1905 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1905.

Events

January–September – L. Frank Baum's Animal Fairy Tales appear in The Delineator magazine.
January 5 – Baroness Emma Orczy's play The Scarlet Pimpernel, adapted by Julia Neilson and Fred Terry, who play the leads, makes its London debut at the New Theatre, followed shortly by publication of the novel.
January 16 – Neil Munro begins publishing his Vital Spark stories in the Glasgow Evening News.
February – Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle begins serialization in the American socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason.
May 10 – The first stage performance in England of Oscar Wilde's tragedy Salome takes place privately at the New Stage Club of the Bijou Theatre, Victoria Hall, Archer Street, Westbourne Grove, London, with Millicent Murby in the title role, directed by Florence Farr. The author died in 1900.
July – Beatrix Potter becomes engaged to her editor Norman Warne, but on August 25 he dies unexpectedly of pernicious anemia. Soon after she completes the purchase of a Lake District home, Hill Top.
July 15 – Popular fictional gentleman thief Arsène Lupin is introduced by Maurice Leblanc in the first of a series of short stories serialized in the French magazine Je sais tout, "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin".
October 13 – The English actor-manager Sir Henry Irving collapses in his hotel, while playing Thomas Becket on tour in Bradford, dying soon afterwards.
October 15 – The weekly full-color comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, by Winsor McCay, makes its first appearance in the New York Herald.
December 10 – O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi" first appears as "Gifts of the Magi" in The New York Sunday World.
December 15 – Pushkin House is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the heritage of Alexander Pushkin.
unknown dates
*The first of many chapters of I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki is published serially in Hototogisu. It begins in military style: "I, sir, am a cat, though as yet I have no name...." and explores a family in which the English-teacher husband cannot speak English.
*The group Noor-Eesti is formed to promote Estonian national awakening in language and literature.
*The National Library of Thailand is created as the Vajirayanana Library for the Capital City in Bangkok, with the merger of the Mandira Dharma Vajirayanana and Buddhasasana Sangaha libraries by royal decree.
*Belle da Costa Greene, aged 22, is appointed as librarian to J. P. Morgan in New York City.

New books

Births

January 2 – Jainendra Kumar, Indian author and translator
January 6 – Idris Davies, Anglo-Welsh poet
January 21 – Wanda Wasilewska, Polish Soviet novelist and journalist
January 25 – Margery Sharp, English novelist and children's writer
January 31
*Angelina Acuña, Guatemalan poet and author
*John O'Hara, American writer
February 2
*John Davy Hayward, English literary editor and bibliophile
*Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist, playwright and screenwriter
February 7 – Paul Nizan, French philosopher and writer
February 15 – Musa Cälil, Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter
February 26 – Robert Byron, English travel writer
March 2 – Geoffrey Grigson, English poet and critic
March 23 – Joseph Henry Reason, African-American librarian
March 31 – Kulap Saipradit, Thai novelist
April 30 – Leslie Paul, Anglo-Irish novelist
May 1 – Emmanuel Mounier, French philosopher, journalist and theologian
May 16 – H. E. Bates, English novelist
May 20 – Gerrit Achterberg, Dutch poet
May 24 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Soviet Russian novelist
June 20 – Lillian Hellman, American dramatist
June 21
*Jacques Goddet, French sports journalist
*Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, novelist and playwright
July 25
*Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born novelist and playwright writing in German
*Denys Watkins-Pitchford, English children's writer
August 14 – Ștefan Tita, Romanian polygraph and journalist activist
September 4 – Mary Renault, British novelist
September 5 – Arthur Koestler, Hungarian-born English novelist and social philosopher
October 15 – C. P. Snow, English novelist
October 17 – Lev Nussimbaum, Russian and Azerbaijani novelist
October 31 – Elizabeth Jenkins, English author
November 10 – Kurt Eggers, German writer, poet, songwriter and playwright
November 25 – Samiha Ayverdi, Turkish writer and Sufi mystic
December 4 – Munro Leaf, American children's author
December 12
*Mulk Raj Anand, Indian novelist
*Vasily Grossman, Russian novelist and writer
December 13 – Ann Barzel, American writer and dance critic
December 21 – Anthony Powell, English novelist
December 22 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet and critic
December 30 – Daniil Kharms, born Daniil Ivánovich Yuvatchov, Russian surrealist, children's writer, absurdist poet, short prose author and dramatist
Unknown date – Culai Neniu, Moldovan folklorist and dramatist

Deaths

January 2 – Clara Augusta Jones Trask, American writer and dime novelist
January 19 – Debendranath Tagore, Hindu philosopher and religious reformer
January 21 – Clara Harrison Stranahan, American author; founder of Barnard College
January 28 – Cordelia A. Greene, American physician, reformer, benefactor
February 15 – Lew Wallace, American novelist and general
February 26 – Marcel Schwob, French writer
March 20 – Antonin Proust, French journalist and politician
March 24 – Jules Verne, French novelist
April 9 – Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, American children's writer
April 18 – Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano, Spanish realist novelist
May 23 – Mary Livermore, American journalist and women's rights activist
July 13 – Lisa Anne Fletcher, American poet, correspondent
August 14 – Gertrude Bloede, American poet
August 22 – David Binning Monro, Scottish Homeric scholar
September 18 – George MacDonald, Scottish poet, writer and minister
October 3 – José-Maria de Heredia, French poet
October 6 – Hibbard H. Shedd, American politician and novelist
October 13 – Sir Henry Irving, English actor
October 28 – Alphonse Allais, French humorist
November 30 – Susannah V. Aldrich, American author and hymnwriter
December 3 – John Bartlett, American lexicographer and publisher
December 9 – Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb, Scottish classicist and politician
December 11 – Paul Meurice, French novelist and playwright
December 12 – William Sharp, Scottish poet, biographer and novelist
December 20 – Henry Harland, American novelist and editor
December 29 – Victor Daley, Australian poet

Awards

Newdigate Prize: Arthur Robert Reade, "Garibaldi"
Nobel Prize for Literature: Henryk Sienkiewicz

1905 in literature

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards