1936 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1936 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
- Life magazine is first published.
- The Carnegie MedalCarnegie MedalThe Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
for excellence in children's literature is established in the UK.
New books
- Eric AmblerEric AmblerEric Clifford Ambler OBE was an influential British author of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.-Life:...
- The Dark FrontierThe Dark FrontierThe Dark Frontier is Eric Ambler's first novel, about whose genesis he writes: "[…] Became press agent for film star, but soon after joined big London advertising agency as copywriter and "ideas man". During next few years wrote incessantly on variety of subjects ranging from baby food to... - Henry BellamannHenry BellamannHeinrich Hauer Bellamann was an American novelist and poet, best known as the author of the novel Kings Row.- Biography :...
- The Gray Man Walks - Gottfried BennGottfried BennGottfried Benn was a German essayist, novelist, and expressionist poet. A doctor of medicine, he became an early admirer, and later a critic, of the National Socialist revolution...
- The Trainee Man - Arna Wendell Bontemps - Black Thunder
- Elizabeth BowenElizabeth BowenElizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
- The House in ParisThe House in ParisThe House in Paris is Elizabeth Bowen's fifth novel. First published in 1935, it was well received by critics past and present, and praised by Virginia Woolf and A. S. Byatt... - Carol Ryrie BrinkCarol Ryrie BrinkCarol Ryrie Brink was an American author of over thirty juvenile and adult books. Her novel Caddie Woodlawn won the 1936 Newbery Medal...
- Caddie WoodlawnCaddie WoodlawnCaddie Woodlawn is a popular children's novel by Carol Ryrie Brink which won the John Newbery Medal in 1936 and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958. The original edition was illustrated by Newbery-award winning author and illustrator Kate Seredy... - Edgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
- Tarzan's QuestTarzan's QuestTarzan's Quest is a 1936 novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the nineteenth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan.-Plot:... - James M. CainJames M. CainJames Mallahan Cain was an American author and journalist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the roman noir...
- Double IndemnityDouble Indemnity (novel)Double Indemnity is a highly influential 1943 crime novel, written by American journalist-turned-novelist James M. Cain. The book was first published in serial form for Liberty magazine in 1936. Following that, Double Indemnity appeared as a one of "three long short tales" in the collection Three... - Morley CallaghanMorley CallaghanMorley Callaghan, was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, TV and radio personality.-Biography:...
- Now that April's Here and Other Stories - Karel ČapekKarel CapekKarel Čapek was Czech writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Born in 1890 in the Bohemian mountain village of Malé Svatoňovice to an overbearing, emotional mother and a distant yet adored father, Čapek was the youngest of three siblings...
- War with the NewtsWar with the NewtsWar with the Newts , also translated as War with the Salamanders, is a 1936 satirical science fiction story by Czech author Karel Čapek. It concerns the discovery in the Pacific of a sea-dwelling race, an intelligent breed of newts, who are initially enslaved and exploited... - John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
- The Arabian Nights MurderThe Arabian Nights MurderThe Arabian Nights Murder, first published in 1936, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr featuring his series detective Gideon Fell. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.-Plot summary:...
- The Punch and Judy MurdersThe Punch and Judy MurdersThe Punch and Judy Murders is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , who published it under the name of Carter Dickson...
(as by Carter Dickson)
- The Arabian Nights Murder
- Willa CatherWilla CatherWilla Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
- Not Under Forty - Louis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of French writer and physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . Céline was chosen after his grandmother's first name. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, developing a new style of writing that modernized both French and...
- Death on the Installment PlanDeath on the Installment PlanDeath on Credit is a novel by author Louis-Ferdinand Céline, published in 1936. The most common, and generally most respected English translation is Ralph Manheim's.... - Agatha ChristieAgatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
- The A.B.C. MurdersThe A.B.C. MurdersThe A.B.C. Murders is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on January 6, 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company on February 14 of the same year...
- Murder in MesopotamiaMurder in MesopotamiaMurder in Mesopotamia is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on July 6, 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.The...
- Cards on the TableCards on the TableCards on the Table is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 2 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year...
- The A.B.C. Murders
- Robert P. Tristram Coffin - John Dawn
- John Dos PassosJohn Dos PassosJohn Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
- The Big MoneyThe Big Money"The Big Money" is a song by progressive rock group Rush from their album Power Windows. It charted at #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on album-oriented rock charts, and has been featured on many "Best-Of" compilations, such as Retrospective II and The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits... - William Pène du BoisWilliam Pène du BoisWilliam Pène du Bois , was a French American author and illustrator. He was best known for The Twenty-One Balloons, published in April 1947 by The Viking Press...
- Otto at Sea - Daphne du MaurierDaphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
- Jamaica InnJamaica Inn (novel)Jamaica Inn is a novel by the English writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1936. It was later made into a film, also called Jamaica Inn, by Alfred Hitchcock... - Walter D. EdmondsWalter D. EdmondsWalter "Walt" Dumaux Edmonds was an American author noted for his historical novels, including the popular Drums Along the Mohawk , which was successfully made into a Technicolor feature film in 1939 directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert.-Life:In 1919 he entered The...
- Drums Along the MohawkDrums Along the MohawkDrums Along the Mohawk is a 1939 historical Technicolor film based upon a 1936 novel of the same name by American author, Walter D. Edmonds. The film was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and directed by John Ford. Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert portray settlers on the New York frontier during the... - William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
- Absalom, Absalom!Absalom, Absalom!Absalom, Absalom! is a Southern Gothic novel by the American author William Faulkner, first published in 1936. It is a story about three families of the American South, taking place before, during, and after the Civil War, with the focus of the story on the life of Thomas Sutpen.-Plot... - Margaret Flint - The Old Ashburn Place]
- Aldous HuxleyAldous HuxleyAldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
- Eyeless in GazaEyeless in GazaEyeless in Gaza is a bestselling novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1936. The title originates from a phrase in John Milton's Samson Agonistes:The chapters of the book are not ordered chronologically... - Winifred HoltbyWinifred HoltbyWinifred Holtby was an English novelist and journalist, best known for her novel South Riding.-Life and writings:...
- South RidingSouth Riding (novel)South Riding is a novel by Winifred Holtby, published posthumously in 1936.The book is set in the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire: the inspiration being the East Riding rather than South Yorkshire... - Arthur JosephArthur JosephArthur Joseph was a Welsh cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a leg-break bowler. He was born in Neath Abbey and died in Briton Ferry....
- Dark MetropolisDark MetropolisDark Metropolis is a 2010 science fiction film with political and spiritual overtones, written and directed by Stewart St. John. It is the second part of the Creation Wars saga, following The Next Race: The Remote Viewings.- Cast :... - Jonathan LatimerJonathan LatimerJonathan Wyatt Latimer was an American crime writer-Life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, he attended the Mesa Ranch School in Arizona from 1922-1925 and later studied at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1929...
- The Lady in the MorgueThe Lady in the MorgueThe Lady in the Morgue is one of the novels by Jonathan Latimer featuring private detective William Crane. The lady of the title is a female corpse which is stolen from a Chicago morgue before the dead woman's identity can be established.... - Andrew Lytle - The Long Night
- Margaret MitchellMargaret MitchellMargaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American author and journalist. Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 for her epic American Civil War era novel, Gone with the Wind, which was the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime.-Family:Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta,...
- Gone with the WindGone with the WindThe slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free... - John A. MorosoJohn A. MorosoJohn Antonio Moroso was an American author.Moroso was born into an Italian-American family, possibly in South Carolina. During the 1910s he wrote short stories for Collier's Weekly and other major publications. He also contributed his writings to the "American Boy Adventure Stories," a series of...
- Nobody's BuddyNobody's BuddyNobody's Buddy is an American children's novel written by John A. Moroso and published in 1936 by Goldsmith Publishing Co. of Chicago, Illinois.-Plot introduction:... - Ellery QueenEllery QueenEllery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
- Halfway HouseHalfway House (novel)Halfway House is a novel that was written in 1936 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel primarily set in New Jersey, USA.-Plot summary:Joe Wilson was a poor, itinerant salesman with a pretty young wife in Philadelphia. Joseph Kent Gimball was a wealthy, socially prominent New Yorker with an... - Ayn RandAyn RandAyn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
- We the LivingWe the LivingWe the Living is the first novel published by the Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand. It was also Rand's first statement against communism. First published in 1936, it is a story of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Rand observes in the foreword to this book that We the Living was the closest she... - Arthur RansomeArthur RansomeArthur Michell Ransome was an English author and journalist, best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books. These tell of school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and the Norfolk Broads. Many of the books involve sailing; other common subjects...
- Pigeon PostPigeon PostPigeon Post is the sixth book in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, published in 1936. It won the first Carnegie Medal awarded for children's literature.... - Israel Joshua SingerIsrael Joshua SingerIsrael Joshua Singer was a Yiddish novelist. He was born Yisroel Yehoyshue Zinger, the son of Pinchas Mendl Zinger, a rabbi and author of rabbinic commentaries, and Basheva Zylberman...
- The Brothers AshkenaziThe Brothers AshkenaziThe Brothers Ashkenazi is a novel by Israel Joshua Singer. Written in Yiddish, it was first translated into English by Maurice Samuel in 1936. In 1980 a new translation was published by the author's son, Joseph Singer.... - John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
- In Dubious BattleIn Dubious BattleIn Dubious Battle is a novel by John Steinbeck, written in 1936. The central figure of the story is an activist for "the Party" who is organizing a major strike by fruit pickers, seeking thus to attract followers to his cause.Prior to publication, Steinbeck wrote in a letter:"This is the... - Rex StoutRex StoutRex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. Stout is best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the...
- The Rubber BandThe Rubber BandThe Rubber Band is the third Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its publication in 1936 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was serialized in six issues of The Saturday Evening Post... - Phoebe Atwood TaylorPhoebe Atwood TaylorPhoebe Atwood Taylor was an American mystery author.Phoebe Atwood Taylor wrote mystery novels under her own name, and as Freeman Dana and Alice Tilton. Her first novel, The Cape Cod Mystery, introduced the "Codfish Sherlock", Asey Mayo, who became a series character appearing in 24 novels...
- The Crimson PatchThe Crimson PatchThe Crimson Patch, first published in 1936, is a detective story by Phoebe Atwood Taylor which features her series detective Asey Mayo, the "Codfish Sherlock". This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.-Plot summary:Mr...
- Out of OrderOut of Order (novel)Out of Order, first published in 1936, is a detective story by Phoebe Atwood Taylor which features her series detective Asey Mayo, the "Codfish Sherlock". This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.-Plot summary:...
- The Crimson Patch
- S. S. Van DineS. S. Van DineS. S. Van Dine was the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright , a U.S art critic and author. He created the once immensely popular fictional detective Philo Vance, who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in movies and on the radio.-Early life and career:Willard Huntington Wright was born...
- The Kidnap Murder CaseThe Kidnap Murder CaseThe Kidnap Murder Case is a 1936 murder mystery novel by S. S. Van Dine, the tenth of twelve books featuring fictional detective Philo Vance.-Plot summary:... - Ethel Lina WhiteEthel Lina WhiteEthel Lina White was a British crime writer, best known for her novel, The Wheel Spins , on which the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Lady Vanishes , was based.-Early years:...
- The Wheel Spins (later The Lady VanishesThe Lady Vanishes (1938 film)The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder from the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White...
)
New drama
- W. H. AudenW. H. AudenWystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
and Christopher IsherwoodChristopher IsherwoodChristopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
- The Ascent of F6The Ascent of F6The Ascent of F6: A Tragedy in Two Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the second play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1936... - Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
- Round Heads and Pointed HeadsRound Heads and Pointed HeadsRound Heads and Pointed Heads is an epic parable play written by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin, Emil Burri, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and the composer Hanns Eisler... - Noël CowardNoël CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
- Tonight at 8:30Tonight at 8:30Tonight at 8.30 is a cycle of ten one-act plays by Noël Coward. In the introduction to a published edition of the plays, Coward wrote, "A short play, having a great advantage over a long one in that it can sustain a mood without technical creaking or over padding, deserves a better fate, and if,...
and Present LaughterPresent LaughterPresent Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 and first staged in 1942 on tour, alternating with his lower middle-class domestic drama This Happy Breed... - Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
- The House of Bernarda Alba (written) - Clare Boothe LuceClare Boothe LuceClare Boothe Luce was an American playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socialite and U.S. Congresswoman, representing the state of Connecticut.-Early life:...
- The Women - Terence RattiganTerence RattiganSir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
- French Without Tears - Irwin ShawIrwin ShawIrwin Shaw was a prolific American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best-known for his novel, The Young Lions about the fate of three soldiers during World War II that was made into a film starring Marlon...
- Bury the DeadBury the DeadBury the Dead is an expressionist anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatises the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried...
Non-fiction
- John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
- The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey - Carl Gustav Jung - The Idea of Redemption in Alchemy.
- John Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...
- The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money - C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
- The Allegory of LoveThe Allegory of LoveThe Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition , by C. S. Lewis , is an influential exploration of the allegorical treatment of love in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.... - Edwin MuirEdwin MuirEdwin Muir was an Orcadian poet, novelist and translator born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands. He was remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations....
- Scott and Scotland - Olavi PaavolainenOlavi PaavolainenOlavi Paavolainen was a Finnish essayist, journalist, travel book writer, and poet. He often went under the pseudonym of Olavi Lauri. Paavolainen was the central figure of the literary group Tulenkantajat and one of the most influential literary opinion leaders between the two World wars in...
- Kolmannen valtakunnan vieraanaKolmannen valtakunnan vieraanaKolmannen valtakunnan vieraana is a 1936 essay by Finnish poet and journalist Olavi Paavolainen. It is based on his experiences in Nazi Germany in 1936 where he encountered many members of the Nazi cabinet including witnessing a speech by Joseph Goebbels...
Births
- January 10 - Stephen AmbroseStephen AmbroseStephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a long time professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many best selling volumes of American popular history...
, controversial historian (d. 2002) - January 22 - Joseph WambaughJoseph WambaughJoseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. is a bestselling American writer known for his fictional and non-fictional accounts of police work in the United States...
, author - February 18 - Jean M. AuelJean M. AuelJean Marie Auel is an American writer. She is best known for her Earth's Children books, a series of novels set in prehistoric Europe that explores interactions of Cro-Magnon people with Neanderthals...
, Earth's Children author - April 30 - Viktor LikhonosovViktor LikhonosovViktor Ivanovich Likhonosov is a Soviet, Russian writer, laureate of the Russian State Prize , the International Mikhail Sholokhov prize and the first Yasnaya Polyana Prize...
, Soviet writer and editor - May 23 - Ian Kennedy MartinIan Kennedy MartinIan Kennedy Martin is a British television scriptwriter. He is best known for his creation of the popular 1970s police drama series The Sweeney, produced by Euston Films for Thames Television, which ran on the ITV network from 1975 to 1978. It also spawned two feature film spin-offs...
, scriptwriter - June 23 - Richard BachRichard BachRichard David Bach is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely...
, Jonathan Livingston Seagull author - June 24 - J. H. PrynneJ. H. PrynneJeremy Halvard Prynne is a British poet closely associated with the British Poetry Revival.Prynne's early influences include Charles Olson and Donald Davie. His first book, Force of Circumstance and Other Poems was published in 1962; Prynne has excluded it from his canon...
, poet - July 22 - Tom RobbinsTom RobbinsThomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins (born July 22, 1936 is an American author. His best-selling novels are serio-comic, often wildly poetic stories with a strong social and philosophical undercurrent, an irreverent bent, and scenes extrapolated from...
, novelist - August 24 - A. S. ByattA. S. ByattDame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner...
, novelist - September 20 - Andrew DaviesAndrew Davies (writer)Andrew Wynford Davies is a British author and screenwriter. He was made a Fellow of BAFTA in 2002.-Education and early career:...
, TV and film writer - October 5 - Václav HavelVáclav HavelVáclav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, dramatist and first president of the Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.... - November 17 - John WellsJohn Wells (satirist)John Wells was an English actor, writer and satirist, educated at Eastbourne College and St Edmund Hall, Oxford...
, satirical writer and actor (d. 1998) - November 20 - Don DeLilloDon DeLilloDon DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...
, United States novelist - date unknown - Duff Hart-DavisDuff Hart-DavisPeter Duff Hart-Davis , generally known as Duff Hart-Davis, is a British biographer, naturalist and journalist, who writes for The Independent newspaper. He is married to Phyllida Barstow and has one son and one daughter, the journalist Alice Hart-Davis...
, biographer and journalist
Deaths
- January 18 - Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, British writer (b. 1865) - Nobel prizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for literature (1907) - March 16 - Marguerite DurandMarguerite DurandMarguerite Durand was a French stage actress, journalist, and a leading suffragette.-Biography:Born into a middle-class family, Marguerite Durand was sent to study at a Roman Catholic convent...
, journalist - April 30 - A. E. Housman, poet (b. 1859)
- June 11 - Robert E. HowardRobert E. HowardRobert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
, AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fantasyFantasyFantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
writer (suicide) - June 12 - M. R. JamesM. R. JamesMontague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre...
, writer of ghost stories (b. 1862) - June 14 - G. K. ChestertonG. K. ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
, author (b. 1874) - June 14 - Maxim GorkyMaxim GorkyAlexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
, dramatist (b. 1868) - August 15 - Grazia DeleddaGrazia DeleddaGrazia Deledda was an Italian writer whose works won her the Nobel Prize for Literature for 1926.-Biography:...
, SardinianSardinianSardinian can refer to:* Sardinia* Sardinian people* Sardinian language* Sardinian...
writer - Nobel prizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for literature (1926) - August 19 - Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, dramatist and poet - November 12 - Stefan GrabinskiStefan GrabinskiStefan Grabiński was a Polish writer of horror fiction, sometimes called "the Polish Poe".Grabiński worked as teacher in Lwów and Przemyśl and is famous for his train stories collected in Demon ruchu . A number of stories were translated by Miroslaw Lipinski into English and published as The Dark...
, "the Polish Poe" - December 10 - Luigi PirandelloLuigi PirandelloLuigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
, dramatist and novelist (b. 1867) - December 28 - John CornfordJohn CornfordRupert John Cornford was an English poet and communist. He was the son of F. M. Cornford and Frances Cornford.- Biography :...
, Communist poet
Awards
- Carnegie MedalCarnegie MedalThe Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
for children's literatureChildren's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
: Arthur RansomeArthur RansomeArthur Michell Ransome was an English author and journalist, best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books. These tell of school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and the Norfolk Broads. Many of the books involve sailing; other common subjects...
, Pigeon PostPigeon PostPigeon Post is the sixth book in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, published in 1936. It won the first Carnegie Medal awarded for children's literature.... - James Tait Black Memorial PrizeJames Tait Black Memorial PrizeFounded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for fiction: Winifred HoltbyWinifred HoltbyWinifred Holtby was an English novelist and journalist, best known for her novel South Riding.-Life and writings:...
, South RidingSouth Riding (novel)South Riding is a novel by Winifred Holtby, published posthumously in 1936.The book is set in the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire: the inspiration being the East Riding rather than South Yorkshire... - James Tait Black Memorial PrizeJames Tait Black Memorial PrizeFounded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for biography: Edward Sackville West, A Flame in Sunlight: The Life and Work of Thomas de QuinceyThomas de QuinceyThomas Penson de Quincey was an English esssayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater .-Child and student:... - Newbery MedalNewbery MedalThe John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
for children's literatureChildren's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
: Carol Ryrie BrinkCarol Ryrie BrinkCarol Ryrie Brink was an American author of over thirty juvenile and adult books. Her novel Caddie Woodlawn won the 1936 Newbery Medal...
, Caddie WoodlawnCaddie WoodlawnCaddie Woodlawn is a popular children's novel by Carol Ryrie Brink which won the John Newbery Medal in 1936 and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958. The original edition was illustrated by Newbery-award winning author and illustrator Kate Seredy... - Nobel Prize for literature: Eugene Gladstone O'NeillEugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
- Pulitzer Prize for DramaPulitzer Prize for DramaThe Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
: Robert E. SherwoodRobert E. SherwoodRobert Emmet Sherwood was an American playwright, editor, and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in New Rochelle, New York, he was a son of Arthur Murray Sherwood, a rich stockbroker, and his wife, the former Rosina Emmet, a well-known illustrator and portrait painter known as Rosina E. Sherwood...
, Idiot's DelightIdiot's DelightIdiot's Delight is a 1939 MGM comedy film, with a screenplay adapted from the 1936 Robert E. Sherwood play of the same name, by Sherwood himself. The movie stars Norma Shearer and Clark Gable. It is notable as the only film where Gable sings and dances, performing a version of the Irving Berlin... - Pulitzer Prize for PoetryPulitzer Prize for PoetryThe Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...
: Robert P. Tristram Coffin: Strange Holiness - Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Harold L. Davis - Honey in the Horn