1887 in literature

• February – Oscar Wilde publishes "The Canterville Ghost", his first short story, in The Court and Society Review.
• March 30 – Théâtre Libre, established by André Antoine to promote naturalism in theatre, gives its first performances in Paris, originally as an amateur ensemble.
• April 22 – Syracuse University in New York State purchases the Ranke Library from the estate of historian Leopold von Ranke, outbidding the Prussian government.
• November – Arthur Conan Doyle's first detective novel, A Study in Scarlet, is published in Beeton's Christmas Annual by Ward Lock & Co. in London, introducing the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler Dr. Watson (illustrated by D. H. Friston).
• December 5 – The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886) comes into effect.
• December 15 – The Romanian literary magazine Revista Nouă is launched in Bucharest by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, who answers a request made by Ioan Bianu, Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, Alexandru Vlahuță and others. The first issue, illustrated by George Demetrescu Mirea, hosts Delavrancea's Hagi Tudose and Petre Ispirescu's Sarea în bucate[1] (a localized folkloric version of the King Leir myth).[2]

Uncertain date

• Futabatei Shimei writes and begins to publish The Drifting Cloud (浮雲, Ukigumo), the first modern novel in Japan.
• George Hutchinson establishes Hutchinson & Co. as a publisher in London.
• John Lane and Elkin Mathews set up in partnership under the name The Bodley Head in London, originally as antiquarian booksellers.

• January 7 – Oskar Luts, Estonian author and playwright (died 1953)
• February 1 – Charles Nordhoff, English-born author (died 1947)
• February 3 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (died of overdose 1914)
• February 11 – John van Melle, South African writer (died 1953)
• February 18 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek poet (died 1957)
• March 3 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (died 1915)
• March 9 – Ion Buzdugan, Romanian poet and political figure (died 1967)
• March 14 – Sylvia Beach (Nancy Woodbridge Beach), American publisher and memoirist (died 1962)
• May 15 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet and translator (died 1959)
• June 2 – Orrick Glenday Johns, American poet and playwright (died 1946)
• July 1 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-born English scholar, feminist and novelist (died 1981)
• September 1 – Blaise Cendrars (Frédéric-Louis Sauser), Swiss-born French writer (died 1961)
• September 8 – Constantin Beldie, Romanian literary promoter and memoirist (died 1954)
• October 1 – Barbu Nemțeanu, Romanian poet and translator (died 1919)
• December 15 – A. de Herz, Romanian playwright and journalist (died 1936)

• February 10 – Mrs Henry Wood (Ellen Wood), English novelist (born 1814)
• February 19 – Multatuli (Eduard Douwes Dekker), Dutch-born writer (born 1820)
• April 23 – John Ceiriog Hughes, Welsh poet and folk song collector (born 1832)
• May 4 – William Murdoch, Scottish-born Canadian poet (born 1823)
• August 20 – Jules Laforgue, French poet (born 1860)
• August 25 – Emma Jane Guyton (Worboise), English novelist and magazine editor (born 1825)
• October 12 – Dinah Craik, English novelist and poet (born 1826)
• November 2 – Alfred Domett, English-born New Zealand poet and politician (born 1811)
• November 19 – Emma Lazarus, American poet (born 1849)
• December 5 – Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (born 1804)

Uncertain date

• Frances Browne, Irish poet and novelist (born 1816)