1955 in literature

• February 8 – Jin Yong's first wuxia novel, The Book and the Sword (書劍恩仇錄), begins publication in the New Evening Post (Hong Kong), where he is an editor.
• Jean Cocteau is elected to the Académie française (March 3; inducted October 20) and the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (January 8/October 1).
• April 16 – Sir Laurence Olivier's film version of Shakespeare's Richard III is released in U.K. cinemas.
• July 10 – Jorge Luis Borges is appointed Director of the National Library of the Argentine Republic.
• July 14 – Director Stephen Joseph sets up Britain's first theatre in the round at Scarborough, North Yorkshire, predecessor of the Stephen Joseph Theatre.[1]
• July 30 – The English poet Philip Larkin, having become University Librarian at the University of Hull on March 21, is inspired on a train from Hull to Grantham to write a poem, "The Whitsun Weddings".[2] His collection The Less Deceived is published in November (dated October).
• August – The American speculative fiction author Charles Beaumont's short story "The Crooked Man", depicting a homosexual society where heterosexuality is persecuted, is published in Playboy magazine after being rejected by Esquire.
• August 3 – The English-language première of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, directed by Peter Hall, opens at the Arts Theatre, London.
• August 27 – The first hardback edition of The Guinness Book of Records appears in London.[3]
• September – Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita appears in Paris three years before its US publication.[4]
• November – Frank Herbert's first novel The Dragon in the Sea begins as a three-part serial, Under Pressure, in the monthly Astounding Science-Fiction.[5]
• November 28 – Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is first staged by the Union Theatre Repertory Company in Melbourne with the playwright in a lead. It is the first authentically naturalistic drama in the theatre of Australia.[6]

Uncertain dates

• An article in the British Journal of Education criticises Enid Blyton's novels as formulaic.[7]
• The Indian guru Mani Madhava Chakyar performs Koodiyattam outside a temple for the first time.[8]

• January 11 – Max Lucado, American religious writer
• January 12 – Rockne S. O'Bannon, American writer and producer
• January 13 – Jay McInerney, American novelist
• January 27 – Alexander Stuart, English-born American novelist and screenwriter
• February 2 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet, fiction writer and translator
• February 8 – John Grisham, American novelist
• February 17 – Mo Yan, Chinese fiction writer
• March 19 – John Burnside, Scottish poet and fiction writer
• March 23 – Lloyd Jones, New Zealand novelist
• March 27 – Patrick McCabe, Irish novelist
• April 8 – Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet
• April 30 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian author and screenwriter
• May 13 – Mark Abley, Canadian poet and non-fiction writer
• May 30 – Colm Tóibín, Irish novelist, playwright and poet
• June 4 – Val McDermid, Scottish crime novelist
• June 16 – J. Jill Robinson, Canadian fiction writer
• June 20 – Tor Nørretranders, Danish science author
• July 1
  • Candia McWilliam, Scottish fiction writer
  • Lisa Scottoline, American writer of legal thrillers
• July 5
  • Sebastian Barry, Irish novelist, playwright and poet
  • Mia Couto (António Emílio Leite Couto), Mozambican fiction writer and poet
• July 6
  • Michael Boyd, British theatre director
  • William Wall, Irish author and poet
• July 12 – Robin Robertson, Scottish-born poet, novelist and editor
• August 2 – Caleb Carr, American writer
• August 7 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
• August 8 – Iain Pears, English writer
• September 6 – Raymond Benson, American novelist
• September 13 – Hiromi Itō (伊藤 比呂美), Japanese poet, essayist and translator
• October 19 – Jason Shinder, American poet and editor (died 2008)
• November 12 – Katharine Weber, American author and academic
• November 23 – Steven Brust, American fantasy author
• December 28 – Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), Chinese critic, writer and activist (died 2017)

Uncertain dates

• Wang Xiaoni (王小妮), Chinese poet
• Regina Yaou, Ivory Coast novelist (died 2017)

• January 20 – Robert P. Tristram Coffin, American poet, essayist and novelist (born 1892)
• February 23 – Paul Claudel, French poet, dramatist and diplomat (born 1868)
• April 10 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher and essayist (born 1881)
• May 16 – James Agee, American writer (born 1909)
• June 6 – Joseph Jefferson Farjeon, English crime writer (born 1883)
• June 17 – Constance Holme, English novelist and dramatist (born 1880)
• June 19 – Adrienne Monnier, French poet and publisher (born 1892)
• June 21 – Roger Mais, Jamaican novelist (born 1905)
• June 30 – Gilbert Cannan, British writer (born 1884)
• July 3 – Beatrice Chase, English writer (born 1874)
• August 1 – Charles Shaw, Australian writer (born 1900)
• August 2 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (born 1879)
• August 12 – Thomas Mann, German novelist (born 1875)
• August 14 – Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress (born 1861)
• August 29 – Hong Shen (洪深), Chinese dramatist (born 1894)
• September 20 – Robert Riskin, American dramatist and screenwriter (born 1897)
• October 18 – José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (born 1883)
• November 1 – Dale Carnegie, American writer (born 1888)
• November 12 – Tin Ujević, Croatian poet (born 1891)
• November 14
  • Ruby M. Ayres, English romance novelist (born 1881)
  • Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (born 1896)
• December – Al. T. Stamatiad, Romanian poet (born 1885)

• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Eleanor Farjeon, The Little Bookroom
• Frost Medal: Leona Speyer
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Ivy Compton-Burnett, Mother and Son
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: R. W. Ketton-Cremer, Thomas Gray
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Meindert DeJong, The Wheel on the School
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Halldór Kiljan Laxness
• Premio Nadal: Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, El Jarama
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: William Faulkner, A Fable
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Ruth Pitter

• Ian McEwan's novel The Innocent (1990)
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel Cancer Ward (1967)
• Colin Wilson's novel Adrift in Soho (1961)
• Richard Yates's novel Revolutionary Road (1961)