1940 in Australian literature

Short stories

• Gavin Casey – "The Day at the Brown Lakes"
• Frank Dalby Davison – The Woman at the Mill
• Alan Marshall – "Tell Us About the Turkey, Jo"

Children's

• Mary Grant Bruce – Peter & Co.
• May Gibbs – The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
• P. L. Travers – Happy Ever After
• Dorothy Wall – Blinky Bill Joins the Army

Poetry

• Mary Gilmore – "No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest"
• Max Harris – The Gift of Blood
• Eve Langley – "Native-Born"
• Ian Mudie – Corroboree to the Sun
• Roderic Quinn – "Tyrrell's Bookshop"
• Kenneth Slessor – "Metempsychosis"
• Douglas Stewart – Elegy for an Airman

Non-Fiction

• Malcolm Uren – Sailormen's Ghosts (travel and history)

Drama

Radio

• Vance Palmer
• The Dingo
• The Interloper

Theatre

• Sumner Locke Elliott – The Little Sheep Run Fast

Awards and honours

Literary

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1940 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

• 9 February – J. M. Coetzee, novelist (born South Africa)
• 19 March – Andrew Taylor, poet
• 12 April – Jack Hibberd, playwright and novelist (died 2024)
• 16 April – Marion Halligan, novelist (died 2024)
• 28 July – Geoffrey Lehmann, poet and writer for children
• 7 July – Geoff Page, poet
• 18 August – Jan Owen, poet
• 16 October – Ron Pretty, poet (died 2023)
• 10 November – Jill Roe, historian (died 2017)
• 16 November – Craig Powell, poet (died 2022)

• Carmel Bird, novelist
• Rosaleen Love, critic and short story writer

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1940 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 27 March – K. Langloh Parker, author (born 1856)
• 3 May – S. Elliott Napier, poet and journalist (born 1870)

See also

• 1940 in Australia
• 1940 in literature
• 1940 in poetry
• List of years in Australian literature
• List of years in literature

References