1908 in literature

Poetry

• Edward Carpenter – Iolaus: Anthology of Friendship
• W. H. Davies – Nature Poems
• Maria Konopnicka – Rota (Oath)

Non-fiction

• Robert Baden-Powell – Scouting for Boys
• Sarah Bernhardt – My Double Life
• Annie Besant, C. W. Leadbeater – Occult Chemistry
• Edward Carpenter – The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women
• G. K. Chesterton – All Things Considered
• W. H. Davies – The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp
• Levi H. Dowling – The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
• Gertrude Jekyll – Colour in the Flower Garden
• Jack London – War of the Classes
• Francisco I. Madero – La sucesión presidencial en 1910
• Titu Maiorescu – Critice (Critical Essays)
• Friedrich Nietzsche (died 1900) – Ecce homo: Wie man wird, was man ist (written 1888)
• M. Ostrogorski – Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties (La Démocratie et l'organisation des partis politiques, 1903)
• George Panu – Amintiri de la Junimea din Iași (Recollections from Junimea of Iași; first volume)
• Charlotte Carmichael Stopes – The Sphere of 'Man' in Relation to that of 'Woman' in the Constitution
• Thomas Traherne (died 1674) – Centuries of Meditations, now first printed from the author's manuscript
• Alfred R. Tucker – Eighteen Years in Uganda and East Africa

Births

• January 9 – Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist philosopher (died 1986)
• January 16 – Pavel Nilin, Soviet novelist and playwright (died 1981)
• January 18 – Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born scientist and poet (died 1974)
• January 20
• Fleur Cowles, American journalist, editor and illustrator (died 2009)
• Jean S. MacLeod, Scottish-English romantic novelist (died 2011)
• February 1 – Leonard Gribble, English novelist (died 1985)
• February 4 – Julian Bell, English poet (killed 1937)
• February 11 – Philip Dunne, American screenwriter, director, and producer (died 1992)
• February 29 – Dee Brown, American novelist and historian (died 2002)
• March 2 – Olivia Manning, English playwright and novelist (died 1980)
• March 5 – Irving Fiske, American playwright, WPA writer, and speaker; co-founder of Quarry Hill Creative Center (died 1990),
• March 6 – Dame Felicitas Corrigan, English writer and Benedictine nun (died 2003)
• March 8 – Ebrahim Al-Arrayedh, Indian-born Bahraini poet (died 2002)
• March 22 – Louis L'Amour, American author (died 1988)
• April 12 – Ida Pollock, British romantic novelist (died 2013)
• May 17 – Frederic Prokosch, American novelist and poet (died 1989)
• May 20 – Aleksei Arbuzov, Soviet playwright (died 1986)
• May 25 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (died 1963)
• May 27 – Peggy Ramsay, born Margaret Venniker, Australian-born British theatrical agent (died 1991)
• May 28 – Ian Fleming, English espionage novelist (died 1964)
• June 1 – Julie Campbell Tatham, American children's writer (died 1999)
• June 14 – Kathleen Raine, English poet, scholar, and translator (died 2003)
• June 25 – John Sommerfield, English communist writer (died 1991)
• June 27 – João Guimarães Rosa, Brazilian novelist (died 1967)
• June 30
• Winston Graham, English novelist (died 2003)
• Rob Nieuwenhuys, Dutch writer (died 1999)
• July 7 – Laurie Fitzhardinge, Australian historian and librarian (died 1993)
• July 10 – Carl Richard Jacobi, American journalist and author (died 1997)
• July 23 – Elio Vittorini, Italian author (died 1966)
• August 21 – M. M. Kaye, Indian-born English novelist and autobiographer (died 2004)
• August 23 – Arthur Adamov, French Absurdist playwright (died 1970)
• August 28
• Robert Merle, French novelist (died 2004)
• Marguerite Young, American novelist, poet and biographer (died 1995)
• August 31 – William Saroyan, American writer (d. 1981)
• September 4 – Richard Wright, African-American novelist and poet (died 1960)
• September 9 – Cesare Pavese, Italian poet and novelist (suicide 1950)
• September 15 – MiÅ¡ko Kranjec, Slovenian writer (died 1983)
• September 17 – John Creasey, English crime writer (died 1973)
• October 5 – Joshua Logan, American stage and film writer and director (died 1988)
• October 13 – Robert Liddell, English biographer, novelist and poet (died 1992)
• October 17 – Leon Kalustian, Romanian journalist, essayist and memoirist (died 1990)
• October 23 – Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov, Chechen historian (died 1997)
• October 24 – Phyllis Shand Allfrey (Phyllis Byam Shand), Dominican writer (died 1986)
• October 25 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (died 2004)
• November 8 – Zhou Yang, Chinese literary theorist (died 1989)
• November 8 – Martha Gellhorn, American journalist (suicide 1998)
• November 9 – Lucian Boz, Romanian and Australian literary critic (died 2003)
• November 20 – Alistair Cooke, English-born American journalist (died 2004)
• November 21 – Elizabeth George Speare, American children's writer (died 1994)
• November 23 – Nelson S. Bond, American author, playwright and scriptwriter (died 2006)
• November 28
• Claude Lévi-Strauss, Belgian-born French anthropologist (died 2009)
• Mary Oppen, American poet, activist and photographer (died 1990)
• November 30 – Buddhadeb Bosu, Bengali poet and writer (died 1974)
• December 14 – Mária Szepes, Hungarian novelist and screenwriter (died 2007)
• December 22 – Giovanni Luigi Bonelli, Italian comic book author and writer (died 2001)
• December 25 – Quentin Crisp, English gay icon, author and raconteur (died 1999)

Deaths

• January 9 – Wilhelm Busch, German humorist and poet (born 1832)
• January 14 – Holger Drachmann, Danish poet and dramatist (born 1846)
• January 18 – Edmund Clarence Stedman, American poet and critic (born 1833)
• January 25 – Ouida (Maria Louise Ramé), English novelist (born 1839)
• February 7
• Alexander Ertel, Russian novelist and short story writer (born 1855)
• Manuel Curros Enríquez, Spanish Galician writer (born 1851)
• February 17 – Annie Ryder Gracey, American author and missionary (born 1836)
• March 4 – Mrs. Henry Clarke (Amy Key), English historical novelist and children's writer (born 1853)
• March 11 – Edmondo De Amicis, Italian novelist (born 1846)
• March 12 – Susan Marr Spalding, American poet (born 1841)
• March 19 – Eduard Zeller, German philosopher (born 1814)
• March 25 – Aleksey Zhemchuzhnikov, Russian poet, dramatist and critic (born 1821)
• March 29
• Eliza Trask Hill, American journalist and activist (born 1840)
• Esther Pugh, American editor and publisher (born 1834)
• April 20 – Henry Chadwick, English-born American baseball writer and historian (born 1824)
• May 7 – Ludovic Halévy, French playwright and author (born 1834)
• May 23 – François Coppée, French author, le poète des humbles (born 1842)
• June 5 – Jonas Lie, Norwegian writer (born 1944)
• June 16 – Mary Elizabeth Hawker, Scottish-born English fiction writer (born 1848)
• June 20 – Eleanor Kirk, American author, publisher (born 1831)
• July 3 – Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist and author (born 1848)
• July 28 – Otto Pfleiderer, German theologian (born 1839)
• July 29 – Estelle M. H. Merrill, American journalist and editor (born 1858)
• August 4 – Bronson Howard, American dramatist (born 1842)
• August 10 – Louise Chandler Moulton, American author and critic (born 1835)
• August 14 – Anton Giulio Barrili, Italian novelist (born 1836)
• September 29 – Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer (born 1839)
• November 1 – Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney, American educator, poet, author, and editor (born 1823)
• November 8

• December 5 – Mary H. Graves, American minister, literary editor, writer (born 1839)

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Rudolf Christoph Eucken
• Newdigate Prize: Julian Huxley, "Holyrood"

References