1943 in literature

• Bertolt Brecht
• *The Good Person of Szechwan
• *Life of Galileo
• Albert Camus – The Misunderstanding
• Moss Hart – Winged Victory
• Frank Harvey – Brighton Rock
• Fritz Hochwälder – Das Heilige Experiment
• Esther McCracken – Living Room
• Elena Miramova – Dark Eyes
• M. J. Molloy – Old Road
• Armijn Pane – Kami, Perempuan
• J. B. Priestley – They Came to a City
• Terence Rattigan - While the Sun Shines
• Nelson Rodrigues – Vestido de Noiva
• Jean-Paul Sartre – The Flies
• Ben Travers – She Follows Me About
• Emlyn Williams – The Druid's Rest
• Yang Jiang – As You Desire

Non-fiction

• Georges Bataille – L'Expérience intérieure
• James Burnham – The Managerial Revolution
• Julius Evola – The Doctrine of Awakening
• Katharine Butler Hathaway – The Little Locksmith
• Louis Hjelmslev – Prolegomena to a Theory of Language
• C. S. Lewis – The Abolition of Man
• John Neal – Observations on American Art: Selections from the Writings of John Neal
• Reinhold Niebuhr – The Nature and Destiny of Man
• Martin Noth – Uberlieferungsgeschischtliche Studien: Die sammelnden und bearbeitenden Geschichtswerke im Alten Testament
• N. Porsenna – Visul Profetic
• Jean-Paul Sartre – Being and Nothingness
• J. A. Schumpeter – Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
• I. C. Vissarion – Energie mecanică în lumea în care ne găsim
• Edna Walling – Gardens in Australia
• William Foote Whyte – Street Corner Society
• Stefan Zweig – ''The World of Yesterday''

Births

• January 4
• *Doris Kearns Goodwin, American political biographer
• *Hwang Sok-yong, Korean novelist
• *Jesús Torbado, Spanish novelist
• *Priit Vesilind, Estonian-American author and photographer
• January 6 – Francis M. Nevins, American mystery writer, biographer, film historian and law professor
• January 8 – Charles Murray, American political science writer
• January 11 – Jim Hightower, American radio host and author
• January 13 – Lorna Sage, English scholar and biographer
• January 22 – Wilhelm Genazino, German writer
• February 8 – Pirzada Qasim, Pakistani poet and academic
• February 15 – Elke Heidenreich, German journalist and writer
• February 16 – Graham Lord, Rhodesian-born English literary biographer and novelist
• February 18 – Graeme Garden, Scottish-born writer, comedian and actor
• February 21 – Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Russian fiction writer
• February 22 – Terry Eagleton, English scholar and publicist
• February 27 – Sheila Rowbotham, English feminist author
• March 2 – Peter Straub, American novelist and poet
• March 26 – Bob Woodward, American journalist
• March 28 – Oľga Feldeková, Slovak writer
• April 6 – Max Clifford, English publicist
• April 17 – Gwynne Dyer, Canadian journalist
• April 22 – Louise Glück, American poet, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature
• April 30 – Paul Jennings, English-born Australian children's author
• May 5 – Michael Palin, English comedy writer and television broadcaster
• May 7 – Peter Carey, Australian novelist
• May 8 – Pat Barker, English novelist
• May 20 – Justin Cartwright, South African-born novelist
• May 26 – James Carlos Blake, American writer
• June 7
• *Nikki Giovanni, American author, poet and educator
• *Michael Pennington, English writer, actor and director
• June 10 – Simon Jenkins, English journalist
• June 15 – Xaviera Hollander, Dutch East Indies-born writer
• July 14 – Christopher Priest, English novelist
• July 16 – Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban writer
• August 2 – Rose Tremain, English novelist
• August 30 – Robert Crumb, American cartoonist
• September 12 – Michael Ondaatje, Ceylonese-born Canadian novelist and poet
• September 24 – Antonio Tabucchi, Italian writer, academic and translator
• October 5 – Michael Morpurgo, English children's writer
• October 8 - R. L. Stine, American novelist
• October 9 – L. E. Modesitt, Jr., American fantasy and science fiction writer
• October 17 – Laila al-Othman, Kuwaiti writer
• November 5 – Sam Shepard, American playwright, writer and actor
• November 6 – Berlie Doherty, English children's and young-adults' writer
• November 7 – Stephen Greenblatt, American Shakespeare scholar
• November 12 – Wallace Shawn, American actor and dramatist
• December 9
• *Michael Krüger, German writer, publisher and translator
• *Joanna Trollope, English novelist
• unknown dates
• *Christine Evans, Welsh poet in English
• *Vicki Feaver, English poet and academic
• *Hadrawi, Somali poet
• *Ebrahim Hussein, Tanzanian playwright in Swahili

Deaths

• January 3 – F. M. Cornford, English classicist and poet
• January 9 – R. G. Collingwood, English philosopher and historian
• January 13 – Else Ury, German children's fiction writer
• February 1 – Lola Szereszewska, Polish-Jewish poet and journalist
• March 10 – Laurence Binyon, English poet and scholar
• March 13 – Stephen Vincent Benét, American author
• April 7 – Jovan Dučić, Herzegovina Serb poet and diplomat
• April 29 – Sidney Keyes, English poet
• April 30 – Beatrice Webb, English sociologist, economist and social reformer
• May 27 – Arthur Mee, English encyclopedist and writer
• May 29 – Guido Mazzoni, Italian poet
• June 17 – Annie S. Swan, Scottish novelist and journalist
• June 28 – Frida Uhl, Austrian writer and translator
• July 18 – Miyake Kaho, Japanese novelist, essayist and poet
• c. August 8 – Haig Acterian, Romanian poet, dramatist and journalist
• August 12 – Kurt Eggers, Nazi German writer, poet, songwriter and playwright
• August 21 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish novelist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature
• August 22 – Virgilio Dávila, Puerto Rican poet and politician
• August 24 – Simone Weil, French philosopher
• October 3 – Ida Lee, Australian historian and poet
• October 7 – Radclyffe Hall, English novelist and poet
• November 19 – Georg Hermann, German fiction writer
• November 27 – Louis Esson, Australian poet and playwright
• November 30 – Etty Hillesum, Dutch correspondent and diarist
• December 2
• *Drummond Allison, English poet
• *Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian poet and author
• December 22 – Beatrix Potter, English children's writer and illustrator

Awards

• Frost Medal: Edna St. Vincent Millay
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Mary Lavin, Tales from Bective Bridge
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: G. G. Coulton, Fourscore Years
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Elizabeth Janet Gray, Adam of the Road
• Nobel Prize in Literature: not awarded
• Prix Goncourt: Marius Grout, Passage de l'Homme
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Thornton Wilder, The Skin of Our Teeth
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Frost: A Witness Tree
• Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Upton Sinclair – ''Dragon's Teeth''