List of years in literature
This page gives a chronological list of years in literature (descending order), with notable publications listed with their respective years and a small selection of notable events. The time covered in individual years covers Renaissance, Baroque and Modern literature, while Medieval literature is resolved by century.
See Table of years in literature for an overview of all "year in literature" pages.
21st century
2010s
2000s
- 2009 in literature - First Family - David Baldacci; Death of - John Updike, Philip Jose Farmer, J.G. Ballard, Frank McCourt, Budd Schulberg
- 2008 in literature - Duma Key - Stephen King; Death of Michael Crichton, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Margaret Truman, David Foster Wallace, Arthur C. Clarke, Studs Terkel, Robert Giroux
- 2007 in literature - Death of Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (final book in the Harry Potter series) - J. K. Rowling
- 2006 in literature - The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins; Death of Peter Benchley, Betty Friedan, Muriel Spark, Mickey Spillane, Wendy Wasserstein
- 2005 in literature - Death of Arthur Miller, John Fowles, Elizabeth Janeway; Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro; Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk
- 2004 in literature - Death of Françoise Sagan Hubert Selby Jr., Susan Sontag; The Plot Against America - Philip Roth; Free Culture - Lawrence Lessig
- 2003 in literature - The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown; Hegemony or Survival - Noam Chomsky; Roman Triptych (Meditation) - John Paul II; Death of Howard Fast
- 2002 in literature - Atonement - Ian McEwan; Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World - Margaret MacMillan; Death of Chaim Potok
- 2001 in literature - Seabiscuit: An American Legend – Laura Hillenbrand; Life of Pi - Yann Martel; The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen; Death of Ken Kesey, Robert Ludlum
- 2000 in literature - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon; No Logo - Naomi Klein, Death of Charles M. Schulz
20th century
1990s
- 1999 in literature - Chocolat - Joanne Harris; Disgrace - J M Coetzee; Death of Iris Murdoch, Joseph Heller, Mario Puzo, John F. Kennedy Jr.
- 1998 in literature - Death of Carlos Castenada, Octavio Paz, Lawrence Sanders, Benjamin Spock; Blood Work - Michael Connelly
- 1997 in literature - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J. K. Rowling; Underworld - Don DeLillo; Death of William S. Burroughs, James Dickey, James A. Michener
- 1996 in literature - Death of Erma Bombeck, Marguerite Duras Timothy Leary, Carl Sagan; Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace; Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt; Left Behind - Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins; Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
- 1995 in literature - The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield; Blindness - José Saramago
- 1994 in literature - The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields; Death of James Clavell, Ralph Ellison, Eugène Ionesco
- 1993 in literature - Death of Kōbō Abe, Anthony Burgess, William Golding, William L. Shirer; The Christmas Box – Richard Paul Evans; Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
- 1992 in literature - The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje; All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy; The Black Echo - Michael Connelly
- 1991 in literature - Such a Long Journey - Rohinton Mistry; Parliament of Whores- P.J. O'Rourke; Death of Isaac Bashevis Singer
- 1990 in literature - Vertigo - W.G. Sebald; The Hebrew Goddess - Raphael Patai; Death of Malcolm Forbes, Walker Percy, Alberto Moravia, Anya Seton, Roald Dahl
1980s
1970s
1960s
1950s
1940s
1930s
1920s
1910s
1900s
19th century
1890s
1880s
1870s
1860s
1850s
1840s
1830s
1820s
1810s
1800s
- 1809 in literature - The Martyrs - François-René de Chateaubriand; Death of Thomas Paine
- 1808 in literature - Faust (Part One) - Goethe
- 1807 in literature - Tales from Shakespeare - Charles Lamb & Mary Lamb
- 1806 in literature - The Earthquake in Chile - Heinrich von Kleist
- 1805 in literature - The Wonder of the Village - Mary Meeke; Manuscript Found in Saragossa - Count Jan Nepomucen Potocki
- 1804 in literature - Jerusalem (poetry) - William Blake
- 1803 in literature - St. Clair of the Isles - Elisabeth Helme
- 1802 in literature - Delphine - Anne Louise Germaine de Stael
- 1801 in literature - The Wizard and the Sword - Henry Summersett
- 1800 in literature - Hymns to the Night - Novalis
18th century
1790s
1780s
1770s
1760s
1750s
- 1759 in literature - Candide - Voltaire
- 1758 in literature - Voltaire buys his estate at Ferney
- 1757 in literature - Pierre-Augustin Caron changes his surname to Beaumarchais
- 1756 in literature - Gilbert White becomes curate of Selborne, Hampshire
- 1755 in literature - Letter to Lord Chesterfield - Samuel Johnson
- 1754 in literature - The History of Great Britain (to 1762) - David Hume
- 1753 in literature - The History of Sir Charles Grandison - Samuel Richardson
- 1752 in literature - Birth of Fanny Burney
- 1751 in literature - Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard - Thomas Gray
- 1750 in literature - Rambler essays (to 1752) - Samuel Johnson
1740s
- 1749 in literature - The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling - Henry Fielding
- 1748 in literature - Fanny Hill - John Cleland; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - David Hume
- 1747 in literature - Clarissa (to 1748) - Samuel Richardson
- 1746 in literature - Voltaire is elected to the French Academy
- 1745 in literature - Death of Jonathan Swift
- 1744 in literature - The Female Spectator is launched by Eliza Haywood
- 1743 in literature - The Life of Jonathan Wild the Great - Henry Fielding
- 1742 in literature - Joseph Andrews - Henry Fielding
- 1741 in literature - Shamela - Henry Fielding
- 1740 in literature - Institutions de physique – Émilie du Châtelet
1730s
- 1739 in literature - A Treatise of Human Nature (to 1740) - David Hume
- 1738 in literature - Leonidas - Richard Glover
- 1737 in literature - Birth of Thomas Paine, free thinker and revolutionary (died 1809)
- 1736 in literature -
- 1735 in literature - At the end of the trial of John Peter Zenger for seditious libel in the New York Weekly Journal, he is found not guilty by the jury determining that truth was a defense against charges of libel..
- 1734 in literature - Copies of Voltaire's Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais are burned, and a warrant is issued for the author's arrest.
- 1733 in literature - Letters Concerning the English Nation - Voltaire
- 1732 in literature - Essay on Man (to 1744) - Alexander Pope
- 1731 in literature - Insel Felsenburg (to 1743) - Johann Gottfried Schnabel
- 1730 in literature - Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard - Pierre de Marivaux
1720s
1710s
- 1719 in literature - Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
- 1718 in literature - Oedipe - Voltaire's first play
- 1717 in literature
- 1716 in literature
- 1715 in literature - Nicholas Rowe becomes Poet Laureate of Great Britain
- 1714 in literature - Bernard de Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees
- 1713 in literature - Birth of Laurence Sterne
- 1712 in literature - Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock
- 1711 in literature - The Spectator is founded by Addison and Steele
- 1710 in literature - Colley Cibber becomes manager of Drury Lane
1700s
- 1709 in literature - Ode à Sainte-Geneviève - Voltaire's first published work
- 1708 in literature
- 1707 in literature
- 1706 in literature
- 1705 in literature - Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain ("New Essays on Human Understanding") - Gottfried Leibniz
- 1704 in literature - A Tale of a Tub - Jonathan Swift
- 1703 in literature - The Storm - Daniel Defoe (released 1704)
- 1702 in literature
- 1701 in literature
- 1700 in literature
17th century literature
1690s
- 1699 in literature -Death of Jean Racine
- 1698 in literature
- 1697 in literature
- 1696 in literature
- 1695 in literature
- 1694 in literature - Feb 20th, birth of Voltaire
- 1693 in literature
- 1692 in literature
- 1691 in literature - Athalie - Jean Racine
- 1690 in literature
1680s
- 1689 in literature
- 1688 in literature - Aphra Behn, Oroonoko
- 1687 in literature - Isaac Newton, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica; John Dryden The Hind and the Panther
- 1686 in literature
- 1685 in literature
- 1684 in literature
- 1683 in literature
- 1682 in literature
- 1681 in literature
- 1680 in literature
1670s
- 1670 in literature - Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - Molière
1660s
- 1669 in literature - Jean Racine's Britannicus
- 1668 in literature - Birth of Alain-René Lesage
- 1667 in literature - John Milton's Paradise Lost
- 1666 in literature - Gottfried Leibniz's De Arte Combinatoria ('On the Art of Combination')
- 1665 in literature - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society begins publication
- 1664 in literature - Molière's Tartuffe
- 1663 in literature
- 1662 in literature - Molière's L'école des femmes
- 1661 in literature
- 1660 in literature - Samuel Pepys opens his diary
1650s
- 1659 in literature
- 1658 in literature
- 1657 in literature
- 1656 in literature
- 1655 in literature
- 1654 in literature
- 1653 in literature
- 1652 in literature
- 1651 in literature
- 1650 in literature Death of René Descartes, philosopher (born 1596)
1640s
- 1649 in literature
- 1648 in literature
- 1647 in literature
- 1646 in literature
- 1645 in literature
- 1644 in literature
- 1643 in literature
- 1642 in literature
- 1641 in literature
- 1640 in literature - René Descartes completes Meditations on First Philosophy: "I think therefore I am"
1630s
- 1639 in literature - Birth of Jean Racine
- 1638 in literature
- 1637 in literature
- 1636 in literature - the Annals of the Four Masters are completed
- 1635 in literature
- 1634 in literature
- 1633 in literature
- 1632 in literature
- 1631 in literature
- 1630 in literature
1620s
- 1629 in literature
- 1628 in literature
- 1627 in literature
- 1626 in literature
- 1625 in literature
- 1624 in literature
- 1623 in literature
- 1622 in literature - Birth of Molière (d. 1673)
- 1621 in literature
- 1620 in literature - Novum Organum – Francis Bacon
1610s
1600s
16th century
1590s
Julius Caesar
1580s
- 1589 in literature - The Passionate Shepherd to His Love - Christopher Marlowe
- 1588 in literature - The Battle of Alcazar (date first performed) - George Peele
- 1587 in literature - A discourse of the subtill practises of deuilles by witches and sorcerers - George Gifford
- 1586 in literature - Historie of the Reformatioun of Religioun within the Realms of Scotland - John Knox
- 1585 in literature - La Galatea - Miguel de Cervantes
- 1584 in literature - Campaspe, Sapho and Phao - John Lyly
- 1583 in literature - The Anatomy of Abuses - Philip Stubbes
- 1582 in literature - Divers Voyages - Richard Hakluyt
- 1581 in literature - Second Book of Discipline
- 1580 in literature - Os Lusíadas - Luís Vaz de Camões
1570s
- 1579 in literature
- 1578 in literature
- 1577 in literature
- 1576 in literature
- 1575 in literature
- 1574 in literature
- 1573 in literature
- 1572 in literature
- 1571 in literature
- 1570 in literature Abraham Ortelius - Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (the first modern atlas)
1560s
- 1569 in literature - La Araucana, part 1 - Joan Perez de Lazarraga
- 1568 in literature
- 1567 in literature
- 1566 in literature
- 1565 in literature
- 1564 in literature - - Birth of William Shakespeare dramatist and poet (d.1616); Christopher Marlowe, dramatist and poet (d. 1593)
- 1563 in literature - Foxe's Book of Martyrs - John Foxe
- 1562 in literature - Arthur Brooke - The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet
- 1561 in literature
- 1560 in literature - Geneva Bible (first full edition)
Middle Ages
Ancient times
- Late antiquity
- Classical antiquity
- Iron Age
- Bronze Age
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