1590 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1590.

Events

 * January – The Children of Paul's perform at the English Court twice in the first week; one of the plays act may be John Lyly's Midas. Later this year they are banned from performing over of the involvement of Lily, their chief script-writer, in the Marprelate controversy.
 * unknown date – The Teatro all'antica at Sabbioneta (Italy), designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, is completed.

New books

 * Robert Greene
 * Greene's Mourning Garment
 * Never Too Late
 * Thomas Lodge – Rosalynde
 * Thomas Nashe – An Almond for a Parrat

New drama

 * Anonymous (approximate date)
 * Fair Em, the Miller's Daughter of Manchester
 * King Leir
 * Mucedorus
 * Robert Greene
 * The Comical History of Alphonsus, King of Aragon (approximate date)
 * The History of Orlando Furioso
 * The Scottish History of James the Fourth (approximate date)
 * with Thomas Lodge – A Looking Glass for London (approximate date)
 * Christopher Marlowe – Tamburlaine (both parts published)
 * George Peele – Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First
 * Robert Wilson – The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London (published)

Poetry

 * Sir Philip Sidney – Arcadia
 * Edmund Spenser – The Faerie Queene, Books 1–3

Births

 * January 30 – Lady Anne Clifford, English literary patron (died 1676)
 * March 18 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (died 1649)
 * June 24 – Samuel Ampzing, Dutch poet (died 1632)
 * July 26 – Johannes Crellius, German-born Polish theologian (died 1633)
 * September 12 – María de Zayas, Spanish poet and dramatist (died 1661)
 * October 11 (or December) – William Pynchon, English-born New England theologian (died 1662)
 * unknown dates
 * Alonso Andrada, Spanish biographer (died 1672)
 * François Annat, French anti-Jansenist theologian (died 1670)
 * Thomas Carve, Irish historian writing in Latin (died c. 1672)
 * Faqi Tayran, Kurdish poet (died 1660)
 * Grigore Ureche, Moldavian chronicler (died 1647)
 * Théophile de Viau, French poet and dramatist (died 1626)

Deaths

 * January 7 – Jakob Andreae, German theologian (born 1528)
 * February 1 – Lawrence Humphrey, English theologian (born c. 1527)
 * March – Petru Cercel, Wallachian prince and poet
 * July – Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, French poet (born 1544)
 * September 20 – Robert Garnier, French poet (born 1544)
 * November 23 – André Thévet, French cosmographer (born 1502)
 * November 29 – Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin, German poet and dramatist (born 1547)
 * December 5 – Johann Habermann, German theologian (born 1516)
 * probable
 * Lambert Daneau, French theologian (born c. 1535)
 * Giuseppe Leggiadri Gallani, Italian poet and dramatist (born 1516)