1944 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1944.

Events

February 6 – The première of Jean Anouilh's tragedy Antigone takes place at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Nazi-occupied Paris.
March 19 – The première of Pablo Picasso's play Desire Caught by the Tail is a private reading in Paris by the author that includes Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Valentine Hugo and Raymond Queneau directed by Albert Camus.
May – The première of Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist drama Huis Clos is held at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Nazi-occupied Paris.
June 1 and 5 – The first and second lines respectively of Paul Verlaine's 1866 poem Chanson d'automne are broadcast by the Allies over BBC Radio Londres among coded messages to the French Resistance to prepare for the D-Day landings.
June
*D-Day landings and Invasion of Normandy: The English soldier-poet Keith Douglas is killed; William Golding commands Landing Craft Tank (Rocket) 460 at Gold Beach; Vernon Scannell experiences the incident that gives rise to the poem "Walking Wounded" and is wounded; J. D. Salinger, having landed on Utah Beach, works on an early version of The Catcher in the Rye during lulls in the fighting; Dennis B. Wilson writes the poem that appears as Elegy of a Common Soldier in 2012; Kingsley Amis and John Wyndham serve as signallers; Alexander Baron's experiences of the invasion form the basis of his novel From the City, From the Plough.
*The final edition of the Breton nationalist newspaper L'Heure Bretonne is published.
August – With the Liberation of Paris, Jean Genet's novel Notre Dame des Fleurs can begin to circulate openly.
September 14 – Laurence Olivier takes the title rôle in the production of Richard III that opens at The Old Vic in London.
October
*The contents of the Załuski Library are destroyed during the planned destruction of Warsaw by its Nazi occupiers.
*The teenage Günter Grass, having volunteered for active service, is drafted into the Waffen-SS.
October 2
*After a few months' internment at Drancy and Birkenau, Benjamin Fondane is one of 700 prisoners put to death in the gas chamber – the last such killings before Birkenau is evacuated. Upon selection, Fondane is heard joking about the irony of his misfortune.
*Dylan Thomas is to be best man at the wedding of a friend and fellow Welsh poet, Vernon Watkins, in London, but fails to turn up.
November 9 – Collaborationist Georges Suarez becomes the first journalist executed during the épuration légale in France.
November 22 – Laurence Olivier's film of Henry V is released in the UK, and is the first film of a Shakespeare play to be produced in colour.
November 23 – Arthur Miller's play The Man Who Had All the Luck has its Broadway première at the Forrest Theatre in New York City, but runs for only four performances.
December 26 – Tennessee Williams' semi-autobiographical "memory play" The Glass Menagerie, adapted from a short story, is premièred at the Civic Theatre in Chicago.
unknown date – The English actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal arrives in India for the first time with the Entertainments National Service Association, touring Patrick Hamilton's drama Gaslight; from 1947 Kendal's touring repertory company "Shakespeareana" will perform Shakespeare in towns and villages across India for some decades.

New books

Births

January 8 – Terry Brooks, American writer of fantasy fiction
January 17 – Jan Guillou, Swedish author
January 21 – Jack Abbott, American writer
January 24 – David Gerrold, American screenwriter and novelist
February 7 – Witi Ihimaera, New Zealand Māori writer
February 9 – Alice Walker, American novelist and poet
February 11 – Joy Williams, American fiction writer
February 14
*Carl Bernstein, American journalist
*Alan Parker, English director and writer
February 16 – Richard Ford, American novelist
February 18 – Elizabeth Nunez, Trinidadian-born American novelist
February 27
*Ken Grimwood, American writer
*Roger Scruton, English philosopher and writer
April 18 – Kathy Acker, American postmodernist experimental novelist and punk poet
April 25 – Mohammed ben Abdallah, Ghanaian playwright
May 13 – Armistead Maupin, American novelist
May 17 – Uldis Bērziņš, Latvian poet and translator
May 18 – W. G. Sebald, German novelist
June 5
*John Fraser, Canadian journalist
*Nigel Rees, English writer and broadcaster
June 9 - Jeanne DuPrau, American writer
July 21 – Buchi Emecheta, Nigerian-born novelist and children's writer
August 10 – Barbara Erskine, English novelist
August 18 – Paula Danziger, American young adult novelist
August 19 – Bodil Malmsten, Swedish writer
August 22 – Tom Leonard, Scottish dialect poet
August 30 – Molly Ivins, American journalist
September 19 – Ismet Özel, Turkish poet
September 24 – Eavan Boland, Irish poet
October 2 – Vernor Vinge, American science fiction novelist
October 5 – Tomás de Jesús Mangual, Puerto Rican journalist
November 7 – Peter Wilby, English journalist
November 24 – Eintou Pearl Springer, Trinidadian poet
November 28 – Rita Mae Brown, American writer and political activist
December 1 – Tahar Ben Jelloun, French Moroccan-born novelist
December 2 – Botho Strauß, German writer and dramatist
December 9 – Ki Longfellow, American novelist
December 15 – Elizabeth Arnold, English children's writer
December 17 – Jack L. Chalker, American science fiction novelist
December 21 – James Sallis, American crime novelist
unknown dates
*Ishtiaq Ahmad, prolific Urdu-language espionage fiction writer
*Margaret Busby, Ghanaian-born British publisher
*Shena Mackay, Scottish-born novelist
*Patrick O'Connell, Canadian poet

Deaths

January 6 – Ida Tarbell, American journalist
January 7 – Napoleon Lapathiotis, Greek lawyer and poet
January 8 – Joseph Jastrow, Polish American psychologist
January 15– Armand Praviel, French poet, novelist, and journalist
January 31 – Jean Giraudoux, French dramatist
February – David Vogel, Hebrew poet
February 2 – Jane Agnes Stewart, American author, editor, and contributor to periodicals
February 9 – Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux, English-born poet, biographer and novelist
February 10 – Israel Joshua Singer, Yiddish novelist
February 12 – Olive Custance, Lady Alfred Douglas, English poet
February 23 – Augusta Peaux, Dutch poet
March 5
*Max Jacob, French poet and critic
*Alun Lewis, Welsh war poet
March 11 – Irvin S. Cobb, American writer
March 28 – Stephen Leacock, English-born Canadian humorous writer and economist
April 21 – Florence Trail, American educator and author
May 3 – Anica Černej, Slovenian poet
May 12
*Max Brand, American Western, pulp fiction and screenwriter
*Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, English author and critic
May 16 – George Ade, American journalist and dramatist
May 24 – Harold Bell Wright, American writer
June – Joseph Campbell, Northern Irish poet
June 9 – Keith Douglas, English war poet
June 13 – Elizabeth Wharton Drexel, American socialite and author
June 16 – Marc Bloch, French historian
July 31 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French pilot and writer
August 1 – Jean Prévost, French writer, journalist and member of the Maquis
August 13 – Ethel Lina White, Welsh-born English crime novelist
August 18 – Jacques Roumain, Haitian writer and politician
August 25 – Musa Cälil, Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter
September 4 – Margery Williams, English-born American children's writer
September 13 – W. Heath Robinson, English cartoonist and illustrator
October 2 – Benjamin Fondane, Romanian-born French poet, playwright and critic
October 8 – Elsa Lindberg-Dovlette, Swedish writer of harem stories
October 19 – Karel Poláček, Czech writer, humorist and journalist
October 29 – Stephen Hudson, English novelist, translator and arts patron
November 15 – Edith Durham, English travel writer
December 2 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian poet, art theorist and Futurist writer
December 17 – Robert Nichols, English poet and dramatist
December 30 – Romain Rolland, French author and Nobel laureate

Awards

Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Eric Linklater, The Wind on the Moon
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Forrest Reid, Young Tom
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: C. V. Wedgwood, William the Silent
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain
Nobel Prize in Literature: Johannes V. Jensen
Premio Nadal : Carmen Laforet, Nada
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Stephen Vincent Benét, Western Star
Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Martin Flavin, Journey in the Dark
Shelley Memorial Award for Poetry: E. E. Cummings

1944 in literature

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards