1582 in literature

Events

• February – Meleager, a Latin play on the mythological figure of Meleager by "Gulielmus Gagerus", is performed by members of Christ Church, Oxford.
• November 29 – Marriage of William Shakespeare, 18 years old, to 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, perhaps at Temple Grafton in England. It will be a decade before he emerges on the London theatrical scene.
• Publication in England of the first part of Richard Mulcaster's textbook on the teaching of English, the ''" in regularized spelling.
• Earliest reference to the publishing of private newspapers in Beijing.

New books

Prose

• Robert Bellarmine – Disputationes de Controversiis
• George Buchanan – Rerum Scoticarum Historia
• Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx – Balet comique de la Royne
• "Douay–Rheims Bible", New Testament
• Richard Hakluyt – Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America
• John Leland –
• Anthony Munday – ''English Romayne Lyfe''

Drama

• Anonymous – The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune
• Miguel de Cervantes – El cerco de Numancia
• William Gager – Meleager
• Giovanni Battista Guarini – ''Il pastor fido''

Poetry

Births

• January 6 – Alonso de Contreras, Spanish adventurer and writer
• January 28 – John Barclay, Scottish satirist and poet
• February 6 – Mario Bettinus, Italian philosopher
• April 8 – Phineas Fletcher, English poet
• October 17 – Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran theologian
• November 21 – François Maynard, French poet
• Unknown dates
• *Giovanni Francesco Abela, Maltese writer
• *Richard Corbet, English poet and bishop
• *William Lithgow, Scottish traveller and author

Deaths

• January 26 – Thomas Platter, Swiss humanist writer
• July/August – Jacques Pelletier du Mans, French humanist poet
• September 28 – George Buchanan, Scottish historian
• October 4 – Teresa of Ávila, Spanish mystical writer
• Unknown dates
• *Arnoldus Arlenius, Dutch humanist philosopher and poet
• *Natalis Comes, Italian mythographer, poet and historian
• *Jobus Fincelius, German humanist writer