1538 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1538.

Events

 * December 20 – Pietro Bembo is made a Cardinal.

Prose

 * Hélisenne de Crenne – Les Angoisses douloureuses qui procèdent d'amours
 * Sir Thomas Elyot – The dictionary of syr Thomas Eliot knyght (Latin to English)
 * Paracelsus – Astronomia Magna or the whole Philosophia Sagax of the Great and Little World
 * William Turner – Libellus de re herbaria (Handbook of Herbs)

Drama

 * John Bale
 * Kynge Johan, the earliest known English historical drama (in verse)
 * Three Laws of Nature, Moses and Christ, corrupted by the Sodomytes, Pharisees and Papystes most wicked
 * Georg Wickram – Der treue Eckart

Poetry

 * Sir David Lyndsay – The Complaynte and Testament of a Popinjay
 * Clément Marot – Œuvres de Clément Marot

Births

 * December 10 – Giovanni Battista Guarini, Italian poet, dramatist and diplomat (died 1612)

Deaths

 * unknown dates
 * Germain de Brie, French humanist scholar and poet (born 1490)
 * Pierre Gringoire, French poet and playwright (born c.1475)