1956 in literature
Encyclopedia : 1 : 19 : 195 : 1956 in literature
See also: 1955 in literature, other events of 1956, 1957 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
- Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice.
- Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley.
- Aldous Huxley marries author Laura Archera.
- Finished in 1952, Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street), is first published.
- First book in the long-running 87th Precinct series, Cop Hater, is first published, written by Ed McBain
- Nineteen-year-old Hunter S. Thompson is arrested for robbery.
- Sixteen-year-old Michael Moorcock becomes editor of Tarzan Adventures.
- Jorge Luis Borges becomes a professor of literature at the University of Buenos Aires.
- Martin Gardner begins his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American.
New books
- A Thing of Beauty - A.J. Cronin
- Boon Island - Kenneth Roberts
- Boy in Darkness - Mervyn Peake
- Cairo Trilogy - Naguib Mahfouz
- A Certain Smile - Françoise Sagan
- Cop Hater - Ed McBain
- Crusader's Tomb - A.J. Cronin
- Diamonds Are Forever - Ian Fleming
- Don't Go Near the Water - William Brinkley
- Eloise - Kay Thompson
- The Fall (La Chute) - Albert Camus
- Heike Story - Eiji Yoshikawa
- The Last Battle - C. S. Lewis
- The Last Hurrah - Edwin O'Connor
- The Last of the Wine - Mary Renault
- Lucy Crown - Irwin Shaw
- The Mandarins - Simone de Beauvoir
- Minority Report - Philip K. Dick
- Misty of Chincoteague - Marguerite Henry
- My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell
- The Mysterious North - Pierre Berton
- The Naked Sun - Isaac Asimov
- The Nun's Story - Kathryn Hulme
- Palace Walk - Naguib Mahfouz
- Peyton Place - Grace Metalious
- Pincher Martin - William Golding
- Les racines du ciel - Romain Gary
- Seize the Day - Saul Bellow
- The Sweet Science - A. J. Liebling
- - C. S. Lewis
- The Tribe That Lost Its Head - Nicholas Monsarrat
- - Norman Mailer
- The Wizard of Linn - A. E. van Vogt
New drama
- Patrick Dennis - Auntie Mame
- Jean Genet - Le balcon (The Balcony)
- Hugh Leonard - The Big Birthday Suit
- Saunders Lewis - Siwan (play)
- John Osborne - Look Back in Anger
Poetry
- Aniara - Harry Martinson
- Howl and Other Poems - Allen Ginsberg
Births
- January 2 - Storm Constantine
- March 23 - Steven Saylor, historical novelist
- May 4 - David Guterson, journalist and novelist
- May 20 - Boris Akunin, novelist and essayist
- June 9 - Patricia Cornwell, crime novelist
- October 9 - Robert Reed, science fiction author
- October 13 - Chris Carter, screenwriter
- November 26 - John McCarthy, journalist and kidnap victim
- date unknown - James Belich, historian
- date unknown - Amy Gerstler, poet
- date unknown - Jack Womack, novelist
Deaths
- January 14 - Sheila Kaye-Smith, novelist
- January 31 - A.A. Milne, dramatist and children's author
- March 30 - Edmund Clerihew Bentley, novelist and inventor of the clerihew
- May 20 - Max Beerbohm, humorist
- June 22 - Walter de la Mare, poet
- July 8 - Giovanni Papini, essayist, poet, novelist
- August 14 - Bertolt Brecht, dramatist
- September 6 - Michael Ventris, linguist
- December 13 - Arthur Grimble, travel writer
- December 25 - Robert Walser, novelist
Awards
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Jean Lee Latham, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
- Nobel Prize for literature: Juan Ramón Jiménez
- Prix Goncourt: Romain Gary for Les racines du ciel
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, Diary of Anne Frank
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: MacKinlay Kantor - Andersonville
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop: Poems - North & South
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