1956 in literature
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
- Andersonville - MacKinlay Kantor
- 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
- Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold - C. S. Lewis
- The Tribe That Lost Its Head - Nicholas Monsarrat
- The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster - Norman Mailer
Births
Deaths
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