This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1973.

Events

March 6 Events Pre-1600 * 12 BCE – The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor. * 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. * 845 ...

– The

Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts ( Montenegrin and Serbian: Црногорска академија наука и умјетности, ''Crnogorska akademija nauka i umjetnosti''; ЦАНУ, ''CANU'') is the most important scientific inst ...

, founded as the Montenegrin Society for Science and Arts (''Crnogorsko društvo za nauku i umjetnost'') in Podgorica, elects its first members. * May 14 **New orthography for the Greenlandic language is introduced. **

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...

's film '' Day for Night (La Nuit américaine)'' premieres; novelist Grahame Greene (credited as Henry Graham) has a cameo role as an English insurance company representative. *

June 21 Events Pre-1600 * 533 – A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarius sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, via Greece and Sicily (approximate date). * 1307 – Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mo ...

**The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decision in the

landmark case Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly u ...

'' Miller v. California'', establishing the " Miller test" for determining

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be us ...

. **

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several British femini ...

, registered on June 18 in the U.K. by

Carmen Callil Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil, (15 July 1938 – 17 October 2022) was an Australian publisher, writer and critic who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom. She founded Virago Press in 1973 and received the Benson Medal from the Royal So ...

mainly to publish classics by women writers, holds its first board meeting; its first book will be published in 1975. * July 26 –

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in ...

's drama '' Equus'' is premièred in London by the National Theatre company at The Old Vic. *September – Following the overthrow of President Allende by a military regime, book burnings take place in Chile. * September 16 –

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an poet and playwright Víctor Jara, detained four days earlier as a political prisoner in Estadio Chile and tortured during the

1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...

, is shot and killed. His last poem, " Estadio Chile", is preserved in memories and scraps of paper retained by fellow detainees. * September 25 – The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

. *

December 3 Events Pre-1600 * 915 – Pope John X crowns Berengar I of Italy as Holy Roman Emperor (probable date). 1601–1900 * 1775 – American Revolutionary War: becomes the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the ...

– French police of the Direction de la surveillance du territoire, disguised as plumbers, are caught trying to install a spy microphone in the directors' office of the Paris satirical paper '' Le Canard enchaîné''. *c. December 27 –

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repr ...

's novel ''

The Gulag Archipelago ''The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation'' (russian: Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, ''Arkhipelag GULAG'') is a three-volume non-fiction text written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer and Soviet dissident Aleksandr So ...

'' (Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, written 1958–1968) is first published, by the Paris publisher

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as ''Le Seuil'', is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil' ...

from a typescript smuggled out of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. *''unknown dates'' **

André Brink André Philippus Brink (29 May 1935 – 6 February 2015) was a South African novelist, essayist and poet. He wrote in both Afrikaans and English and taught English at the University of Cape Town. In the 1960s Brink, Ingrid Jonker, Etienne Lero ...

's novel ''Kennis van die aand'' ("Looking on Darkness") becomes the first

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

book banned by the government of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. **

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the fir ...

's novel ''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940 during Stalin's regime. A censored version, with several chapters cut by ...

'' (Ма́стер и Маргари́та) is first published complete in Moscow (in the form left at the author's death in 1940), by

Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Khudozhestvennaya Literatura (russian: Художественная литература) is a publishing house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The name means "fiction literature" in Russian. It specializes in the publishing of Russian and foreign wor ...

. **

Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel ''Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked as ...

becomes director-photographer of the television show, ''The Tillers''. ** Robert B. Parker starts the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

-based Spenser book series with his debut crime novel ''

The Godwulf Manuscript ''The Godwulf Manuscript'' is the debut crime novel by American writer Robert B. Parker. Plot summary Set in the early 1970s, this novel serves as the introduction to Spenser, a private investigator in Boston. Spenser, who served as an infantr ...

''.

New books

Fiction

Nelson Algren Nelson Algren (born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham; March 28, 1909 – May 9, 1981) was an American writer. His 1949 novel '' The Man with the Golden Arm'' won the National Book Award and was adapted as the 1955 film of the same name. Algren articulat ...

– ''The Last Carousel'' (short stories) *

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir ' ...

– ''

The Rachel Papers ''The Rachel Papers'' is a 1989 British film written and directed by Damian Harris, and based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Martin Amis. It stars Dexter Fletcher and Ione Skye with Jonathan Pryce, James Spader, Bill Paterson, Jared Har ...

'' * J. G. Ballard – ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch ...

'' * René Barjavel – '' The Immortals'' *

Donald Barr Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

- '' Space Relations'' * Thomas Berger – ''Regiment of Women'' *

Joseph Payne Brennan Joseph Payne Brennan (December 20, 1918 – January 28, 1990) was an American writer of fantasy and horror fiction, and also a poet. Of Irish ancestry, he was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and he lived most of his life in New Haven, Connecti ...

– '' Stories of Darkness and Dread'' *

Rita Mae Brown Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, ''Rubyfruit Jungle''. Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of le ...

– ''

Rubyfruit Jungle ''Rubyfruit Jungle'' is the first novel by Rita Mae Brown. Published in 1973, it was remarkable in its day for its explicit portrayal of lesbianism. The novel is a coming-of-age autobiographical account of Brown's youth and emergence as a lesb ...

'' *

John Brunner John Brunner may refer to: * Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet (1842–1919), British industrialist and Liberal Member of Parliament * John L. Brunner (1929–1980), Pennsylvania politician * Sir John Brunner, 2nd Baronet (1865–1929), British Libera ...

– ''The Stone That Never Came Down'' *

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

– '' Demons by Daylight'' * Jerome Charyn – ''

The Tar Baby The Tar-Baby is the second of the Uncle Remus stories published in 1881; it is about a doll made of tar and turpentine used by the villainous Br'er Fox to entrap Br'er Rabbit. The more that Br'er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entang ...

'' *

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...

– '' Postern of Fate'' *

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

– ''

Rendezvous with Rama ''Rendezvous with Rama'' is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1973. Set in the 2130s, the story involves a cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System. The story is told from the po ...

'' *

Basil Copper Basil Frederick Albert Copper (5 February 1924 – 3 April 2013) was an English writer and former journalist and newspaper editor. Mike Ashley, "Basil Copper", in David Pringle, ed., ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers.''(London: ...

– ''

From Evil's Pillow ''From Evil's Pillow'' is a collection of stories by English writer Basil Copper. It was released in 1973 and was the author's first collection of stories published in the United States. It was published by Arkham House Arkham House is a ...

'' *

Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine, nationalized French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an ...

– '' Libro de Manuel (A Manual for Manuel)'' * L. Sprague de Camp – '' The Fallible Fiend'' *L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, editors – '' Tales Beyond Time'' *

Michel Déon Michel Déon (; 4 August 1919 – 28 December 2016) was a French novelist and literary columnist. He published over 50 works and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Interallié for his 1970 novel, '' Les Poneys sauvages'' (Th ...

– '' Un Taxi mauve'' *

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and th ...

– ''

The Chronicles of Solar Pons ''The Chronicles of Solar Pons'' is a collection of detective fiction short stories by author August Derleth. It is the sixth volume in the series of Derleth's Solar Pons short stories, and was released in 1973 by Mycroft & Moran Mycroft & Moran ...

'' * Michael Ende – '' Momo'' * Paul E. Erdman – ''The Billion Dollar Sure Thing'' *

J. G. Farrell James Gordon Farrell (25 January 1935 – 11 August 1979) was an English-born novelist of Irish descent. He gained prominence for a series of novels known as "the Empire Trilogy" (''Troubles'', '' The Siege of Krishnapur'' and '' The Singapore G ...

– '' The Siege of Krishnapur'' * Leon Forrest – ''There Is A Tree More Ancient Than Eden'' *

William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays '' ...

– ''

The Princess Bride The Princess Bride may refer to: * ''The Princess Bride'' (novel), 1973 fantasy romance novel by American writer William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He ...

'' *

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

– '' The Honorary Consul'' *

Elisabeth Harvor Erica Elisabeth Arendt Harvor () is a Canadian novelist and poet who lives in Ottawa, Ontario. She was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, where she grew up on the Kingston Peninsula. She enrolled at Concordia University in 1983, receiving an MA ...

– ''Women and Children'' (11 stories revised as ''Our Lady of All Distances'' in 1991) * L.P. Hartley – '' The Will and the Way'' * Robert A. Heinlein – '' Time Enough for Love'' *

Witi Ihimaera Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler (; born 7 February 1944) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people were ignored or mischaracterised in litera ...

– ''Tangi'' *

Hammond Innes Ralph Hammond Innes (15 July 1913 – 10 June 1998) was a British novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as works for children and travel books. Biography Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex, and educated at Feltonfleet School, Cobham, Surrey ...

– ''

Golden Soak ''Golden Soak'' is a 1979 Australian-British mini series about an English mining engineer who travels to Australia. It was based on the 1973 book of the same title written by Hammond Innes.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970- ...

'' *

Joseph Joffo Joseph Joffo (2 April 1931 – 6 December 2018) was a French author. A noted autobiographer, Joffo was perhaps best known for his memoir ''Un sac de billes'' ('' A Bag of Marbles''), which has been translated into eighteen languages. Early ...

– '' A Bag of Marbles (Un sac de billes)'' *

B. S. Johnson Bryan Stanley William Johnson (5 February 1933 – 13 November 1973) was an English experimental novelist, poet and literary critic. He also produced television programmes and made films. Early life Johnson was born into a working-class family, ...

– ''

Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry ''Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry'' (1973) is the penultimate novel by the late British avant-garde novelist B. S. Johnson. It is the metafictional account of a disaffected young man, Christie Malry, who applies the principles of double-entry b ...

'' *

James Jones James Jones may refer to: Sports Association football *James Jones (footballer, born 1873) (1873–1955), British Olympic footballer * James Jones (footballer, born 1996), Scottish footballer for Wrexham * James Jones (footballer, born 1997), We ...

– ''A Touch of Danger'' * Anna Kavan – ''Who Are You?'' * Brian Killick – '' The Heralds'' *

Dean R. Koontz Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is an American author. His novels are billed as suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Many of his books have appeared on ''The New ...

– '' Demon Seed'' *

Jerzy Kosiński Jerzy Kosiński (born Józef Lewinkopf; ; June 14, 1933 – May 3, 1991) was a Polish-American novelist and two-time President of the American Chapter of P.E.N., who wrote primarily in English. Born in Poland, he survived World War II and, as a ...

– ''The Devil Tree'' *

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himsel ...

– '' Life Is Elsewhere'' (''Život je jinde'', first published in French as ''La Vie est ailleurs'') * Derek Lambert **''

Beau Blackstone ''Beau Blackstone'' is a 1973 historical thriller novel by the British writer Derek Lambert, published under the pen name Richard Falkirk. It is the third in a series of six novels featuring Edmund Blackstone, a member of the Bow Street Runners i ...

'' **'' Blackstone's Fancy'' *

Clarice Lispector Clarice Lispector (born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector ( uk, Хая Пінкасівна Ліспектор); December 10, 1920December 9, 1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer. Her innovative, idiosyncratic works ex ...

– ''Água Viva'' * Robert Ludlum – '' The Matlock Paper'' *

John D. MacDonald John Dann MacDonald (July 24, 1916December 28, 1986) was an American writer of novels and short stories. He is known for his thrillers. MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many set in his adopted home of Florida. On ...

– ''

The Turquoise Lament ''The Turquoise Lament'' (1973) is the fifteenth novel in the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. It focuses on McGee's involvement with an old acquaintance, Pidge, who believes her husband Howie Brindle is trying to kill her to acquire her c ...

'' *

Cormac McCarthy Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays and three short stories, spanning the Western and post-apocalyptic genres. He is known for his g ...

– ''

Child of God ''Child of God'' (1973) is the third novel by American author Cormac McCarthy. It depicts the life of a violent young outcast and serial killer in 1960s Appalachian Tennessee. Though the novel received critical praise, it was not a financial ...

'' *

Robert Marasco Robert Marasco (September 22, 1936 – December 6, 1998) was an American horror novelist, playwright, and teacher. He is best known for his 1970 Broadway play '' Child's Play'', and his supernatural novel '' Burnt Offerings'' (1973), which was ...

– ''Burnt Offerings'' *

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...

– '' Sula'' *

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her ...

– ''

The Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, su ...

'' * Robert B. Parker – ''

'' *

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

(died 1968) – '' The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb'' *

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell' ...

– '' Temporary Kings'' *

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

– ''

Gravity's Rainbow ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is a 1973 novel by American writer Thomas Pynchon. The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military. In particular, ...

'' *

Ernst von Salomon Ernst von Salomon (25 September 1902 – 9 August 1972) was a German novelist and screenwriter. He was a Weimar-era national-revolutionary activist and right-wing Freikorps member. Family and education He was born in Kiel, in the Prussian pro ...

– ''

Der tote Preuße ''Der tote Preuße'' ("the dead Prussian") is an unfinished novel by the German writer Ernst von Salomon, published posthumously in 1973. It has the subtitle ''Roman einer Staatsidee'' ("novel of a state idea"). The novel was supposed to be in thr ...

'' *

Irwin Shaw Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: '' The Young Lions'' ...

– ''

Evening in Byzantium ''Evening in Byzantium'' is a 1978 American two-part, four-hour made-for-television drama film produced by Glen A. Larson Productions and Universal Television, and directed by Jerry London, about the Cannes Film Festival being overtaken by terror ...

'' *

– ''

(Архипелаг ГУЛАГ)'' * Richard G. Stern – ''Other Men's Daughters'' *

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

– '' Please Pass the Guilt'' * Jacqueline Susann – '' Once Is Not Enough'' *

Julian Symons Julian Gustave Symons (originally Gustave Julian Symons) (pronounced ''SIMM-ons''; 30 May 1912 – 19 November 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature. He was bor ...

– '' The Plot Against Roger Rider'' * Hunter S. Thompson – '' Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72'' *

Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names. ...

– '' The Anome'' *

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...

– ''

Captain Pantoja and the Special Service ''Captain Pantoja and the Special Service'' ( es, Pantaleón y las visitadoras; 1973) is a relatively short comedic novel by acclaimed Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa. The story takes place in the Peruvian department of Amazonas, where tro ...

(Pantaleón y las visitadoras)'' *

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...

– '' Burr'' *

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

– '' Breakfast of Champions'' *

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...

– '' The Eye of the Storm'' * Rudy Wiebe – ''Temptations of Big Bear'' *

Venedikt Yerofeyev Venedikt Vasilyevich Yerofeyev, also Benedict Erofeev or Erofeyev (russian: Венеди́кт Васи́льевич Ерофе́ев; 24 October 1938 in Niva-3 settlement, suburb of Kandalaksha – 11 May 1990 in Moscow) was a Russian writer a ...

– ''

Moscow-Petushki ''Moscow-Petushki'', also published as ''Moscow to the End of the Line'', ''Moscow Stations'', and ''Moscow Circles'', is a pseudo-autobiographical postmodernist prose poem by Russian writer and satirist Venedikt Yerofeyev. Written between 1969 ...

'' (''Moscow to the end of the line''; first commercial publication, in Israel) *

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...

**'' To Die in Italbar'' **'' Today We Choose Faces''

Children and young people

* Nina Bawden – ''

Carrie's War ''Carrie's War'' is a 1973 English children's novel by Nina Bawden set during the Second World War. It follows two young London evacuees, Carrie and her younger brother Nick, into a Welsh village. It is often read in schools for its literary a ...

'' *

Thea Beckman Theodora Beckmann (née Petie; 23 July 1923 – 5 May 2004), better known by her pen name Thea Beckman, was a Dutch author of children's books. Biography At a young age, Beckman knew she wanted to be a writer. As a teenager, she would write num ...

– '' Crusade in Jeans ( Kruistocht in spijkerbroek)'' *

Lois Duncan Lois Duncan Steinmetz (April 28, 1934 – June 15, 2016), known as Lois Duncan, was an American writer, novelist, poet, and journalist. She is best known for her young-adult novels, and has been credited by historians as a pioneering figure in th ...

– ''

I Know What You Did Last Summer ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Jim Gillespie, written by Kevin Williamson, and starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. It is loosely base ...

'' * Penelope Lively – '' The Ghost of Thomas Kempe'' * Ruth Manning-Sanders – ''

A Book of Ogres and Trolls A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' * Ruth Park – ''The Muddle-Headed Wombat and the Bush Band'' *

Bill Peet William Bartlett Peet ('' né'' Peed; January 29, 1915 – May 11, 2002) was an American children's book illustrator and a story writer and animator for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Peet joined Disney in 1937 and worked first on ''Snow W ...

– ''The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock'' *Dick Roughsey – '' The Giant Devil Dingo'' * Doris Buchanan Smith – '' A Taste of Blackberries'' * Patricia Wrightson – '' The Nargun and the Stars''

Drama

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director o ...

– ''

The Norman Conquests ''The Norman Conquests'' is a trilogy of plays written in 1973 by Alan Ayckbourn. Each of the plays depicts the same six characters over the same weekend in a different part of a house. ''Table Manners'' is set in the dining room, ''Living Toget ...

'' * Griselda Gambaro – '' Information For Foreigners (Información para extranjeros)'' *

Jean Poiret Jean Poiret, born Jean Poiré (17 August 1926 – 14 March 1992), was a French actor, director, and screenwriter. He is primarily known as the author of the original play '' La Cage aux Folles''. Early career Poiret was born in Paris, and f ...

– '' La Cage aux Folles'' * David Rudkin – '' Cries from Casement as His Bones are Brought to Dublin'' (radio play) *

– '' Equus'' *

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

– '' The Bacchae of Euripides''

Poetry

* Allen Curnow – ''An Abominable Temper and Other Poems'' *

Tomás Rivera Tomás Rivera (December 22, 1935 – May 16, 1984) was a Mexican American author, poet, and educator. He was born in Texas to migrant farm workers, and worked in the fields as a young boy. However, he achieved social mobility through education� ...

– ''Always and other poems''

Non-fiction

Ernest Becker Ernest Becker (September 27, 1924 – March 6, 1974) was an American cultural anthropology, cultural anthropologist and author of the 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, ''The Denial of Death''. Biography Early life Ernest Becker was born in Spri ...

– '' The Denial of Death'' *

Howard W. Bergerson Howard William Bergerson (July 29, 1922 – February 19, 2011) was an American writer and poet, noted for his mastery of palindromes and other forms of wordplay. Work Bergerson's first volume of poetry, '' The Spirit of Adolescence'', was publ ...

– ''

Palindromes and Anagrams ''Palindromes and Anagrams'' is a 1973 non-fiction book on wordplay by Howard W. Bergerson. Content Over a third of the book is devoted to the study and collection of anagrams. Of the 1169 anagrams Bergerson lists, most are sourced to the fi ...

'' *

Allan W. Eckert Allan Wesley Eckert (January 30, 1931 – July 7, 2011) was an American novelist and playwright who specialized in historical novels for adults and children, and was also a naturalist. His novel '' Incident at Hawk's Hill'' (1971) was initially ...

– ''The Court-Martial of Daniel Boone'' *

Antonia Fraser Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and ...

– '' Cromwell, Our Chief of Men'' *

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...

– ''Foliage Plants'' * Peter Maas – ''Serpico'' * New York Bible Society International – ''

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

'',

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest a ...

(translated into modern

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

) *

Nigel Nicolson Nigel Nicolson (19 January 1917 – 23 September 2004) was an English writer, publisher and politician. Early life and education Nicolson was the second son of writers Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West; he had an elder brother Ben ...

– ''

Portrait of a Marriage ''Portrait of a Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson'' is the 1973 biography of writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West compiled by her son Nigel Nicolson from her journals and letters. Synopsis The book relates to Sackville-West ...

'' (compiled from writings of his mother,

Vita Sackville-West Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (Birth name, née Sackville-West; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer. Sackville-West was a su ...

) * Tim O'Brien – '' If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home'' * Bill Owens – '' Suburbia'' * John Pearson – '' James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007'' *

Flora Rheta Schreiber Flora Rheta Schreiber (April 24, 1918 – November 3, 1988)Special Collections, database. 2020.The Papers of Flora Rheta Schreiber 1916–1988" ''Lloyd Sealy Library''. New York: John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 13 May 2020. was an A ...

– ''

Sybil Sibyls were oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece. Sybil or Sibyl may also refer to: Films * ''Sybil'' (1921 film) * ''Sybil'' (1976 film), a film starring Sally Field * ''Sybil'' (2007 film), a remake of the 19 ...

'' * E. F. Schumacher – ''

Small Is Beautiful ''Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered'' is a collection of essays published in 1973 by German-born British economist E. F. Schumacher. The title "Small Is Beautiful" came from a principle espoused by Schumach ...

'' *

Binod Bihari Verma Binod Bihari Verma (1937–2003) was a Maithili writer and military doctor. He is known for ''Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan'', his work on ancient genealogical charts known as Panjis, as well as his depiction of rural poor of the ...

– ''

Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan ''Maithil Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan'' (''A Survey of the Panji of the Karan Kayasthas of Mithila'') is a book written by Binod Bihari Verma in Maithili. It is a research study on the available ancient manuscripts in the Mithila region ...

'' (in Maithili) *

Maureen Maureen is a female given name. In Gaelic, it is Máirín, a pet form of '' Máire'' (the Irish cognate of Mary), which is derived from the Hebrew Miriam. The name has sometimes been regarded as corresponding to the male given name Maurice. Some ...

and

Tony Wheeler Tony Wheeler (born 20 December 1946) is an English-born Australian publishing entrepreneur, businessman and travel writer, co-founder of the Lonely Planet guidebook company with his wife Maureen Wheeler. Born in England, his father worked for ...

– ''Across Asia on the Cheap'' * Paula Wolfert – ''Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco''

Births

January 1 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the ye ...

–

Bryan Thao Worra Bryan Thao Worra (born January 1, 1973) is a Laotian American writer. His books include ''On The Other Side Of The Eye'', ''Touching Detonations'', ''Winter Ink'', ''Barrow'' and ''The Tuk Tuk Diaries: My Dinner With Cluster Bombs''. He is the fir ...

, Lao writer *

January 8 Events Pre-1600 * 307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying. * 871 – Æthelred I and Alfred the Great lead a West Saxon army to repel an inv ...

– Madhulika Liddle, Indian writer *

January 13 Events Pre-1600 * 27 BC – Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years. * 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the raci ...

– Lois Pryce, Scottish-born travel writer and journalist *

February 10 Events Pre-1600 *1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end. * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparki ...

–

Núria Añó Núria Añó (, ; born 1973) is a Catalan writer and a translator. Añó has exhibited her work in universities and institutions giving papers on literary creation or authors like Elfriede Jelinek, Patricia Highsmith, Salka Viertel, Franz We ...

, Catalan writer *

February 21 Events Pre-1600 *452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine. * 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery. *1440 – The Pru ...

–

Jacob M. Appel Jacob M. Appel (born February 21, 1973) is an American author, poet, bioethicist, physician, lawyer and social critic.Nagamatsu, Sequoia "A Few Words with the Ubiquitous Jacob M. Appel" ''Prince Mincer'' Journal http://primemincer.com/ confirmed ...

, American short story writer and bioethicist **

Mariana Savka Mariana Savka, also spelled Maryana Savka (born February 21, 1973, in Kopychyntsi) is a Ukrainian poet, children's writer, translator and a publisher. In 2003 she was awarded the Vasyl Stus Award. Early life and education Mariana Savka was bo ...

, Ukrainian poet, children's writer, translator and a publisher *

April 15 Events Pre-1600 * 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings. * 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscar ...

– Maria V. Snyder, American fantasy and science-fiction writer *

May 10 Events Pre-1600 * 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. * 1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of ...

–

Tana French Tana French (born 10 May 1973) is an American-Irish writer and theatrical actress. She is a longtime resident of Dublin, Ireland. Her debut novel ''In the Woods'' (2007), a psychological mystery, won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry a ...

, American-born mystery novelist and actress *

May 20 Events Pre-1600 * 325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church. * 491 – Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed '' Augusta'' is able to choose her ...

– Natalka Sniadanko, Ukrainian writer, journalist, and translator *

June 2 Events Pre-1600 * 455 – Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks. * 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later. 1601� ...

–

David Bezmozgis David Bezmozgis ( lv, Dāvids Bezmozgis; born 1973) is a Canadian writer and filmmaker, currently the head of Humber College's School for Writers. Life and career Educational background Born in Riga, Latvia, he came to Canada with his family ...

, Latvian-Canadian writer *

June 16 Events Pre-1600 * 363 – Emperor Julian marches back up the Tigris and burns his fleet of supply ships. During the withdrawal, Roman forces suffer several attacks from the Persians. * 632 – Yazdegerd III ascends the throne as king ...

–

Veronica Rossi Veronica Rossi (born 16 June 1973) is a Brazilian-American novelist known for her debut ''New York Times''-bestselling book trilogy ''Under the Never Sky''. Film rights to the trilogy have been optioned by Warner Brothers Studios, with the nov ...

, Brazilian-American young adult novelist *

August 13 Events Pre-1600 * 29 BC – Octavian holds the first of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes. * 523 – John I becomes the new Pope after the death of Pope Hormisdas. * 554 &ndas ...

–

Kamila Shamsie Kamila Shamsie FRSL (born 13 August 1973) is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel ''Home Fire'' (2017). Named on ''Granta'' magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has been ...

, Pakistan-born novelist * August 18 –

Victoria Coren Mitchell Victoria Elizabeth Coren Mitchell (' Coren; born ) is a British writer, TV presenter and professional poker player. Coren Mitchell writes weekly columns for ''The Telegraph'' and has hosted the BBC television quiz show ''Only Connect'' since 2 ...

, English writer, presenter and poker player, daughter of Alan Coren * November 12 -

Jay Kristoff Jay Kristoff (born 11 November 1973) is an Australian author of fantasy and science fiction. He writes both for adult readers and young adults. He lives in Melbourne. Biography Kristoff was born in Perth, Australia in 1973. As a child, Kristo ...

, Australian fantasy and science-fiction author * November 17 – Marianna Kiyanovska, Ukrainian poet, translator and a literary scholar *

December 20 Events Pre-1600 *AD 69 – Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian. * 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England a ...

–

Maarja Kangro Maarja Kangro (born 20 December 1973 in Tallinn) is an Estonian poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, nonfiction writer and librettist. Life She is the daughter of composer Raimo Kangro and author Leelo Tungal. She studied English at t ...

, Estonian author and poet * December 24 –

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; née Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire romance series ''Twilight'', which has sold over 100 million copies, with translations into 37 differ ...

, American young-adult vampire romance writer and film producer *''unknown dates'' ** Frances Hardinge, English young people's fiction writer **

Ahmed Saadawi Ahmed Saadawi (born 1973, ar, أحمد سعداوي) is an Iraqi novelist, poet, screenwriter and documentary film maker. He won the 2014 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for '' Frankenstein in Baghdad''. He lives and works in Baghdad. Awa ...

, Iraqi writer **

Juan Gabriel Vásquez Juan Gabriel Vásquez (born in Bogotá on January 1, 1973) is a Colombian writer, journalist and translator. Regarded as one of the most important Latin American novelists working today, he is the author of seven novels, two volumes of stories, tw ...

, Colombian novelist

Deaths

January 15 Events Pre-1600 * 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months. *1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...

–

Neil M. Gunn Neil Miller Gunn (8 November 1891 – 15 January 1973) was a prolific novelist, critic, and dramatist who emerged as one of the leading lights of the Scottish Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. With over twenty novels to his credit, Gunn was ...

, Scottish novelist, dramatist and critic (born

1891 Events January–March * January 1 ** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany. ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. ** Germany takes formal possession of its new Af ...

) *

February 22 Events Pre-1600 * 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. * 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferd ...

–

Elizabeth Bowen Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London. Life ...

, Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer (born 1899) *

March 5 Events Pre-1600 * 363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death. *1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern j ...

Robert C. O'Brien Robert Charles O'Brien Jr. (born June 18, 1966) is an American attorney who served as the 27th United States national security advisor from 2019 to 2021. He was the fourth and final person to hold the position during the presidency of Donald Tru ...

, American novelist (born

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

) *

–

Pearl S. Buck Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for ''The Good Earth'' a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, Pulitze ...

, American novelist (born

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies fo ...

) *

March 18 Events Pre-1600 * 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10. * 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...

– Roland Dorgelès, French novelist and memoirist (born

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 &n ...

) *

March 26 Events Pre-1600 * 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. *1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, ...

– Sir

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

, English dramatist and humorist (born 1899) *

April 9 Events Pre-1600 * 193 – The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum. * 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (''Enkyklikon'') to the bishops of his empire, su ...

–

Warren Lewis Warren Hamilton Lewis (16 June 1895 – 9 April 1973) was a British historian and officer in the British Army, best known as the elder brother of writer and professor C. S. Lewis. Warren Lewis was a supply officer with the Royal Army Service Co ...

, Irish author (born

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

) *

April 20 Events Pre-1600 * 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. 1601–1900 *1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament. *1657 – English Admiral Robert Blake destroys ...

– Elisabeth Hauptmann, German writer (born 1897) *

April 28 Events Pre-1600 * 224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire. * 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory ...

–

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...

, French philosopher (born

1882 Events January–March * January 2 ** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates. ** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in t ...

) *

April 30 Events Pre-1600 *311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends. *1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois. *1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus hi ...

–

Jirō Osaragi was the pen-name of a popular Japanese writer in Shōwa period Japan, known primarily for his historical fiction novels, which appeared serialized in newspapers and magazines. His real name was . Early life Osaragi Jirō was born in Yokohama. Hi ...

(大佛次郎, ''Haruhiku Nojiri''), Japanese novelist (born 1897) *

May 21 Events Pre-1600 * 293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as ''Caesar'' to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy. * 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabi ...

–

Carlo Emilio Gadda Carlo Emilio Gadda (; November 14, 1893 – May 21, 1973) was an Italian writer and poet. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers that played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements o ...

, Italian poet and linguist (born

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

) *

June 4 Events Pre-1600 *1411 – King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries. * 1561 – The steeple of St Paul's, the medieval cathedr ...

–

Arna Bontemps Arna Wendell Bontemps ( ) (October 13, 1902 – June 4, 1973) was an American poet, novelist and librarian, and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Bontemps was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, into a Louisiana Creole family. Hi ...

, American poet (born

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world' ...

) *

June 9 Events Pre-1600 *411 BC – The Athenian coup succeeds, forming a short-lived oligarchy. * 53 – The Roman emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia. * 68 – Nero dies by suicide after quoting Vergil's ''Aeneid'', thus ending th ...

–

John Creasey John Creasey (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973) was an English crime writer, also writing science fiction, romance and western novels, who wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms. He created several charac ...

, English crime writer (born 1908) *

June 10 Events Pre-1600 * 671 – Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock ( clepsydra) called ''Rokoku''. The instrument, which measures time and indicates hours, is placed in the capital of Ōtsu. *1190 – Third Crusade: Frederick I ...

–

William Inge William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...

, American playwright (born

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the ...

) *

June 30 Events Pre-1600 * 296 – Pope Marcellinus begins his papacy. * 763 – The Byzantine army of emperor Constantine V defeats the Bulgarian forces in the Battle of Anchialus. * 1422 – Battle of Arbedo between the duke of Milan ...

–

Nancy Mitford Nancy Freeman-Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford, was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford sisters, she was regarded as one of the "bright young things" on the London ...

, English novelist and biographer (born

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library syst ...

) *

July 11 Events Pre-1600 * 472 – After being besieged in Rome by his own generals, Western Roman Emperor Anthemius is captured in St. Peter's Basilica and put to death. * 813 – Byzantine emperor Michael I, under threat by conspiracies, ...

–

Nobuko Yoshiya was a Japanese novelist active in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. She was one of modern Japan's most commercially successful and prolific writers, specializing in serialized romance novels and adolescent girls' fiction, as well as a pioneer in ...

(吉屋信子, ''Yoshiya Nobuko''), Japanese romantic novelist (born 1896) * July 29 –

Henri Charrière Henri Charrière (; 16 November 1906 – 29 July 1973) was a French writer, convicted in 1931 as a murderer by the French courts and pardoned in 1970. He wrote the novel '' Papillon'', a memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a pen ...

, French writer and criminal (born 1906) *

August 1 Events Pre-1600 *30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic. *AD 69 – Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under ...

– Ann Quin, English novelist (born

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

) *

September 2 Events Pre-1600 *44 BC – Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. * 44 BC – Cicero launches the first of his '' Philippicae'' (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of t ...

– J. R. R. Tolkien, English fantasy writer and scholar (born

) *

September 9 Events Pre-1600 * 337 – Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans succeed their father Constantine I as co-emperors. The Roman Empire is divided between the three Augusti. *1000 – Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. * 1141 – ...

–

S. N. Behrman Samuel Nathaniel Behrman (; June 9, 1893 – September 9, 1973) was an American playwright, screenwriter, biographer, and longtime writer for ''The New Yorker''. His son is the composer David Behrman. Biography Early years Behrman's parents, Z ...

, American playwright, screenwriter and biographer (born

) *

September 13 Events Pre-1600 * 585 BC – Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Sabines, and the surrender of Collatia. * 509 BC – The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hi ...

–

Sajjad Zaheer Syed Sajjad Zaheer ( ur, ) (5 November 1899 – 13 September 1973) was an Indian Urdu writer, Marxist ideologue and radical revolutionary who worked in both India and Pakistan. In the pre-independence era, he was a member of the Communist ...

, Urdu writer and revolutionary (born 1899) * September 20 – William Plomer, South African-born British novelist, poet and literary editor (born

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having bee ...

) *

September 23 Events Pre-1600 * 38 – Drusilla, Caligula's sister who died in June, with whom the emperor is said to have an incestuous relationship, is deified. *1122 – Pope Callixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V agree to the Concordat ...

– Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet (born

) *

September 29 Events Pre-1600 *61 BC – Pompey the Great celebrates his third triumph for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th birthday. * 1011 – Danes capture Canterbury after a siege, taking Ælfheah, ...

– W. H. Auden, English-born poet (born

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco ...

) *

October 6 Events Pre-1600 * 105 BC – Cimbrian War: Defeat at the Battle of Arausio accelerates the Marian reforms of the Roman army of the mid-Republic. * 69 BC – Third Mithridatic War: The military of the Roman Republic subdue Armenia. *A ...

–

Margaret Wilson Margaret Anne Wilson (born 20 May 1947) is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served as Attorney-General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth ...

, American novelist (born

) * October 28 –

Sergio Tofano Sergio Tòfano (20 August 1886 – 28 October 1973) was an Italian actor, director, playwright, scene designer and illustrator. Tofano was born in Rome. In 1909, he made his first appearance on stage with Ermete Novelli, then joined Virgi ...

, Italian dramatist (born

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

) * November 8 –

Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel (18 May 1898 – 8 November 1973) was a leading Turkish poet, author and later politician. Biography Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel was born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, on 18 May 1898. His mother, Fatma Ruhiye, was the d ...

, Turkish poet, author and playwright (born

1898 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...

) *

November 13 Events Pre-1600 * 1002 – English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre. *1093 – Battle of Alnwick: in an English victory over the Scots, Malcolm III of Scotla ...

–

, English novelist (born

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

) * December 7 – Benn Levy, English playwright and politician (born

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

) *

December 9 Events Pre-1600 * 536 – Gothic War: The Byzantine general Belisarius enters Rome unopposed; the Gothic garrison flees the capital. * 730 – Battle of Marj Ardabil: The Khazars annihilate an Umayyad army and kill its commander, ...

– Anthony Gilbert, English crime writer (born 1899) *

December 11 Events Pre-1600 * 220 – Emperor Xian of Han is forced to abdicate the throne by Cao Cao's son Cao Pi, ending the Han dynasty. * 361 – Julian enters Constantinople as sole Roman Emperor. * 861 – Assassination of the Abba ...

–

May Wedderburn Cannan May Wedderburn Cannan (14 October 1893 – 11 December 1973) was a British poet who was active in World War I. Biography Early life May was the second of three daughters of Charles Cannan, Dean of Trinity College, Oxford (he was in charge ...

, English poet (born

) * December 14 – Josef Magnus Wehner, German poet and playwright (born

) *''unknown date'' –

Kathleen Lindsay Kathleen Mary Lindsay (1903-1973), was an English writer of historical romance novels. For some years she held the record as the most prolific novelist in history. According to ''Guinness World Records'' (1986 edition, where they refer to her ...

, English-born South African romance novelist (born

)

Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

Canada

*See 1973 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

: Jacques Chessex, ''L'Ogre'' *

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and . It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent." The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language. In 19 ...

French:

Tony Duvert Tony Duvert (July 2, 1945 – August 2008) was a French writer and philosopher. In the 1970s he achieved some renown, winning the Prix Médicis in 1973 for his novel '' Paysage de Fantaisie''. Duvert's writings are notable both for their styl ...

, ''Paysage de fantaisie'' *

International:

, '' Life Is Elsewhere''

United Kingdom

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

, '' The Siege of Krishnapur'' * Carnegie Medal for

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

: Penelope Lively, '' The Ghost of Thomas Kempe'' *

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has be ...

Patric Dickinson Patric Thomas Dickinson (26 December 1914 – 28 January 1994) was a British poet, translator from the Greek and Latin classics, and playwright. He also worked for the BBC, from 1942 to 1948. His verse play ''Theseus and the Minotaur'' was broad ...

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seve ...

: John Beynon, Ian Caws,

James Fenton James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

, Keith Harris,

David Howarth David Ross Howarth (born 10 November 1958) is a British academic and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 2005–10. He served as an Electoral Commissioner between 2010 and 2018. He is Professor of ...

, Philip Pacey *

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

for fiction:

, ''

'' *

for biography:

Robin Lane Fox Robin James Lane Fox, (born 5 October 1946) is an English classicist, ancient historian, and gardening writer known for his works on Alexander the Great. Lane Fox is an Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford and Reader in Ancient History, U ...

, ''

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

'' *

Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...

: John Heath-Stubbs

United States

* American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry,

John Crowe Ransom John Crowe Ransom (April 30, 1888 – July 3, 1974) was an American educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. He is considered to be a founder of the New Criticism school of literary criticism. As a faculty member at Kenyon ...

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

, '' The Gods Themselves'' *

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of prof ...

, ''

'' *

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

for

: Jean Craighead George, ''

Julie of the Wolves ''Julie of the Wolves'' is a children's novel by Jean Craighead George, published by Harper in 1972 with illustrations by John Schoenherr. Set on the Alaska North Slope, it features a young Inuk girl experiencing the changes forced upon her cultur ...

'' *

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

: Jason Miller, ''

That Championship Season ''That Championship Season'' is a 1972 play by Jason Miller. It was the recipient of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1973 Tony Award for Best Play. Plot synopsis The setting is 1972 at the Coach's home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. O ...

'' *

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published durin ...

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...

, '' The Optimist's Daughter'' *

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

Maxine Kumin Maxine Kumin (June 6, 1925 – February 6, 2014) was an American poet and author. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1981–1982. Biography Early years Maxine Kumin was born Maxine Winokur on June ...

, ''Up Country''

Elsewhere

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1 ...

: No award presented *

Premio Nadal Premio Nadal is a Spanish literary prize awarded annually by the publishing house Ediciones Destino, part of Planeta. It has been awarded every year on 6 January since 1944. The Josep Pla Award for Catalan literature is given at the same ceremo ...

: José García Blázquez, ''El rito'' *

Viareggio Prize The Viareggio Prize ( it, Premio Viareggio, italic=no or ) is an Italian literary prize, first awarded in 1930. Named after the Tuscan city of Viareggio, it was conceived by three friends, , Carlo Salsa and Leonida Rèpaci, to rival the Milanese ...

Achille Campanile Achille Campanile (28 September 1899–4 January 1977) was an Italian writer, playwright, journalist and television critic known for his surreal humour and word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a f ...

, ''Manuale di conversazione''

References

{{Year in literature article categories Years of the 20th century in literature