1939 in Australian literature

Drama

Radio

• Sumner Locke Elliott – Crazy Family
• Trevor Heath – Spinney Under the Rain

Theatre

• George Landen Dann – Caroline Chisholm
• Sumner Locke Elliott
• The Cow Jumped Over the Moon
• Interval

Awards and honours

Literary

Poetry

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1939 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

• 4 January – J. S. Harry, poet (died 2015)
• 29 January – Germaine Greer, theorist, academic and journalist
• 19 February – Beatrice Faust, co-founder of Women's Electoral Lobby, journalist and author (died 2019)
• 25 February – Gerald Murnane, novelist
• 12 July – Phillip Adams, broadcaster and journalist
• 22 August – Peter Steele, poet (died 2012)
• 6 September – Barbara Hanrahan, writer (died 1991)
• 7 October – Clive James, poet, novelist and critic (died 2019)
• 9 October – John Pilger, journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker (died 2023 in London)
• 13 October – Suzanne Edgar, poet, short story writer and historian
• 14 December – John Baxter, novelist and biographer
• 30 December – Glenda Adams, novelist (died 2007)

• Jas H. Duke, performance poet (died 1992)

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1939 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 3 May – Hilary Lofting, novelist, travel writer, journalist and editor (born 1881)
• 4 November — Amy Mack, writer, journalist and editor (born 1876)
• 19 December – Edward Sorenson, poet (born 1869)

See also

• 1939 in Australia
• 1939 in literature
• 1939 in poetry
• List of years in Australian literature
• List of years in literature

References