1968 in literature
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1968.
- January 1 – Cecil Day-Lewis is announced as the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom.[1]
- April – The American edition of Andrew Garve's thriller The Long Short Cut becomes the first book printed completely by electronic composition.[2][3]
- May – The Action Theater in Munich is disbanded after its building is wrecked by one of its founders, jealous of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's growing power in the group.[4]
- June 17 – Tom Stoppard's parodic comedy The Real Inspector Hound opens at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End, starring Richard Briers and Ronnie Barker.[5]
- July 28 – Last Exit to Brooklyn is cleared of obscenity in the English appeal court. John Mortimer appears for the defence.[6]
- September 26 – Theatres Act 1968 (royal assent July 26) ends censorship of the theatre in the United Kingdom.[7][8]
- November – The English novelist Anthony Burgess and his new wife Liana settle in Lija on Malta.[9]
- unknown dates
- The first translations and book-length discussion of the Sumerian Enheduanna's work is published.[10]
- Dean R. Koontz's first novel, Star Quest, is published by Ace Books in the United States.[11]
- The Arvon Foundation is established by young poets John Fairfax and John Moat in the UK to promote creative writing.[12]
New books
Fiction
- Ayi Kwei Armah – The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born[13]
- Elizabeth Bowen – Eva Trout[14]
- Anthony Burgess – Enderby Outside[15]
- Victor Canning – The Melting Man[16]
- Agatha Christie - By the Pricking of My Thumbs
- Cormac McCarthy – Outer Dark
- Per Anders Fogelström – Stad i världen[17]
- Michael Innes – Appleby at Allington[18]
- John Irving – Setting Free the Bears[19]
- Halldór Laxness – Kristnihald undir jökli (Christianity under the Glacier)[20]
- John le Carré – A Small Town in Germany[21]
- Helen MacInnes – The Salzburg Connection[22]
- Ngaio Marsh – Clutch of Constables[23]
- N. Scott Momaday – House Made of Dawn[24]
- Brian Moore – I Am Mary Dunne[25]
- Fănuș Neagu – Îngerul a strigat ("The Angel Has Shouted")[26]
- Anthony Powell – The Military Philosophers[27]
- Giorgio Scerbanenco – I ragazzi del massacro[28]
- Robert Silverberg – The Masks of Time[29]
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – Cancer Ward («Раковый Корпус», Rakovy Korpus)[30]
- Muriel Spark – The Public Image[31]
Children and young people
- Lloyd Alexander – The High King[32]
- Joan Aiken – The Whispering Mountain[33]
- Peter S. Beagle - The Last Unicorn
- Don Freeman – Corduroy[34]
- Russell Hoban – The Mouse and His Child[35]
- Ted Hughes – The Iron Man[36]
- Judith Kerr – The Tiger Who Came to Tea[37]
- Alexander Key – Escape to Witch Mountain[38]
- David McKee – Elmer the Patchwork Elephant[39]
- Robert C. O'Brien – The Silver Crown[40]
- Jill Tomlinson – The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark[41]
- Paul Zindel – The Pigman (first in The Pigman trilogy)[42]
Drama
Poetry
Non-fiction
- Eldridge Cleaver – Soul on Ice[44]
- Joan Didion – Slouching Towards Bethlehem[45]
- Esther Hautzig – The Endless Steppe (autobiography)[46]
- Bevis Hillier – Art Deco of the 20s and 30s
- Pauline Kael – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang[47]
- Gershon Legman – Rationale of the Dirty Joke[48]
- Peter Maas – The Valachi Papers[49]
- Erich von Däniken – Chariots of the Gods? (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft)[50]
- Gwyn Thomas – A Few Selected Exits[51]
- James D. Watson – The Double Helix[52]
Births
- October 7 – Rachel Kushner, American writer
- unknown dates
- Brock Clarke, American writer[citation needed]
- Fatou Diome, French-Senegalese writer
- K. V. Johansen, Canadian children's author[53]
- Park Min-gyu, South Korean writer
Deaths
- January 21 – Will Lang, Jr., American journalist (born 1914)[54]
- March 23 – Edwin O'Connor, American journalist, novelist, and radio commentator (born 1918)[55]
- April 4 - Muhammad Taha al-Huwayzi, Iranian-Iraqi Ja'fari jurist, religious teacher and poet (born 1889)[56]
- April 16 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1885)[57]
- April 27 – Vasily Azhayev, Soviet writer (born 1915)[58]
- April 29 – Anthony Boucher, American author, critic, and editor (born 1911)[59]
- May 1 – Sir Harold Nicolson, British biographer (born 1886)[60]
- May 30 – Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor, Romanian anthropologist, ethnographer and children's writer (born 1900)[61]
- May 31 – Abel Bonnard, French poet, novelist and politician (born 1883)[62]
- June 1 – Helen Keller, deaf-blind American author, activist and lecturer (born 1880)[63]
- August 21 - Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian writer (born 1893)[64]
- November 17 – Mervyn Peake, English novelist (dementia, born 1911)[65]
- November 25 – Upton Sinclair, American novelist and politician (born 1878)[66]
- November 28 – Enid Blyton, English author and poet (born 1897)[67]
- December 5 – Anna Kavan, British novelist, short story writer and painter (born 1901)[68]
- December 20 – John Steinbeck, American novelist (congestive heart failure, born 1902)[69]
- December 24 – D. Gwenallt Jones, Welsh poet (born 1899)[70]