– A rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Other Poems and first editions of The Scarlet Letter and Moby-Dick are stolen from New York Public Library by Samuel Dupree, on behalf of a crooked New York antiquarian book dealer, Harry Gold.^[1]

– The play Green Grow the Lilacs by Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs, opens on Broadway. It is later adapted as Oklahoma! by Rodgers and Hammerstein.^[2]

– The English novelist Arnold Bennett dies of typhoid in London, shortly after a visit to Paris, where he drank local water in an attempt to prove it was safe.^[3]

– Gerald Brenan and Gamel Woolsey make a form of marriage in Rome.^[4]

– The Near v. Minnesota case in the Supreme Court of the United States affirms the principle that prior restraint is unconstitutional.

– James Joyce marries his long-time partner Nora Barnacle at Kensington register office in London.

– The Dick Tracy comic strip first appears, created by cartoonist Chester Gould.^[5]

– The first U.K. performance of Oscar Wilde's tragedy Salome (1891) is given at the Savoy Theatre, London, with Nancy Price as producer and as Herodias, and her daughter Joan Maude in the title role.^[6]

November – is appointed by the leftist Second Spanish Republic as director of a touring theatre company, Teatro Universitario La Barraca (The Shack), charged with taking a portable stage into rural areas to introduce audiences to classical Spanish theatre without charge.^[7]

unknown dates

– The Bridal Canopy^[10]

– Police at the Funeral^[11]

– Los lanzallamas (The Flame-Throwers)^[12]

– Mapp and Lucia^[13]

– God Sends Sunday

– The Good Earth

– No Man's Meat

– Cartucho

John Dickson Carr

– Shadows on the Rock

– To levende og en død^[14]

– The Sittaford Mystery

– Vinul de viață lungă^[15]

J.J. Connington

– Mystery in the Channel

– Hatter's Castle

– CIOPW

– Dragoste și moarte în provincie

– Broome Stages

– The Floating Admiral

– Will O' the Wisp

– The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens

– The House Opposite

William Faulkner

– The Chinaberry Tree

– La madonna dei filosofi

– The Case Against Andrew Fane

– Living My Life

– Penhally

– The Life of Klim Samgin (Жизнь Клима Самгина, Zhizn' Klima Samgina; third volume, translated as Other Fires)

– The Glass Key

– Boy

– La Mort du fer (The Death of Iron)^[16]

– Red Earth

– The Conqueror^[17]

– The First Lady Brendon

(published under the name "Glen Trevor") – Murder at School^[18]

– Desert Encounter^[19]

– The Captive of the Sahara

– Back Street

– Malice Aforethought^[20]

– The Secret of Shadow Ranch^[21]

– Return I Dare Not

– Gilgi – eine von uns (Gilgi – One of Us)^[22]

– Salka Valka, pt I: Þú vínviður hreini (O Thou Pure Vine)

– The Murder on the Burrows

– Letty Lynton

Compton Mackenzie

– Six Stories Written in the First Person Singular

– La Bandera

– Highland Fling

– Chaka

– Prince Jali

– Up the Ladder of Gold

– The Little Golden Calf (Золотой телёнок, Zolotoy telyonok)

– The Foundation Pit (Котлован, Kotlovan, written)^[23]

– Afternoon Men

– The Dutch Shoe Mystery

– The Road Back

– Four Frightened People

- Daughter of Fu Manchu

– Captain Blood Returns

– All Passion Spent

– Single Lady

– Five Red Herrings^[24]

– Black No More

– Lonely Road

– Pietr-le-Letton (book format)

– Roman Holiday

– The Forge

– Flamenco

— The Six Dead Men

– Tragedy on the Line

– The Cape Cod Mystery

– Wild Orchid

– No Friendly Drop

– The Man at the Carlton

– Judith Paris

– The Dream Life of Balso Snell

– Put Out the Light

– The Waves

P. G. Wodehouse

– Mr. and Mrs. Pennington

– José Triana, Cuban poet (d. 2018)^[26]

January 6

– Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American science fiction author (died 2008)^[28]

– Peter Barnes, English playwright (died 2004)^[29]

– Mark Brandis (Nikolai von Michalewsky), German journalist and science fiction author (died 2000)

– Sawako Ariyoshi, Japanese novelist (died 1984)^[30]

– Leonard Baker, American historian and Pulitzer-winning author (died 1984)^[31]

January 27

– Walter Burkert, German writer (died 2015)^[35]

– Thomas Bernhard, Dutch-born Austrian author (died 1989)

– Larry Merchant, American author and boxing commentator

– Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch-American crime writer (died 2008)^[36]

February 18

– Robert Sobel, American business writer (died 1999)

– Tom Wolfe, American novelist (died 2018)^[38]

March 11

– Augusto Boal, Brazilian theater director and writer (died 2009)

– Leslie Thomas, Welsh novelist (died 2014)^[40]

– Alison Prince, English-born Scottish children's writer and biographer (died 2019)

– Rolf Hochhuth, German dramatist (died 2020)^[41]

– Chico Anysio, Brazilian actor, comedian, writer and composer (died 2012)

– Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet and translator (died 2015)^[42]

– Gabriel de Broglie, French historian

– Robert Gottlieb, American editor

– Ruth Fainlight, American-born poet, short story writer, translator and librettist^[43]

– Gene Wolfe, American science fiction and fantasy writer (died 2019)^[44]

– Barbara Barrie, American actress and writer

– Robin Cook (Derek Raymond), English crime novelist (died 1994)

– Patricia Goedicke, American poet (died 2006)^[45]

– Colin Wilson, British novelist and philosopher (died 2013)^[46]

– Sébastien Japrisot, French novelist and screenwriter (died 2003)

– Emily Nasrallah, Lebanese writer and women's rights activist (died 2018)^[47]

– David Eddings, American novelist (died 2009)

July 10

– E. V. Thompson, English novelist (died 2012)

– Clive Cussler, American thriller writer and underwater explorer (died 2020)^[50]

– Caroline Graham, English playwright, screenwriter and novelist

– Karl Miller, British writer and literary editor (died 2014)

– William Goldman, American novelist and screenwriter (died 2018)

– Frederic Raphael, American-born English screenwriter, novelist and non-fiction author^[51]

– Marion Patrick Jones, Trinidadian writer (died 2016)

- Maurice Gee, New Zealand novelist

– Ivan Klíma, Czech novelist and dramatist

– Kalim Siddiqui, Pakistani-born British writer and Islamic activist (died 1996)

September 22

– Dennis Silk, American-born English writer on literature and cricket, and first-class cricketer (died 2019)^[53]

– Janice Elliott, English novelist and children's writer (died 1995)

– John le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell), English spy novelist (died 2020)^[54]

– Ann Rule, American true-crime writer (died 2015)^[55][56]

– James McNeish, New Zealand novelist, playwright and biographer (died 2016)

– Arun Sarma, Assamese playwright and novelist (died 2017)

– Nikoloz Janashia, Georgian historian (died 1982)

– Tomi Ungerer, Alsatian illustrator and writer (died 2019)

– Nigel Calder, British science writer (died 2014)

– Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish writer (died 2015)^[57]

– Krystyna Boglar, Polish writer known mostly for her work for children and young adults (died 2019)^[58]

– Bob Shaw, Irish science-fiction writer (died 1996)^[59]

– L. Adams Beck, Irish writer (born 1862)

– Henry Gauthier-Villars, French writer (born 1859)

– Graça Aranha, Brazilian diplomat and writer (born 1868)^[60]

: Robert Gittings

for fiction: Kate O'Brien, Without My Cloak

for biography: J. Y. R. Greig, David Hume

for children's literature: Elizabeth Coatsworth, The Cat Who Went to Heaven

– Erik Axel Karlfeldt

: Susan Glaspell, Alison's House

: Robert Frost, Collected Poems

: Margaret Ayer Barnes, Years of Grace