1968 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1968.

Events

• January 1 – Cecil Day-Lewis is announced as the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• April – The American edition of Andrew Garve's thriller The Long Short Cut becomes the first book printed completely by electronic composition.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• July 28 – Last Exit to Brooklyn is cleared of obscenity in the English appeal court. John Mortimer appears for the defence.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 26 – Theatres Act 1968 (royal assent July 26) ends censorship of the theatre in the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:UK-LEG</ref>
• November – The English novelist Anthony Burgess and his new wife Liana settle in Lija on Malta.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• unknown dates
  • The first translations and book-length discussion of the Sumerian Enheduanna's work is published.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Dean R. Koontz's first novel, Star Quest, is published by Ace Books in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • The Arvon Foundation is established by young poets John Fairfax and John Moat in the UK to promote creative writing.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

New books

Fiction

• Ayi Kwei Armah – The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Elizabeth Bowen – Eva Trout<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Anthony Burgess – Enderby Outside<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Victor Canning – The Melting Man<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Cormac McCarthy – Outer Dark
• Per Anders Fogelström – Stad i världen<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Michael Innes – Appleby at Allington<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• John Irving – Setting Free the Bears<ref name="O'Loughlin2019">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Halldór Laxness – Kristnihald undir jökli (Christianity under the Glacier)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• John le Carré – A Small Town in Germany<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Helen MacInnes – The Salzburg Connection<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Ngaio Marsh – Clutch of Constables<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• N. Scott Momaday – House Made of Dawn<ref>Scarberry-García, Susan. Landmarks of Healing: a Study of House Made of Dawn. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1990. Print.</ref>
• Brian Moore – I Am Mary Dunne<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Fănuș Neagu – Îngerul a strigat ("The Angel Has Shouted")<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Anthony Powell – The Military Philosophers<ref>Barnes, Simon, "Magic in Action: Coincidences in A Dance to the Music of Time." Secret Harmonies 10 (Spring 2023):149-157.</ref>
• Giorgio Scerbanenco – I ragazzi del massacro<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Robert Silverberg – The Masks of Time<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – Cancer Ward («Раковый Корпус», Rakovy Korpus)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Muriel Spark – The Public Image<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Children and young people

• Lloyd Alexander – The High KingTemplate:Sfn
• Joan Aiken – The Whispering MountainTemplate:Sfn
• Don Freeman – CorduroyTemplate:Sfn
• Russell Hoban – The Mouse and His ChildTemplate:Sfn
• Ted Hughes – The Iron Man<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Judith Kerr – The Tiger Who Came to Tea<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Alexander Key – Escape to Witch Mountain<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• David McKee – Elmer the Patchwork Elephant<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Robert C. O'Brien – The Silver Crown<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Jill Tomlinson – The Owl Who Was Afraid of the DarkTemplate:Sfn
• Paul Zindel – The Pigman (first in The Pigman trilogy)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Drama

• Michel Tremblay – Les Belles-Sœurs<ref name="glbtq">Template:Citation</ref>

Poetry

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Non-fiction

• Eldridge Cleaver – Soul on Ice<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Joan Didion – Slouching Towards Bethlehem<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Esther Hautzig – The Endless Steppe (autobiography)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Bevis Hillier – Art Deco of the 20s and 30s
• Pauline Kael – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Gershon Legman – Rationale of the Dirty Joke<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Peter Maas – The Valachi Papers<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Erich von Däniken – Chariots of the Gods? (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft)<ref>Template:Cite book Citing Der Spiegel, in issue 12/1969 (March 17, 1969), p. 184 and issue 12/1973 (March 19, 1973), p. 145.</ref>
• Gwyn Thomas – A Few Selected Exits<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• James D. Watson – The Double Helix<ref name="Feldman">Template:Cite book</ref>

Births

• October 7 – Rachel Kushner, American writer
• unknown dates
  • Brock Clarke, American writerTemplate:Citation needed
  • Fatou Diome, French-Senegalese writer
  • K. V. Johansen, Canadian children's author<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Park Min-gyu, South Korean writer

Deaths

• January 21 – Will Lang, Jr., American journalist (born 1914)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• March 23 – Edwin O'Connor, American journalist, novelist, and radio commentator (born 1918)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 4 - Muhammad Taha al-Huwayzi, Iranian-Iraqi Ja'fari jurist, religious teacher and poet (born 1889)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 16 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1885)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 27 – Vasily Azhayev, Soviet writer (born 1915)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 29 – Anthony Boucher, American author, critic, and editor (born 1911)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 1 – Sir Harold Nicolson, British biographer (born 1886)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 30 – Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor, Romanian anthropologist, ethnographer and children's writer (born 1900)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• May 31 – Abel Bonnard, French poet, novelist and politician (born 1883)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• June 1 – Helen Keller, deaf-blind American author, activist and lecturer (born 1880)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August 21 - Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian writer (born 1893)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 17 – Mervyn Peake, English novelist (dementia, born 1911)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• November 25 – Upton Sinclair, American novelist and politician (born 1878)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 28 – Enid Blyton, English author and poet (born 1897)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• December 5 – Anna Kavan, British novelist, short story writer and painter (born 1901)<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
• December 20 – John Steinbeck, American novelist (congestive heart failure, born 1902)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• December 24 – D. Gwenallt Jones, Welsh poet (born 1899)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Awards

• Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Léopold Sédar Senghor

Sources

• Template:Cite book