1956 In Literature Information
The year 1956 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
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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.
- C. S. Lewis marries Joy Gresham.
- 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 prose fiction
- Kingsley Amis - That Uncertain Feeling
- Poul Anderson - Planet of No Return
- Isaac Asimov - The Naked Sun
- James Baldwin - Giovanni's Room
- Saul Bellow - Seize the Day
- Pierre Berton - The Mysterious North
- Alfred Bester - The Stars My Destination (as Tiger! Tiger!)
- Anthony Burgess - Time for a Tiger
- Pearl S. Buck - Imperial Woman
- Albert Camus - The Fall (La Chute)
- John Dickson Carr
- Patrick Butler for the Defense
- Fear Is the Same (as by Carter Dickson)
- Agatha Christie - Dead Man's Folly
- Arthur C. Clarke - The City and the Stars
- A. J. Cronin
- A Thing of Beauty
- Crusader's Tomb
- Philip K. Dick
- Gordon R. Dickson
- Alien From Arcturus
- Mankind on the Run
- Gerald Durrell - My Family and Other Animals
- Friedrich Dürrenmatt - A Dangerous Game
- Ian Fleming - Diamonds Are Forever
- Romain Gary - Les racines du ciel
- William Golding - Pincher Martin
- Henri René Guieu - Les Monstres du Néant
- Mark Harris - Bang the Drum Slowly
- Marguerite Henry - Misty of Chincoteague
- Frank Herbert - The Dragon in the Sea
- Georgette Heyer - Sprig Muslin
- Kathryn Hulme - The Nun's Story
- C. S. Lewis
- Rose Macaulay - The Towers of Trebizond
- Ed McBain - Cop Hater
- Naguib Mahfouz
- Grace Metalious - Peyton Place
- Nicholas Monsarrat - The Tribe That Lost Its Head
- Farley Mowat - Lost in the Barrens
- Agnar Mykle - Song of the Red Ruby
- Edwin O'Connor - The Last Hurrah
- Pier Paolo Pasolini - Ragazzi di vita
- Mervyn Peake - Boy in Darkness
- Mary Renault - The Last of the Wine
- Kenneth Roberts - Boon Island
- João Guimarães Rosa - The Devil to Pay in the Backlands (Grande Sertão: Veredas)
- Françoise Sagan - A Certain Smile
- Samuel Selvon - The Lonely Londoners
- Ian Serraillier - The Silver Sword
- Irwin Shaw - Lucy Crown
- Khushwant Singh - Train to Pakistan
- Rex Stout - Might as Well Be Dead
- Rex Stout - Three Witnesses
- Kay Thompson - Eloise
- A. E. van Vogt - The Wizard of Linn
- Angus Wilson - Anglo-Saxon Attitudes
- P. G. Wodehouse - French Leave
- Eiji Yoshikawa - Heike Story
New drama
- Jean Anouilh - Poor Bitos
- Ferdinand Bruckner - The Fight with the Angel
- Friedrich Dürrenmatt - The Visit
- Günter Grass - Flood
- Hugh Leonard - The Birthday Party
- Saunders Lewis - Siwan
- Arthur Miller - A View from the Bridge (revised version)
- Yukio Mishima - Rokumeikan
- Heiner Müller - The Scab
- Eugene O'Neill - Long Day's Journey into Night
- John Osborne - Look Back in Anger
- Arnold Wesker - Chicken Soup with Barley (written)
- Carl Zuckmayer - The Cold Light
Poetry
Non-fiction
- A. J. Liebling - The Sweet Science
- Norman Mailer - The White Negro
- Lobsang Rampa - The Third Eye
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
- Amy Gerstler, poet
- Alexander Jablokov, American writer and novelist
- Jack Womack, novelist
Deaths
- January 14 - Sheila Kaye-Smith, novelist
- January 29 - H L Mencken (born 1880), writer
- 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
- Carnegie Medal for children's literature: C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle
- Duff Cooper Prize: Alan Moorehead, Gallipoli
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Rose Macaulay, The Towers of Trebizond
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: St John Greer Ervine, George Bernard Shaw
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Jean Lee Latham, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
- Nobel Prize for literature: Juan Ramón Jiménez
- Premio Nadal: José Luis Martín Descalzo, La frontera de Dios
- Prix Goncourt: Romain Gary for The Roots of Heaven
- 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
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Edmund Blunden
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