1582 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1582.

Events

 * February – Meleager, a Latin play on the mythological figure of Meleager by "Gulielmus Gagerus" (William Gager), is performed by members of Christ Church, Oxford.
 * November 29 – Marriage of William Shakespeare, 18 years old, to 26-year-old Anne Hathaway (who is pregnant with their first daughter, Susanna), perhaps at Temple Grafton (and not at Stratford-upon-Avon) in England. It will be a decade before he emerges on the London theatrical scene.
 * Publication in England of the first part of Richard Mulcaster's textbook on the teaching of English, the ''" in regularized spelling.
 * Earliest reference to the publishing of private newspapers in Beijing (China).

Prose

 * Robert Bellarmine – Disputationes de Controversiis
 * George Buchanan – Rerum Scoticarum Historia
 * Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx – Balet comique de la Royne
 * "Douay–Rheims Bible", New Testament
 * Richard Hakluyt – Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America
 * John Leland –  (posthumous translation)
 * Anthony Munday – English Romayne Lyfe (i. e. Life of an Englishman in Rome)

Drama

 * Anonymous – The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune
 * Miguel de Cervantes – El cerco de Numancia
 * William Gager – Meleager
 * Giovanni Battista Guarini – Il pastor fido

Poetry
See 1582 in poetry

Births

 * January 6 – Alonso de Contreras, Spanish adventurer and writer (died 1641)
 * January 28 – John Barclay, Scottish satirist and poet (died 1621)
 * February 6 – Mario Bettinus, Italian philosopher (died 1657)
 * April 8 (baptised) – Phineas Fletcher, English poet (died 1650)
 * October 17 – Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran theologian (died 1637)
 * November 21 – François Maynard, French poet (died 1646)
 * Unknown dates
 * Giovanni Francesco Abela, Maltese writer (died 1655)
 * Richard Corbet, English poet and bishop (died 1635)
 * William Lithgow, Scottish traveller and author (died 1645)

Deaths

 * January 26 – Thomas Platter, Swiss humanist writer (born 1499)
 * July/August – Jacques Pelletier du Mans, French humanist poet (born 1517)
 * September 28 – George Buchanan, Scottish historian (born 1506)
 * October 4 – Teresa of Ávila, Spanish mystical writer (born 1515)
 * Unknown dates
 * Arnoldus Arlenius, Dutch humanist philosopher and poet (born c.1510)
 * Natalis Comes, Italian mythographer, poet and historian (born 1520)
 * Jobus Fincelius, German humanist writer