1926 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1926.

Events

 * February 8 – Seán O'Casey's play The Plough and the Stars opens at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. At the February 11 performance there is a near-riot: one audience member strikes an actress.
 * February 12 – The Irish Free State Minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, appoints a Committee on Evil Literature.
 * February 26 – The future English novelist Graham Greene is received into the Catholic Church.
 * April 1 – Hugo Gernsback launches his pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories in the United States.
 * May 11 – C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien first meet in Oxford.
 * October 10 – Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The White Guard (Белая гвардия), partly serialized in Rossiya before the magazine's suppression earlier in the year, opens as a dramatic adaptation, The Days of the Turbins, at the Moscow Art Theatre. It is enjoyed by Stalin.
 * October 14 – The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne first appears, published by Methuen in London.
 * December 3 – The English detective story writer Agatha Christie disappears from her home in Surrey. On December 14 she is found at a Harrogate hotel by the journalist Ritchie Calder, staying under her husband's mistress's surname.
 * December – Thomas Mann begins writing Die Geschichten Jaakobs in Munich, first of the tetralogy Joseph and His Brothers (Joseph und seine Brüder), on which he will work until January 1943.
 * unknown dates
 * Antonin Artaud and Roger Vitrac establish the Théatre Alfred-Jarry in Paris to produce surrealist drama.
 * The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is founded in Middlebury, Vermont.
 * Vsevolod Meyerhold stages an expressionistic production of Gogol's satirical comedy The Government Inspector (Ревизор, 1836) in Moscow.
 * Margaret Mitchell begins the novel Gone with the Wind, which will appear 1936.
 * The remains of the English poet Isaac Rosenberg (killed in battle in 1918) are re-interred at Bailleul Road East Cemetery, Plot V, St. Laurent-Blangy, Pas de Calais, France.
 * Peter Llewelyn Davies establishes the London publishing house Peter Davies Ltd.

Fiction

 * Ion Agârbiceanu – Legea trupului
 * Marcel Arland – Monique
 * Roberto Arlt – Mad Toy (El juguete rabioso)
 * Isaac Babel – Red Cavalry («Конармия», short stories)
 * Henry Bellamann – Petenera's Daughter
 * Anthony Berkeley – The Wychford Poisoning Case
 * Louis Bromfield – Early Autumn
 * Edgar Rice Burroughs – The Moon Maid
 * Willa Cather – My Mortal Enemy
 * Marjorie Bowen – Mistress Nell Gwynne
 * G. K. Chesterton – The Incredulity of Father Brown
 * Agatha Christie – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
 * J.J. Connington – Death at Swaythling Court
 * Freeman Wills Crofts – The Cheyne Mystery
 * James R. Crowell and Samuel C. Hildreth – The Spell of the Turf
 * Ramón del Valle-Inclán – Tirano Banderas: novela de tierra caliente (Tyrant Banderas)
 * Arthur Conan Doyle – The Land of Mist
 * Joseph Jefferson Farjeon – Number 17
 * William Faulkner – Soldiers' Pay
 * Ronald Firbank – Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli
 * F. Scott Fitzgerald – All the Sad Young Men
 * Ford Madox Ford – A Man Could Stand Up (third book of the four-volume Parade's End)
 * C. S. Forester – Payment Deferred
 * Dion Fortune – The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
 * Zona Gale – Preface to Life
 * Hugo Gernsback – Ralph 124C 41+ (in book form)
 * Ellen Glasgow – The Romantic Comedians
 * Ricardo Güiraldes – Don Segundo Sombra
 * H. Rider Haggard – The Treasure of the Lake
 * Ernest Hemingway
 * The Sun Also Rises
 * The Torrents of Spring
 * Harold Heslop –  (Under the Sway of Coal, translation of Goaf)
 * Georgette Heyer – These Old Shades
 * Sydney Horler – The House of Secrets
 * Mikheil Javakhishvili – The White Collar (თეთრი საყელო, Tetri sakelo)
 * Franz Kafka – The Castle
 * Yasunari Kawabata (川端 康成) – "The Dancing Girl of Izu" (伊豆の踊子, "Izu no odoriko", short story)
 * D. H. Lawrence – The Plumed Serpent
 * Agnes Mure Mackenzie – The Quiet Lady
 * Compton Mackenzie – Fairy Gold
 * Hope Mirrlees – Lud-in-the-Mist
 * George Moore – Ulich and Soracha
 * Vladimir Nabokov (as V. Sirin) – Mary («Машенька», Mashen'ka)
 * Carola Oman – King Heart
 * E. Phillips Oppenheim
 * The Golden Beast
 * Prodigals of Monte Carlo
 * Baroness Orczy – The Celestial City
 * Cassiano Ricardo – Vamos caçar papagaios
 * Grigol Robakidze – The Snake's Skin (გველის პერანგი)
 * Sagitta (John Henry Mackay) – Der Puppenjunge (The Pansy; in English as The Hustler)
 * Marquis de Sade – Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man
 * Dorothy L. Sayers – Clouds of Witness
 * Arthur Schnitzler – Dream Story (Traumnovelle)
 * Thorne Smith – Topper (aka The Jovial Ghosts)
 * Cecil Street – Dr. Priestley's Quest
 * A. H. Tammsaare – Tõde ja Õigus (Truth and Justice, begins publication)
 * Sylvia Thompson – The Hounds of Spring
 * B. Traven – The Death Ship (Das Totenschiff)
 * S. S. Van Dine – The Benson Murder Case (the first Philo Vance mystery)
 * Henry Wade – The Verdict of You All
 * Edgar Wallace
 * The Avenger
 * Barbara on Her Own
 * The Northing Tramp
 * The Terrible People
 * The Yellow Snake
 * Sylvia Townsend Warner – Lolly Willowes
 * H. G. Wells – The World of William Clissold
 * Walter F. White – Flight
 * Monteiro Lobato — O Presidente Negro

Children and young people

 * Angela Brazil – Joan's Best Chum
 * Will James – Smoky the Cowhorse
 * A. A. Milne – Winnie-the-Pooh
 * Ruth Plumly Thompson – The Hungry Tiger of Oz (20th in the Oz series overall and the sixth written by her)

Drama

 * Dorothy Brandon – Blind Alley
 * Bertolt Brecht – Man Equals Man (Mann ist Mann)
 * Mikhail Bulgakov – The Days of the Turbins («Дни Турбиных»)
 * G. D. H. Cole – The Striker Stricken
 * St. John Greer Ervine – Anthony and Anna
 * J. B. Fagan – And So To Bed
 * Joseph Jefferson Farjeon – After Dark
 * John Galsworthy – Escape
 * Patrick Hastings – Scotch Mist
 * Zora Neale Hurston – Color Struck (published)
 * Seán O'Casey – The Plough and the Stars
 * Eden Phillpotts – Blue Comet
 * Ben Travers – Rookery Nook
 * Sergei Tretyakov – I Want a Baby («Хочу ребёнка»)

Poetry

 * Mário de Andrade – Losango cáqui
 * Langston Hughes – The Weary Blues
 * Robert McAlmon – The Portrait of a Generation
 * Hugh MacDiarmid – A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle
 * Dorothy Parker – Enough Rope
 * Vita Sackville-West – The Land

Non-fiction

 * Germán List Arzubide – El movimiento estridentista
 * Benedictine Vulgate (begins publication)
 * Angela Brazil – My Own Schooldays
 * Arthur Conan Doyle – The History of Spiritualism
 * H. Rider Haggard – The Days of My Life
 * T. E. Lawrence – Seven Pillars of Wisdom
 * Otto Schmidt (chief editor) – Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая советская энциклопедия, Bolshaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya; begins publication)
 * Dan Simonescu – Încercări istorico-literare (Literary and Historical Essays)
 * R. H. Tawney – Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
 * Helen Thomas – As It Was
 * W. B. Yeats – Autobiographies
 * Paul Zarifopol – Din registrul ideilor gingașe (A Register of Tender Ideas)
 * Alfred Eckhard Zimmern – The Third British Empire

Births

 * January 5 – W. D. Snodgrass, American poet (died 2009)
 * January 12 – Shumon Miura, Japanese novelist (died 2017)
 * January 13 – Michael Bond, English fiction writer and creator of Paddington Bear (died 2017)
 * January 14 – Tom Tryon, American actor and novelist (died 1991)
 * January 27 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-born musician and writer (died 2003)
 * February 3 – Richard Yates, American novelist (died 1992)
 * February 8 – Neal Cassady, American writer and poet (died 1968)
 * February 20 – Richard Matheson, American science fiction writer (died 2013)
 * March 3 – James Merrill, American poet (died 1995)
 * March 7 – Chemmanam Chacko, Indian poet (died 2018)
 * March 24 – Dario Fo, Italian dramatist and actor (died 2016)
 * March 27 – Frank O'Hara, American poet (died 1966)
 * March 31 – John Fowles, English novelist (died 2005)
 * April 3 – Luís de Sttau Monteiro, Portuguese novelist and dramatist (died 1993)
 * April 12 – Khozh-Akhmed Bersanov, Chechen ethnographer (died 2018)
 * April 13 – Egon Wolff, Chilean dramatist (died 2016)
 * April 23
 * J. P. Donleavy, Irish American novelist (died 2017)
 * Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist and children's writer (died 2003)
 * April 28 – Harper Lee, American novelist (died 2016)
 * April 30 – Edmund Cooper, British poet and author (died 1982)
 * May 15 – English twins
 * Anthony Shaffer, dramatist and screenwriter (died 2001)
 * Peter Shaffer, dramatist (died 2016)
 * May 21 – Robert Creeley, American author (died 2005)
 * June 3 – Allen Ginsberg, American Beat Generation poet (died 1997)
 * June 4 – Ain Kaalep, Estonian poet, playwright and critic (died 2020)
 * June 13
 * Kanam EJ, Malayalam novelist and lyricist (died 1982)
 * Dalmiro Sáenz, Argentinian writer (died 2016)
 * June 19 – Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Italian publisher (died 1972)
 * July 7 – Spencer Holst, American writer and storyteller (died 2001)
 * July 11 – Frederick Buechner, American author and minister (died 2022)
 * July 18 – Elizabeth Jennings, English poet (died 2001)
 * August 6 – Elisabeth Beresford, English children's author (died 2010)
 * August 12 – Wallace Markfield, American comic novelist (died 2002)
 * August 13 – Roy Heath, Guyanese novelist (died 2008)
 * August 14
 * Alice Adams, American short story writer (died 1999)
 * René Goscinny, French writer and co-creator of Astérix (died 1977)
 * September 3 – Alison Lurie, American novelist and academic (died 2020)
 * September 6 – Clancy Sigal, American writer (died 2017)
 * September 14 – Michel Butor, French writer (died 2016)
 * September 16 – John Knowles, American novelist (died 2001)
 * October 2 – Jan Morris, born James Morris, Anglo-Welsh historian and travel writer (died 2020)
 * October 15 – Evan Hunter, American author and screenwriter (died 2005)
 * November 5 – John Berger, English art critic and novelist (died 2017)
 * November 11
 * José Manuel Caballero, Spanish novelist and poet (died 2021)
 * Harold Perkin, English social historian (died 2004)
 * November 19 – Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright (died 2011)
 * November 20 – John Gardner, English thriller writer (died 2007)
 * November 25 – Poul Anderson, American science fiction writer (died 2001)
 * December 23 – Robert Bly, American writer (died 2021)

Deaths

 * January 14
 * René Boylesve, French author (born 1867)
 * August Sedláček, Czech historian (born 1843)
 * January 26 – Bucura Dumbravă, Romanian novelist and spiritualist (malaria, born 1868)
 * February 1 – Ishibashi Ningetsu (石橋 忍月), Japanese author and critic (born 1865)
 * February 6 – Wolf Wilhelm Friedrich von Baudissin, German theologian (born 1847)
 * February 12 – Radu Rosetti, Romanian politician, historical novelist and memoirist (born 1853)
 * March 3 – Sir Sidney Lee, English biographer (born 1859)
 * May 9 – J. M. Dent, English publisher (born 1849)
 * May 21 – Ronald Firbank, English novelist (born 1886)
 * May 23 – Sigrid Elmblad, Swedish author and translator (born 1860)
 * May 26 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian Expressionist poet (meningitis, born 1904)
 * June 27 – Addie C. Strong Engle, American author and publisher (born 1845)
 * July 8 – Karel Václav Rais, Czech realist novelist (born 1859)
 * July 11 – Fran Detela, Slovenian academic and writer (born 1850)
 * July 14 – Elisabeth Cavazza, American author, journalist, and music critic (born 1849)
 * July 19 – Ada Cambridge, English/Australian writer and poet (born 1844)
 * July 22 – John Burland Harris-Burland, British writer (born 1870)
 * August 1 – Israel Zangwill, English poet (born 1864)
 * October 5 – Javier de Viana, Uruguayan writer (born 1868)
 * October 9 – Helena Nyblom, Danish-born poet and writer of fairy tales (born 1843)
 * October 11 – Albert Robida, French illustrator and novelist (born 1848)
 * November 10 – Lyubov Dostoyevskaya, Russian memoirist (born 1869)
 * December 8 – Sarah Doudney, English novelist, children's writer and hymnist (born 1841)
 * December 12 – Jean Richepin, French poet, dramatist and novelist (born 1849)
 * December 29 – Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet (born 1875)
 * unknown date
 * Emma Whitcomb Babcock, American litterateur and author (born 1849)
 * Susanne Vandegrift Moore, American editor and publisher (born 1848)

Awards

 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Radclyffe Hall, Adam's Breed
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Herbert Brook Workman, John Wyclif: A Study of the English Medieval Church
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Arthur Bowie Chrisman, Shen of the Sea
 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Grazia Deledda
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: George Kelly, Craig's Wife
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Amy Lowell, What's O'Clock
 * Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
 * Blindman International Poetry Prize: Ruth Manning-Sanders, The City