1951 in literature

• January – The American writer Flannery O'Connor is diagnosed with lupus at the age of 25.
• January 12 – Janie Moore, C. S. Lewis' so-called adoptive mother, dies.[1]
• March 12 – Hank Ketcham's U.S. Dennis the Menace appears for the first time in 16 United States newspapers.
• March 17 – The homonymous U.K. Dennis the Menace comic strip first appears in the children's comic The Beano.
• Spring – Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", which will form a basis for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and a subsequent novel, is published as "Sentinel of Eternity" in the only issue ever produced of the American science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine 10 Story Fantasy.
• May – Joe Orton enters the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he meets his lover and ultimate murderer Kenneth Halliwell.
• July 16 – J. D. Salinger's coming-of-age story The Catcher in the Rye is published by Little, Brown and Company in New York City.
• September 6 – William S. Burroughs shoots and kills his common-law wife Joan Vollmer in Mexico City.
• December 16 – Noël Coward leaves his home, White Cliffs, on the south coast of England, having sold it to Ian Fleming.[2]

Uncertain dates

• E. E. Cummings and Rachel Carson are awarded Guggenheim Fellowships.
• Janet Frame's first book, The Lagoon and Other Stories, is published by the Caxton Press (New Zealand) (dated 1952) while the author is a patient in Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, Seacliff, New Zealand. It is awarded the Hubert Church Memorial Award, at the time one of New Zealand's most prestigious literary prizes. This results in the cancellation of Frame's scheduled lobotomy.
• Béla Hamvas completes his epic novel Karnevál. He is banned from publication in Hungary at the time, so that it will appear only in 1985, 17 years after his death.
• Frank Hardy is tried and cleared of criminal libel in Australia for his self-published, 1950 roman à clef on corruption in Melbourne life, Power Without Glory.
• The first novel in Anthony Powell's set of twelve, A Dance to the Music of Time, is published by Heinemann in the U.K.
• The custom of performing medieval mystery plays is revived at York and Chester, England.
• The Théâtre national de la Colline in Paris is founded.

• January 1 – Ashfaq Hussain, Urdu poet
• January 13 – Nigel Cox, New Zealand novelist
• January 22 – Steve J. Spears, Australian actor, singer, and playwright (died 2007)
• February 13 – Katja Lange-Müller, German novelist
• February 17 – Jagadish Mohanty, Indian novelist (died 2013)
• March 4 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, South Korean-born novelist and artist (died 1982)
• March 12 – Susan Musgrave, Canadian poet and children's writer
• April 5 – Guy Vanderhaeghe, Canadian author
• April 19 – Pierre Lemaitre, French suspense novelist
• May 3 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian novelist, essayist and TV presenter
• May 9
  • Christopher Dewdney, Canadian poet
  • Joy Harjo, Native American poet
• May 15 – David Almond, English writer for children and young adults
• May 20 – Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist, writer and broadcaster (died 2020)[3]
• May 21 – Al Franken, American comedian, actor, writer and politician
• June 15 – Amir Barghashi, Iranian-born Swedish actor and dramatist[4]
• June 22 – Rosario Murillo, Nicaraguan poet and political activist
• June 29 – Don Rosa, American writer and artist of Disney comics
• August 20 – Greg Bear, American science fiction writer
• August 24 – Orson Scott Card, American science fiction writer
• September 20 – Javier Marías, Spanish novelist
• September 29 – Andrés Caicedo, Colombian novelist and cinema critic (suicide 1977)
• October 3 – Bernard Cooper, American writer
• October 11 – Louise Rennison, English author and comedian (died 2016)[5]
• October 12 – Peter Flannery, English dramatist
• October 17 – Clark Parent, Haitian novelist, musician and politician
• December 6 – Tomson Highway, Canadian and Cree playwright, novelist and children's author
• December 8 – Bill Bryson, American travel writer
• December 22 – Charles de Lint, Canadian fantasy author and Celtic folk musician

Uncertain date

• Carol Birch, English novelist

• January 7 – René Guénon, French philosophical writer (born 1886)
• January 10 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist (born 1885)
• January 29 – James Bridie, Scottish dramatist (born 1888)
• February 13 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (born 1877)
• February 16 – Henri-René Lenormand, French dramatist (born 1882)
• February 19 – André Gide, French author (born 1869)
• February 28 – Vsevolod Vishnevsky, Russian dramatist and screenwriter (born 1900)
• March 25 – Oscar Micheaux, African American author, film director and producer (born 1884)
• April 3 – Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian poet and dramatist (born 1890)
• April 9 – Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian-born novelist (born 1903; suicide)
• April 29 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (born 1889)
• June 10 – Håkon Evjenth, Norwegian children's writer (born 1894)
• June 11 – W. C. Sellar, Scottish humorist (born 1898)
• August 14 – William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper tycoon (born 1863)
• August 18 – Richard Malden, English editor, classical and Biblical scholar, and ghost story writer (born 1879)
• August 31 – Abraham Cahan, American Jewish journalist and novelist (born 1860)
• September 2 – Antoine Bibesco, Romanian dramatist (born 1878)
• September 7 – F. G. Loring, English writer and naval officer (born 1869)
• September 28 – Petre P. Negulescu, Romanian philosopher (born 1870)
• November 27 – Timrava (Božena Slančíková), Slovak novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1867)
• December 4 – Pedro Salinas, Spanish poet (born 1891)
• December 10 – Algernon Blackwood, English novelist and journalist (born 1869)

• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Harnett, The Wool-Pack
• Frost Medal: Wallace Stevens
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Chapman Mortimer, Father Goose
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Noel Annan, Leslie Stephen
• Newbery Medal: Elizabeth Yates, Amos Fortune, Free Man
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Pär Lagerkvist
• Premio Nadal: Luis Romero, La noria
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Conrad Richter, The Town
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Carl Sandburg, Complete Poems

• October 3 – Don DeLillo's novel Underworld (1997) opens on this date.
• Cormac McCarthy's novel Suttree (1979) is set in this year.
• Philip Roth's novel Indignation (2008) is set in this year.