1931 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1931.

Events

• January 10 – A rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Other Poems together with first editions of The Scarlet Letter and Moby-Dick, are stolen from the New York Public Library by Samuel Dupree acting on behalf of crooked New York antiquarian book dealer Harry Gold.^[1]
• January 26 – Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs' play Green Grow the Lilacs opens in New York on Broadway. It will later be adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein as Oklahoma!^[2]
• April – Gerald Brenan and Gamel Woolsey make a form of marriage in Rome.
• June 1 – Near v. Minnesota decided in the Supreme Court of the United States affirms the principle that prior restraint is unconstitutional.
• July 4 – James Joyce marries his long-time partner Nora Barnacle at Kensington register office in London.
• October 4 – First appearance of the Dick Tracy comic strip, created by cartoonist Chester Gould.^[3]
• The publisher Hamish Hamilton is founded by Jamie Hamilton in London.
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is banned in Hunan, China, for anthropomorphism.^[4]
• The Marquis de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom (Les 120 journées de Sodome), written in 1785, begins its first publication in a scholarly edition as a literary text.

New books

Births

• January 6
  • E. L. Doctorow, American author (died 2015)
  • P. J. Kavanagh, English poet, novelist, lecturer, actor, broadcaster and columnist (died 2015)
• January 9 – Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American science fiction author (died 2008)
• January 10 – Peter Barnes, English playwright (died 2004)
• January 17 – Mark Brandis (Nikolai von Michalewsky), German journalist and science fiction author (died 2000)
• January 24 – Leonard Baker, American historian and Pulitzer-winning author (died 1984)
• January 27
  • John Hopkins, English screenwriter (died 1998)
  • Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (died 2001)
  • Allan W. Eckert, American historian and novelist (died 2011)
  • Shirley Hazzard, Australian author (died 2016)
• February 9 – Thomas Bernhard, Dutch-born Austrian author (died 1989)
• February 11 – Larry Merchant, American author and boxing commentator
• February 12 – Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch-American crime writer (died 2008)
• February 18
  • Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (died 2007)
  • Toni Morrison, American writer and Nobel Prize winner
• February 19 – Robert Sobel, American business writer (died 1999)
• March 2 – Tom Wolfe, American novelist (died 2018)
• March 16 – Augusto Boal, Brazilian theater director and writer (died 2009)
• March 22 – Leslie Thomas, Welsh novelist (died 2014)
• March 26 – Alison Prince, English-born Scottish children's writer and illustrator
• April 1 – Rolf Hochhuth, German dramatist
• April 15 – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet and translator (died 2015)
• April 21 – Gabriel de Broglie, French historian
• April 29 – Robert Gottlieb, American editor
• June 12 – Robin Cook (Derek Raymond), English crime novelist (died 1994)
• June 21 – Patricia Goedicke, American poet (died 2006)
• July 4 – Sébastien Japrisot, French novelist and screenwriter (died 2003)
• July 7 – David Eddings, American novelist (died 2009)
• July 10
  • Nick Adams, American screenwriter (died 1968)
  • Julian May, American science fiction author
  • Alice Munro, Canadian short story writer
• August 2 – Karl Miller, British writer and literary editor (died 2014)
• August 12 – William Goldman, American author
• August 14 – Frederic Raphael, American-born English screenwriter, novelist and non-fiction author
• September 14 – Ivan Klíma, Czech novelist and dramatist
• September 22
  • Ashokamitran (Jagadisa Thyagarajan), Indian fiction writer (died 2017)
  • Fay Weldon, English novelist
• October 8 – Dennis Silk, American-born English writer on literature and cricket, and first-class cricketer
• October 13 – Janice Elliott, English novelist and children's writer (died 1995)
• October 19 – John le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell), English spy novelist
• November 3 – Arun Sarma, Assamese playwright and novelist (died 2017)
• November 18 – Nikoloz Janashia, Georgian historian (died 1982)

Deaths

• January 26 – Graça Aranha, Brazilian diplomat and writer (born 1868)
• March 27 – Arnold Bennett, English novelist (born 1867)
• April 4 – André Michelin, French originator of Michelin Guides (born 1853)
• April 10 – Khalil Gibran, Lebanese-born American poet (born 1883)
• June 29 – Nérée Beauchemin, French-Canadian poet (born 1850)
• July 2 – Harald Høffding, Danish philosopher (born 1843)
• August 1 – Bertha McNamara, German-born Australian pamphleteer and bookseller (born 1853)
• August 15 – Delfín Chamorro, Spanish poet and language teacher (born 1863)
• August 27 – Frank Harris, Irish-born American author and editor (born 1856)
• August 31 – Hall Caine, Manx novelist and dramatist (born 1853)
• October 13 – Ernst Didring, Swedish novelist (born 1868)
• October 21 – Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian dramatist (born 1862)
• November 3 – Juan Zorrilla de San Martín, Uruguayan epic poet (born 1855)
• November 5 – Ole Edvart Rolvaag, Norwegian American writer (born 1876)
• November 19 – Xu Zhimo (徐志摩), Chinese poet (air accident, born 1897)
• December 10 – Enrico Corradini, Italian novelist, essayist and journalist (born 1865)
• December 26 – Melvil Dewey, American inventor of library classification system (born 1851)
• December 27 – Alfred Perceval Graves, Irish author and collector of songs and ballads (born 1846)
• December 31 – Ieronim Yasinsky, Russian writer, poet and essayist (born 1850

Awards

• Chancellor's Gold Medal: Robert Gittings
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Kate O'Brien, Without My Cloak
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: J. Y. R. Greig, David Hume
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Elizabeth Coatsworth, The Cat Who Went to Heaven
• Nobel Prize for literature – Erik Axel Karlfeldt
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Susan Glaspell, Alison's House
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Frost: Collected Poems
• Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Margaret Ayer Barnes – Years of Grace

References