1938 in literature


This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1938.

Events

Uncertain dates

Fiction


  • Jean Anouilh – Thieves' Carnival
  • Robert Ardrey – Casey Jones
  • Paul Claudel – L'Histoire de Tobie et de Sara
  • M. J. Farrell – Spring Meeting
  • Patrick Hamilton – Gaslight
  • Esther McCracken – Quiet Wedding
  • Kaj Munk – Han sidder ved Smeltediglen
  • J. B. Priestley – When We Are Married
  • Robert E. Sherwood – Abe Lincoln in Illinois
  • Dodie Smith – Dear Octopus
  • Rodolfo Usigli – El gesticulador
  • Theodore Ward – Big White Fog
  • Thornton Wilder – Our Town
  • Emlyn Williams – The Corn is Green
  • Tennessee Williams – Not About Nightingales

    Poetry

  • Alfred Kreymborg –
  • Mary Pettibone Poole – A Glass Eye at a Keyhole

    Non-fiction

  • Crane Brinton – The Anatomy of Revolution
  • Hall Caine – Life of Christ
  • Cyril Connolly – Enemies of Promise
  • Geoffrey Faber – The Romance of a Bookshop 1904–1938
  • Robert Newton Flew – Jesus and His Church. A study of the idea of the Ecclesia in the New Testament
  • Edgar Innes Fripp – Shakespeare, Man and Artist
  • Elie Halévy – The Era of Tyrannies
  • Agnes Hunt – This Is My Life
  • C. L. R. James –
  • Claude Scudamore Jarvis – Desert and Delta. An account of modern Egypt
  • Jomo Kenyatta – Facing Mount Kenya
  • Anne Morrow Lindbergh – Listen! The Wind
  • Robert McAlmon – Being Geniuses Together, 1920–1930
  • Thomas Mann – The Coming Victory of Democracy
  • George Orwell – Homage to Catalonia
  • Derek A. Traversi – An Approach to Shakespeare
  • Virginia Woolf – Three Guineas

    Births

  • January 2 – Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian short story writer
  • January 5 – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenyan novelist
  • January 6 – Mario Rodríguez Cobos, Argentine author and spiritualist
  • January 20 – Liz Calder, English publisher and editor
  • February 7 – Andrea Newman, English novelist and screenwriter
  • February 9 – Jovette Marchessault, French Canadian writer and artist
  • February 12
  • *Judy Blume, American children's author
  • *Tor Obrestad, Norwegian novelist, poet and documentary writer
  • February 22 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, essayist and novelist
  • March 1 – Michael Kurland, American author of sci-fi and detective fiction
  • March 14 – Eleanor Bron, English humorous writer and actress
  • March 24 – Ian Hamilton, English critic, biographer and poet
  • March 27 – Hansjörg Schneider, Swiss novelist
  • April 20 – Chiung Yao, Taiwanese romance novelist
  • April 29 – Larry Niven, American sci-fi author
  • May 13 – Norma Klein, American author
  • May 15 – Nancy Garden, American author
  • May 25
  • *Raymond Carver, American short-story writer and poet
  • *Margaret Forster, English novelist and biographer
  • May 26 – Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Russian novelist and playwright
  • June 5 – M. K. Wren, American novelist
  • June 16 – Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist
  • June 24 – Lawrence Block, American crime fiction writer
  • June 26 – Maria Velho da Costa, Portuguese writer
  • July 15 – Josephine Cox, English novelist
  • July 19
  • *Nicholas Bethell, English historian and politician
  • *Dom Moraes, Indian poet and columnist
  • *Tom Raworth, English poet
  • July 28 – Robert Hughes, Australian critic and historian
  • August 15 – Janusz Zajdel, Polish writer
  • August 21 – Mudrooroo, Australian novelist
  • September 3 – Caryl Churchill, English dramatist
  • September 12 – Richard Booth, Welsh bookseller
  • September 15 – Charles L. Mee, American dramatist
  • September 18 – Poornachandra Tejaswi, Kannada writer
  • September 19 – Keorapetse Kgositsile, South African Poet Laureate
  • October 12 – Anne Perry, English historical novelist
  • October 13 – Hugo Young, English journalist
  • October 17 – Les Murray, Australian poet
  • October 19 – Allan Massie, Singapore-born Scottish writer
  • November 3 – Terrence McNally, American playwright
  • November 4 – Daniel Snowman, English non-fiction writer and historian
  • December 9 – Willi Glasauer, German artist and illustrator
  • December 14 – Leonardo Boff, Brazilian philosopher and theologian
  • December 21 – Frank Moorhouse, Australian journalist, author and screenwriter
  • December 31 – Basudeb Dasgupta, Bengali novelist
Uncertain date