biyografi |title=Peyami Safa (1899)- (15.06.1961)  |language=tr |access-date=January 14, 2013}}</ref> 
*[[July 1]] – [[Louis-Ferdinand Céline]], French novelist and pamphleteer (born [[1894 in literature|1894]])<ref>Vitoux, Frédéric (1991). ''Céline: A Biography''. New York: Paragon House. {{ISBN|1-55778-255-5}} Pages=551-7</ref>
*[[July 2]] – [[Ernest Hemingway]], American novelist (suicide, born [[1899 in literature|1899]])<ref>Reynolds, Michael (2000). "Ernest Hemingway, 1899–1961: A Brief Biography". in Wagner-Martin, Linda (ed). ''A Historical Guide to Ernest Hemingway''. New York: Oxford UP. {{ISBN|978-0-19-512152-0}}, page 16</ref>
*[[July 12]] – [[Mazo de la Roche]], Canadian novelist (born [[1879 in literature|1879]])<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crowe-Grande |first1=Trish |title=Exploring the early years of Newmarket literary icon Mazo de la Roche |url=https://www.newmarkettoday.ca/local-news/exploring-the-early-years-of-newmarket-literary-icon-mazo-de-la-roche-2623894 |access-date=4 February 2021 |work=NewmarketToday.ca |date=9 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
*[[July 17]] – [[Olga Forsh]], Russian dramatist, novelist and memoirist (born [[1873 in literature|1873]])
*[[August 14]] – [[Clark Ashton Smith]], American writer (born 1893)
*[[August 18]] – [[Leonhard Frank]], German writer (died [[1882 in literature|1882]])
*[[September 27]] – [[H.D.]] (Hilda Doolittle), American poet, novelist and memoirist (born [[1886 in literature|1886]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=Elaine Showalter|author2=Lea Baechler|author3=A. Walton Litz|title=Modern American Women Writers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30UkL9DTj5UC&pg=PA81|date=27 September 1993|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-02-082025-3|pages=81}}</ref>
*[[October 19]] – [[Mihail Sadoveanu]], Romanian novelist (born [[1880 in literature|1880]])
*[[November 2]] – [[James Thurber]], American humorist (born [[1894 in literature|1894]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Dan Campion|title=Peter De Vries and Surrealism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhwzd3av3z8C&pg=PA55|year=1995|publisher=Bucknell University Press|isbn=978-0-8387-5311-8|pages=55}}</ref>
*[[December 7]] – [[Roussan Camille]], Haitian poet and journalist (born [[1912 in literature|1912]])<ref>{{Cite book |author=Library of Congress. Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish Division |title=The Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape: a descriptive guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-8oJXbBai8C |year=1974 |publisher=Library of Congress |isbn=978-0-8444-0115-7 |page=92}}</ref>
*[[December 26]] – [[Gertrude Minnie Faulding]], English children's writer and novelist (born [[1875 in literature|1875]])

==Awards==
*[[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Lucy M. Boston]], ''[[Green Knowe#A Stranger at Green Knowe (1961)|A Stranger at Green Knowe]]''<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Daniel Hahn |author2=Michael Morpurgo |title=The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mb66BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA249 |year=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-969514-0 |pages=249}}</ref>
*[[Eric Gregory Award]]: [[Adrian Mitchell]], [[Geoffrey Hill]]
*[[Prix Formentor|Formentor Prize]]: [[Jorge Luis Borges]] and [[Samuel Beckett]]
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction: [[Jennifer Dawson]], ''The Ha-Ha''
*[[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for biography: [[M. K. Ashby]], ''[[Joseph Ashby]] of Tysoe''<ref>{{Cite book |title=Southern Observer: Southern Books and Authors, Publishing Notes, Best Sellers, Special Features |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uXDMBNMxgCkC |year=1962 |page=90}}</ref>
*[[Lorne Pierce Medal]]: [[Robertson Davies]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Nicholas Maes|title=Robertson Davies: Magician of Words|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJf4qfoSEiMC&pg=PA225|date=23 March 2009|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=978-1-77070-505-0|pages=225}}</ref>
*[[Miles Franklin Award]]: [[Patrick White]], ''[[Riders in the Chariot]]''
*[[Newbery Medal]] for [[children's literature]]: [[Scott O'Dell]], ''[[Island of the Blue Dolphins]]''
*[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]: [[Ivo Andrić]]
*[[Premio Nadal]]: [[Juan Antonio Payno]], ''El curso''
*[[Prix Goncourt]]: [[Jean Cau (writer)|Jean Cau]], ''[[The Mercy of God|La Pitié de Dieu]]''<ref>{{Cite book |title=French News |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JJ0aAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 |year=1963 |publisher=Published and distributed by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy |pages=3}}</ref>
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]: [[Tad Mosel]], ''[[All the Way Home (play)|All the Way Home]]''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]]: [[Harper Lee]], ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]''
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]]: [[Phyllis McGinley]], ''Times Three: Selected Verse From Three Decades''
*[[National Book Award for Fiction]]: [[Conrad Richter]], ''[[The Waters of Kronos]]''
*[[National Book Award for Nonfiction]]: [[William L. Shirer]], ''[[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich]]''
*[[National Book Award for Poetry]]: [[Randall Jarrell]], ''The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Poems and Translations''

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

{{Year in literature article categories}}