2020 in literature

• April 14 – Bookshops are among the first few premises permitted to reopen on relaxation of restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.[1]
• May 26–July 10 – J. K. Rowling releases her new fairy tale The Ickabog in free online instalments during restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.[2]
• June 25 – Louisa May Alcott's unfinished "Aunt Nellie's Story" (c.1849) is first published, in The Strand Magazine.[3]

Dates after each title indicate U.S. publication, unless otherwise indicated.

• January 7 – Elizabeth Wurtzel, 52, American author (Prozac Nation) (born 1967)[9]
• January 9 – Chukwuemeka Ike, 88, Nigerian writer (born 1931)
• January 12 – Roger Scruton, 75, English philosopher and writer (born 1944)[10]
• January 16 – Christopher Tolkien, 95, British academic and editor (born 1924)[11]
• January 17 – Charles Carrère, 91, Senegalese poet.[12]
• January 23 – Armando Uribe, 86, Chilean writer (winner of the National Prize for Literature 2004) (born 1933)[13]
• January 30 – Jörn Donner, 86, Finland-Swedish writer, film director and politician (born 1933).[14]
• January 31 – Mary Higgins Clark, 92, American best-selling author, known as the Queen of Suspense (born 1927)[15]
• February 3 – George Steiner, 90, French-American literary critic and essayist (After Babel) (born 1929)[16]
• February 4 – Kamau Brathwaite, 89, Barbadian poet and academic (born 1930)[17]
• February 12 – Christie Blatchford, 68, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist, writer and broadcaster (born 1951)[18]
• February 17 – Charles Portis, 86, American author (True Grit, Norwood, Gringos) (born 1933)[19]
• February 22 – Kiki Dimoula, 88, Greek poet (born 1931)[20]
• February 24 – Clive Cussler, 88, American adventure novelist (Raise the Titanic!, Sahara) and underwater explorer, founder of the NUMA (born 1931)[21]
• March 13 – Yang Mu, 79, Taiwanese poet and essayist (born 1940)[22]
• March 24 – Terrence McNally, 81, American playwright, screenwriter, and librettist (born 1938)[23]
• March 30 – Tomie dePaola, American author and illustrator (born 1934)[24]
• April 2 – Patricia Bosworth, 86, Amrerican biographer, journalist, and memoirist (born 1933)
• April 6 – Jean Little, 88, Canadian children's fiction author (born 1932)
• April 16 – Luis Sepúlveda, 70, Chilean author and journalist (The Old Man Who Read Love Novels, The Story of A Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her To Fly) (born 1949)
• April 25 - Per Olov Enquist, 85, Swedish author (The Visit of the Royal Physician) (born 1934)
• May 4 - Michael McClure, 87, American poet and writer (born 1932)
• May 12 - Carolyn Reidy, 71, American publisher, CEO of Simon & Schuster, heart attack (born 1949)
• May 27 - Larry Kramer, 84, American playwright (The Normal Heart) and LGBT rights activist (born 1935)
• June 2 - Hiber Conteris, 86, Uruguayan literary critic, writer and playwright

The following list is arranged alphabetically: