1956 in literature - Definition

See also: 1955 in literature, other events of 1956, 1957 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person to ever win the Prix Goncourt twice.

• Finished in 1952, Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street), is first published.

New Books

• Aniara (poetry) - Harry Martinson
• Auntie Mame - Patrick Dennis
• Boon Island - Kenneth Roberts
• Cairo Trilogy - Naguib Mahfouz
• A Certain Smile - Françoise Sagan
• Diamonds Are Forever - Ian Fleming
• Don't Go Near the Water - William Brinkley
• Eloise - Kay Thompson
• The Fall (La Chute) - Albert Camus
• Heike Story - Yoshikawa Eiji
• Howl and Other Poems - Allen Ginsberg
• The Last Battle - C. S. Lewis
• The Last Hurrah - Edwin O'Connor
• The Last of the Wine - Mary Renault
• The Mandarins - Simone de Beauvoir
• Minority Report - Philip K. Dick
• Misty of Chincoteague - Marguerite Henry
• The Mysterious North - Pierre Berton
• The Naked Sun - Isaac Asimov
• The Nun's Story - Kathryn Hulme
• Palace Walk - Naguib Mahfouz
• Peyton Place - Grace Metalious
• Les racines du ciel - Romain Gary
• Seize the Day - Saul Bellow
• The Sweet Science - A. J. Liebling
• - C. S. Lewis
• The Tribe That Lost Its Head - Nicholas Monsarrat
• - Norman Mailer

Births

• January 2 - Storm Constantine
• June 9 - Patricia Cornwell

Deaths

• January 31 - A.A. Milne
• January 31 - George Bush

Awards

• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Jean Lee Latham, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
• Nobel Prize for literature: Juan Ramón Jiménez
• Prix Goncourt: Romain Gary for Les racines du ciel
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, Diary of Anne Frank
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: MacKinlay Kantor - Andersonville
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop: Poems - North & South