1669 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1669.

Events

 * May 31 – Samuel Pepys makes the last entry in his diary.
 * unknown dates
 * Frances Boothby's tragicomedy Marcelia, or, The Treacherous Friend is performed by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the first play by a woman to be produced in London.
 * The final section of Parthenissa, the prose romance by Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, is published. Earlier portions of the work have appeared in 1651 and 1654–1656.

Prose

 * Anonymous (Gabriel-Joseph de la Vergne?) – Letters of a Portuguese Nun (Les Lettres portugaises)
 * Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen – Simplicius Simplicissimus (first major novel in the German language, dated this year but probably published in 1668)
 * Blaise Pascal – Pensees (published posthumously)
 * William Penn – No Cross, No Crown
 * Jan Swammerdam – Algemeene Verhandeling van de bloedeloose dierkens
 * John Wagstaffe – The Question of Witchcraft Debated

Drama

 * Anonymous – The Imperial Tragedy
 * John Dryden – Tyrannic Love
 * Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery
 * Guzman
 * Mr. Anthony
 * Robert Howard and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham – The Country Gentleman (written, not staged)
 * John Lacy – The Dumb Lady
 * Jean Racine – Britannicus

Births

 * December 16 – Joseph-Anne-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla, French missionary and translator in China (died 1748)
 * unknown dates
 * Nicholas Blundell, English diarist (died 1737)
 * Lady Lucy Herbert, English devotional writer (died 1744)
 * Jiang Tingxi (蒋廷锡), Chinese encyclopedist (died 1732)
 * probable – Susanna Centlivre, English poet and actress (died 1723)

Deaths

 * February 3 – Catharina Questiers, Dutch poet and dramatist (born 1631)
 * March 19 – John Denham, Irish poet (born 1615)
 * July 10 or 11 – Robert Stapylton, English dramatist and courtier (born c. 1607–1609)
 * September 30 – Henry King, English poet and bishop (born 1592)
 * October 8 – Jane Cavendish, English poet and playwright (born 1621)
 * December 16 – Nathaniel Fiennes, English pamphleteer, soldier and politician (born c. 1608)
 * December 24 – Henry Foulis, English theologian and controversialist (born 1638)