See also: 1935 in literature, other events of 1936, 1937 in literature, list of years in literature.
Events
New books
Births
- January 10 - Stephen Ambrose, controversial historian
- January 22 - Joseph Wambaugh, author
- February 18 - Jean M. Auel, Earth's Children author
- May 23 - Ian Kennedy Martin, scriptwriter
- June 23 - Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull author
- July 22 - Tom Robbins, novelist
- August 24 - A. S. Byatt, novelist
- October 5 - Václav Havel, dramatist and first president of the Czech Republic
- November 17 - John Wells, satirical writer and actor
- November 20 - Don DeLillo, United States novelist
- date unknown - Andrew Davies, TV and film writer
- date unknown - Duff Hart-Davis, biographer and journalist
- date unknown - J. H. Prynne, poet
Deaths
- January 18 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer - Nobel prize for literature (1907)
- March 16 - Marguerite Durand, journalist
- April 30 - A. E. Housman, poet
- June 11 - Robert E. Howard, American fantasy writer (suicide)
- June 12 - M. R. James, writer of ghost stories
- June 14 - G. K. Chesterton, author
- June 14 - Maxim Gorky, dramatist
- August 19 - Federico García Lorca, dramatist and poet
- November 12 - Stefan Grabinski, "the Polish Poe"
- December 10 - Luigi Pirandello, dramatist and novelist
- December 28 - John Cornford, Communist poet
- Grazia Deledda, Sardinian (Italy) writer - Nobel prize for literature (1926)
Awards
