1953 in literature


This article presents lists of literary events and publications in 1953.

Events

Uncertain dates

Fiction


  • Arthur Adamov – Professor Taranne
  • Robert Anderson – Tea and Sympathy
  • Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot
  • Ugo Betti – The Fugitive
  • Agatha Christie – Witness for the Prosecution
  • Max Frisch – The Fire Raisers
  • Witold Gombrowicz – The Marriage
  • N.C. Hunter – A Day by the Sea
  • Arthur Miller – The Crucible
  • Erwin Strittmatter – Katzgraben
  • Vernon Sylvaine – As Long as They're Happy
  • Emlyn Williams – Someone Waiting

    Poetry

  • The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Verse edited by John Heath-Stubbs and David Wright

    Non-fiction

  • George Dangerfield – The Era of Good Feelings
  • L. Sprague de Camp – Science-Fiction Handbook
  • Gerald Durrell – The Overloaded Ark
  • Lawrence Durrell – Reflections on a Marine Venus
  • Geoffrey Elton – The Tudor Revolution in Government
  • Heinrich Harrer – Seven Years in Tibet
  • Clarence C. Hulley – Alaska 1741–1953
  • Nancy Mitford – Madame de Pompadour
  • Roger Peyrefitte – Les Clés de saint Pierre
  • K. M. Panikkar – Asia and Western Dominance
  • Sebastian Snow – My Amazon Adventure
  • R. W. Southern – The Making of the Middle Ages
  • John Summerson – Architecture in Britain: 1530–1830
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein – Philosophical Investigations

    Births

  • January 7 – Dionne Brand, Canadian poet
  • February 5 – Giannina Braschi, Puerto Rican-born poet and novelist
  • February 10 – John Shirley, American science fiction and horror writer
  • February 18 – Peter Robinson, English poet
  • March 12 – Carl Hiaasen, American journalist and novelist
  • March 25 – John Tierney, American journalist
  • March 26 – George Dyson, American science historian
  • April 3
  • *Pieter Aspe, Belgian crime writer
  • *Sandra Boynton, American humorist and children's writer
  • April 20 – Sebastian Faulks, English novelist
  • April 23 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean-born fiction writer
  • May 10 – Christopher Paul Curtis, American children's writer
  • May 12 – Neil Astley, English author, poet and academic
  • May 19 – Victoria Wood, English comedian and writer
  • July 29 – Frank McGuinness, Irish dramatist, poet and novelist
  • August 1 – Howard Kurtz, American journalist and author
  • August 10 – Mark Doty, American poet and memoirist
  • August 17 – Korrie Layun Rampan, Indonesian writer
  • September 5 – Herman Koch, Dutch fiction writer and actor
  • September 10 – Pat Cadigan, American science fiction author
  • September 23 – Nicholas Witchell, English television journalist
  • November 5 – Joyce Maynard, American memoirist and fiction writer
  • November 18 – Alan Moore, English comic-book and graphic-novel scriptwriter
  • December 15 – Doug Lucie, English dramatist
Uncertain date
  • Gary Taylor, American Shakespearean scholar

    Deaths

  • April 4 – Rachilde, French author
  • April 6 – Idris Davies, Welsh poet in Welsh and English
  • April 9 – C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and broadcaster
  • April 13 – Alice Milligan, Irish poet
  • April 24 – Alfred Vierkandt, German sociologist
  • June 5 – Moelona, Welsh-language novelist and translator
  • June 25 – Richard Jebb, English journalist
  • June 30 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish children's author and illustrator
  • July 6 – Julia de Burgos, Puerto Rican poet in Spanish
  • July 16 – Hilaire Belloc, English humorous poet, essayist and travel writer
  • August 12 – J. H. M. Abbott, Australian novelist and poet
  • August 30 – Maurice Nicoll, English psychiatrist and writer on psychology
  • November 8
  • *Ivan Bunin, Russian-born writer and Nobel laureate
  • *John van Melle, South African author
  • November 9 – Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author
  • November 27
  • *Eugene O'Neill, American playwright
  • *T. F. Powys, English novelist
  • November 30 – Francis Picabia, French poet and painter 1879)
  • December 8 – Claude Scudamore Jarvis, English colonial governor, writer, Arabist and naturalist
Uncertain dates
  • Mae Virginia Cowdery, African American poet
  • Gordon Hall Gerould, American philologist
  • Eirik Vandvik, Norwegian classicist and translator
Probable year