1887 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1887.

Events

February – Oscar Wilde publishes "The Canterville Ghost", his first short story, in The Court and Society Review.
March 30 – Théâtre Libre, established by André Antoine to promote naturalism in theatre, gives its first performances in Paris, originally as an amateur ensemble.
April 22 – Syracuse University in New York State purchases the Ranke Library from the estate of historian Leopold von Ranke, outbidding the Prussian government.
November – Arthur Conan Doyle's first detective novel, A Study in Scarlet, is published in Beeton's Christmas Annual by Ward Lock & Co. in London, introducing the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler Dr. Watson.
December 5 – The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works comes into effect.
December 15 – The Romanian literary magazine Revista Nouă is launched in Bucharest by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, who answers a request made by Ioan Bianu, Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, Alexandru Vlahuță and others. The first issue, illustrated by George Demetrescu Mirea, hosts Delavrancea's Hagi Tudose and Petre Ispirescu's Sarea în bucate.
unknown dates
*Futabatei Shimei writes and begins to publish The Drifting Cloud, the first modern novel in Japan.
*George Hutchinson establishes Hutchinson & Co. as a publisher in London.
*John Lane and Elkin Mathews set up in partnership under the name The Bodley Head in London, originally as antiquarian booksellers.

New books

Births

January 2 – Dmitrii Milev, Soviet Moldovan shorty story writer and critic
January 7 – Oskar Luts, Estonian author and playwright
January 10 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet
January 22 – Helen Hoyt, American poet
February 1 – Charles Nordhoff, English-born author
February 3 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet
February 4 – Sheila Kaye-Smith, English writer
February 11 – John van Melle, South African writer
February 13 – Géza Csáth, Hungarian writer, and psychiatrist
February 20 – Carl Ebert, German theatre and opera director
March 9 – Ion Buzdugan, Romanian poet and political figure
March 14 – Sylvia Beach, American publisher and memoirist
May 15 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet and translator
May 31 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat, writer and Nobel Prize laureate
June 2 – Orrick Glenday Johns, American poet and playwright
June 25 – George Abbott, American playwright, director and screenwriter
July 1 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-born English scholar, feminist and novelist
July 6 – Walter Flex, German war writer
August 3 – Rupert Brooke, English poet
August 17 – Marcus Garvey, African American publisher, entrepreneur and Pan Africanist
August 28 - István Kühár, Prekmurje Slovene poet, writer and politician
September 1 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss-born French writer
September 8 – Constantin Beldie, Romanian literary promoter and memoirist
September 26 – Edwin Keppel Bennett, British writer
October 1 – Barbu Nemțeanu, Romanian poet and translator
October 22 - John Reed, American journalist and poet
November 10 - Arnold Zweig, German novelist
December 15 – A. de Herz, Romanian playwright and journalist

Deaths

February 10 – Mrs Henry Wood, English novelist
February 11 – François Laurent, Belgian historian
February 19 – Multatuli, Dutch-born writer
February 21 – Elizabeth Caroline Gray, historian and travel author
March 20 – Pavel Annenkov, Russian critic and memoirist
April 23 – John Ceiriog Hughes, Welsh poet and folk song collector
May 4 – William Murdoch, Scottish-born Canadian poet
May 5 – James Grant, Scottish novelist and historian
August 20 – Jules Laforgue, French poet
August 25 – Emma Jane Guyton, English novelist and magazine editor
September 14 – Friedrich Theodor Vischer, German novelist, poet, playwright and art theorist
September 27 – Mikalojus Akelaitis, Lithuanian writer, linguist and publicist
October 12 – Dinah Craik, English novelist and poet
November 2 – Alfred Domett, English-born New Zealand poet and politician
November 19 – Emma Lazarus, American poet
December 5 – Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet

1887 in literature

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths