This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1942.
Events
- March â Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are introduced in his short story "Runaround", published in Astounding Science-Fiction.
- March 1 â The Canadian novelist Robertson Davies begins a 13-year spell as editor of the Peterborough Examiner in Ontario.
- March 28 â The Spanish poet Miguel Hernández dies of tuberculosis as a political prisoner in a prison hospital, having scrawled his last verse on the wall.
- April 29 â The newspaper Asia Raja is first published in the Dutch East Indies under Japanese occupation; it will publish a number of literary works.
- May â The German novelist Thomas Mann moves to California.
- May 4 â The French novelist André Gide moves to Tunis.
- May 8 â The English novelist David Garnett marries as his second wife, the painter and writer Angelica Bell, daughter of Garnett's lover Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.
- June 4 â The film Mrs. Miniver is released, for which the novelist James Hilton will share an Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) on 4 March 1943.
- June 12 â Anne Frank, on her 13th birthday, makes the first entry in her new diary in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.
- August â The French Resistance unit to which expatriate Irish writer Samuel Beckett belongs is betrayed. He has to flee from occupied Paris on foot to Roussillon, Vaucluse in south-eastern France, where he continues work on his novel Watt.
- August 9 â The New York Times launches the national version of its influential New York Times Best Seller list.
- August 28 â Polish writer Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, as head of the underground organization Front for the Rebirth of Poland, publishes in Warsaw her Protest! leaflet against the mass murder of Jews in German-occupied Poland.
- Autumn â Vasily Grossman attends the Battle of Stalingrad as a reporter for the Soviet Army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. The experience later governs his novels Stalingrad (ëáÃÂðûøýóÃÂðÃÂôû, original Russian publication 1952) and Life and Fate (ëÃÂø÷ýàø ÃÂÃÂôÃÂñðû, completed 1959).
- October â The English poet Keith Douglas takes part in the Second Battle of El Alamein, against orders.
- November 19 â The Polish Jewish writer and artist Bruno Schulz is shot dead by a Gestapo officer, while walking through the "Aryan quarter" of his home town, Drohobych.
New books
Fiction
Children and young people
Drama
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Poetry
Non-fiction
Births
- January 7
- Terenci Moix, Spanish writer (died 2003)
- BoÃ
¾in Pavlovski, Macedonian-Australian author
- January 9 â Enrique Estrázulas, Uruguayan writer, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist and diplomat (died 2016)
- January 19 â Paul-Eerik Rummo, Estonian poet, playwright and politician
- January 31 â Derek Jarman, English film director, writer and diarist (died 1994)
- February 1 â Terry Jones, Welsh comedic actor and writer (died 2020)
- February â David Williamson, Australian playwright
- March 2 â John Irving, American novelist and screenwriter
- March 28 â Daniel Dennett, American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist (died 2024)
- April 1 â Samuel R. Delany, American novelist, essayist and critic
- April 4 â Kitty Kelley, American biographer and journalist
- April 20 â Arto Paasilinna, Finnish novelist and journalist (died 2018)
- April 27 â Ruth Glick, American cookery author and novelist
- May 6 â Ariel Dorfman, Argentine/Chilean novelist, playwright and essayist
- May 11 â Rachel Billington, English author
- June 25 â Michel Tremblay, French Canadian novelist and playwright
- July 2 â Mukhtar Shakhanov, Kazakh writer, editor and lawmaker
- August 2 â Isabel Allende, Chilean novelist
- August 7 â Garrison Keillor, American humorous writer and broadcaster
- August 9 â David Steinberg, Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author
- August 22 â UÃÂur Mumcu, Turkish journalist and writer (died 1993)
- September 1 â António Lobo Antunes, Portuguese novelist and psychiatrist (died 2026)
- September 14 â Bernard MacLaverty, Irish writer
- September 21 â Luis Mateo DÃÂez, Spanish writer
- October 16 â Joseph Bruchac, Native American author
- October 20 â Bob Graham, Australian children's writer and illustrator
- October 23
- Michael Crichton, American writer and director (died 2008)
- Douglas Dunn, Scottish poet and scholar
- October 24 â Frank Delaney, Irish-born novelist, journalist and broadcaster (died 2017)
- November 7 â Helen Garner, Australian writer
- November 8 â Fernando Sorrentino, Argentine writer
- November 19 â Sharon Olds, American poet
- November 24 â Craig Thomas, Welsh novelist (died 2011)
- December 6 â Peter Handke, Nobel-winning Austrian novelist and playwright
- unknown date â Ghada al-Samman, Syrian writer
Deaths
- January 8 – Chaudhry Afzal Haq, Indian writer and humanitarian (born 1891)
- January 14 â Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian writer (born 1883)
- February 2 â Daniil Kharms, Russian poet, writer and dramatist (died in prison, born 1905)
- February 18 â Henri Stahl, Romanian historian, short story writer, memoirist and stenographer (born 1877)
- March 16 â Rachel Field, American author and poet (born 1894)
- March 26 â Carolyn Wells, American novelist and poet (born 1862)
- March 28 â Miguel Hernández, Spanish poet (died in prison, born 1910)
- April 24 â Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian novelist and children's writer (born 1874)
- May 11 â SakutarÃ
 Hagiwara (è©å æÂÂ太éÂÂ), Japanese poet (born 1886)
- May 20 â Nini Roll Anker, Norwegian novelist and playwright (born 1873)
- May 26 â Libero Bovio, Neapolitan dialect poet (born 1883)
- May 29 â Akiko Yosano (ä¸Âè¬Âé æ¶åÂÂ, Yosano Shiyo), Japanese poet and feminist (born 1878)
- May â Jakob van Hoddis (Hans Davidsohn) German poet (died in extermination camp, born 1887)
- June 30 â Léon Daudet, French writer and journalist (born 1867)
- July 1 â Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich, Irish writer in Irish (born 1857)
- July 23 â Nikola Vaptsarov (ÃÂøúþûð ÃÂþýúþò ÃÂðÿÃÂðÃÂþò), Bulgarian poet and resistance worker (executed, born 1909)
- August 17 â Irène Némirovsky, Russian-born French novelist (died in concentration camp, born 1903)
- August 27 â Lev Nussimbaum, Russian and Azerbaijani novelist (gangrene; born 1905)
- September 26 â Oskar Kraus, Czech philosopher (born 1872)
- October 14 â Cosmo Hamilton, English dramatist and novelist (born 1870)
- October 20 â Friedrich Münzer, German classicist (born 1868)
- October 29 â Màrius Torres, Catalan Spanish poet (born 1910)
- November 4
- Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, American novelist and textbook and children's writer (born 1863)
- Clementine Krämer, German poet and short-story writer (died in concentration camp, born 1873)
- December 23 â Konstantin Balmont, Russian Symbolist poet and translator (born 1867)
Awards
References