1556 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1556.

Events

 * Unknown dates
 * The first printing press in India is introduced by Jesuits at Saint Paul's College, Goa.
 * The first written evidence of Yakshagana dance-drama is found on an inscription at the Lakshminarayana Temple, Hosaholalu in India.
 * Augustus, Elector of Saxony, establishes a royal state library in Dresden, predecessor of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.

Prose

 * Georg Bauer – De re metallica
 * John Ponet – A Short Treasure of Politic Power

Poetry

 * Pierre de Ronsard – Les Hymnes

Births

 * March 7 – Guillaume du Vair, French lawyer and philosopher (died 1621)
 * April 27 – François Béroalde de Verville, French novelist and poet (died 1626)
 * July 25 (baptised) – George Peele, English dramatist and poet (died 1596)
 * August 10 – Philipp Nicolai, German poet and composer (died 1608)
 * November 15 – Jacques Davy Duperron, French poet, cardinal and politician (died 1618)
 * November 25 (baptised) – John Heminges, English actor and editor of the First Folio (died 1630)
 * Unknown date – John Paul Nazarius, Italian theologian (died 1645)

Deaths

 * April 26 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and teacher (born 1490)
 * May 7 – Hieronymus Andreae, German printer and publisher (date of birth unknown)
 * July 31 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish theologian, founder of the Jesuits (born 1491)
 * October 21 – Pietro Aretino, Italian satirist (born 1492)
 * October 31 – Johannes Sleidanus, Luxembourgeois historian (born 1506)
 * November 14 – Giovanni della Casa, Florentine poet (born 1503)
 * December 23 – Nicholas Udall, English dramatist (born 1504)
 * Unknown dates
 * Fuzûlî, Ottoman poet and philosopher (born c.1483)
 * Oddur Gottskálksson, Icelandic translator (born 1514/1515)