This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1970.
- January 16 – The Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus opens with a performance of Georg Büchner's Dantons Tod.[1]
- March – Magdalena Mouján's story "Gu ta Gutarrak" ("We and Ours") in Basque is suppressed by the authorities in Francoist Spain.[2]
- June 10 – The English novelist Anthony Burgess delivers an inflammatory lecture, "Obscenity and the Arts", at the University of Malta; its reception leads to him leaving Malta.[3] He has begun a novel that will become Earthly Powers (1980).
- June 17 – The première of David Storey's play Home at the Royal Court Theatre, London, is directed by Lindsay Anderson and stars Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson.
- July 7 – The English publisher Sir Allen Lane dies age 67 having suffered cancer.[4] On August 21 his paperback imprint Penguin Books is acquired by Pearson.
- August 27 – England's Royal Shakespeare Company introduces a revolutionary production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Peter Brook, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.[5]
- November 20 – The playwright Fadil Paçrami becomes Chairman of the Parliament of Albania.
- November 25 – In Tokyo, the Japanese author and Tatenokai militia leader Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫, 45) and others take over the headquarters of the Japan Self-Defense Forces in an attempted coup d'état. Mishima commits seppuku (public ritual suicide) when he fails to sway the public to his right-wing politics, which include restoring the powers of the Emperor.
- December 5 – Dario Fo premières his play Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Morte accidentale di un anarchico) at Varese in Italy.
- unknown dates
- Len Deighton's Bomber, set on June 31 [sic.] 1943, becomes the first published novel to have been written on a word processor, an IBM MT/ST.[6]
- The novel Deliverance by the American poet James Dickey is published; it will go on to be named among the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by an editorial board of the American Modern Library.[7]
- An unexpurgated edition of John Cleland's Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, 1748–1749) appears in the U.K. without legal challenge.[8]
- Bohumil Hrabal's books Domácí úkoly (Home Work) and Poupata (Buds) are suppressed by the communist authorities in Czechoslovakia.
Children and young people
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- January 25 – Stephen Chbosky, American novelist and screenwriter
- February 28 – Daniel Handler, American novelist
- March 6 – Simona Vinci, Italian fiction writer
- March 12 – Dave Eggers, American writer, editor and publisher
- March 20 – Michele Jaffe, American author
- March 26 – Martin McDonagh, British-born Irish playwright
- May 20 – Dorthe Nors, Danish fiction writer
- May 26 – Alex Garland, English novelist
- June 6 – Sarah Dessen, American novelist
- July 22 – Doug Johnstone, Scottish crime fiction writer
- August 27 - Ann Aguirre, American speculative fiction writer
- September 10 – Phaswane Mpe, South African novelist (died 2004)
- September 16 – Nick Sagan, American novelist and screenwriter
- October 27 – Jonathan Stroud, English fantasy writer
- November 7 – Chris Adrian, American novelist
- November 24 – Marlon James, Jamaican novelist
- November 27 – Han Kang, South Korean novelist
- December 21 – Mohamedou Ould Salahi, Mauritanian author and former Guantánamo detainee
- unknown dates
- January 10 – Charles Olson, American modernist poet (liver cancer, born 1910)
- January 29 – B. H. Liddell Hart, English military historian (born 1895)
- February 2 – Bertrand Russell, English philosopher (born 1872)[17]
- February 4 – Louise Bogan, American poet (born 1897)[18]
- February 20 – Sophie Treadwell, American dramatist and journalist (born 1885)[19]
- February 21 – Johannes Semper, Estonian writer, translator and politician (born 1892)[20]
- March 11 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American writer (born 1889)[21]
- March 15 – Arthur Adamov, Russian-French playwright (born 1908)[22]
- March 21 – Marlen Haushofer, Austrian novelist (born 1920)
- March 29 – Vera Brittain, English novelist, memoirist and poet (born 1893)[23]
- April 11 – John O'Hara, American novelist (cardiovascular disease, born 1905)[24]
- May 7 – Jack Jones, Welsh novelist (born 1884)[25]
- May 12 – Nelly Sachs, Jewish German poet and dramatist (born 1891)[26]
- June 2 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian modernist poet and writer (born 1888)
- June 3 – Ruth Sawyer, American children's writer and novelist (born 1880)
- June 7 – E. M. Forster, English novelist (born 1879)[27]
- June 16 – Elsa Triolet, French novelist (born 1896)[28]
- July 7 – Allen Lane, English publisher (born 1902)
- July 15 – Eric Berne, Canadian-born psychiatrist and author (heart attack, born 1910)
- September 1 – François Mauriac, French novelist (born 1885)[29]
- September 25 – Erich Maria Remarque, German novelist (All Quiet On The Western Front) (born 1898)[30]
- September 28 – John Dos Passos, American novelist (born 1896)[31]
- October 18 – Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Irish language writer (born 1906)[32]
- November 23 – Alf Prøysen, Norwegian author, musician and children's writer (born 1914)[33]
- November 25 – Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫), Japanese author (seppuku, born 1925)[34]
- unknown date – Racey Helps, English children's author and illustrator (born 1913)
- Booker Prize: Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member
- Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen, The God Beneath the Sea
- Cholmondeley Award: Kathleen Raine, Douglas Livingstone, Edward Brathwaite
- Eric Gregory Award: Helen Frye, Paul Mills, John Mole, Brian Morse, Alan Perry, Richard Tibbitts
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Lily Powell, The Bird of Paradise
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston
- Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Roy Fuller
- Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. ISBN 9780198715542.
- ^ "Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus" (in German). nrw-buehnen.de. Archived from the original on 2014-02-23. Retrieved 2013-07-19.
- ^ Michael Ashley (2000). The History of the Science-fiction Magazine. Liverpool University Press. p. 411. ISBN 978-1-84631-003-4.
- ^ "Anthony Burgess's censorship scandal in Malta: a timeline". International Anthony Burgess Foundation. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ "About Penguin: Company history". Penguin Books. Archived from the original on 2011-11-01. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
- ^ Barnes, Clive (1970-08-28). "Historic Staging of Dream". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
- ^ Kirschenbaum, Matthew (2013-03-01). "The Book-Writing Machine: What was the first novel ever written on a word processor?". Slate. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
- ^ "100 Best Novels". Modern Library. 1998.
- ^ John Sutherland (1983). Offensive Literature: Decensorship in Britain, 1960-1982. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 39–. ISBN 978-0-389-20354-4.
- ^ Hahn 2015, p.14
- ^ Hahn 2015, p. 76
- ^ Hahn 2015, p, 199
- ^ Barone, Diane M. (8 March 2011). Children's Literature in the Classroom: Engaging Lifelong Readers. Guilford Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-60623-940-7.
- ^ "Raja Alem: "All my life, i tried to break the frame"". KAWA. 20 November 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ "Roberta Dapunt, info e libri dell'autore. Giulio Einaudi Editore". Einaudi (in Italian). Retrieved 22 August 2020.
- ^ "Nathan Englander". American Academy in Berlin. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ "Neel Mukherjeewebsite=Royal Society of Literature". Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ Mehra, Jagdish; Rechenberg, Helmut (28 December 2000). The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-387-95178-2.
- ^ Eric L. Haralson (21 January 2014). Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-317-76322-2.
- ^ Louise Heck-Rabi (1976). Sophie Treadwell: Subjects and Structures in 20th Century American Drama. Wayne State University. p. 181.
- ^ Aleksandr Mikhaĭlovich Prokhorov (1973). Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Macmillan. p. 327.
- ^ Harold Bloom (1995). Modern Mystery Writers. Chelsea House Publishers. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-7910-2375-4.
- ^ Meanjin Quarterly. University of Melbourne. 1970. p. 338.
- ^ Harold Oxbury (1985). Great Britons: Twentieth-century Lives. Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-19-211599-7.
- ^ Pennsylvania Biographical Dictionary. Somerset Publishers. 1999. p. 234. ISBN 0403099501.
- ^ Keri Edwards (2001). "Jones, Jack (1884-1970), author and playwright". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- ^ Leo Baeck Institute (1990). Catalog of the Archival Collections. Mohr Siebeck. p. 124. ISBN 978-3-16-145597-1.
- ^ Norman Page (22 January 1988). E-M-Forster. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-349-19008-9.
- ^ Gale Cengage (2002). Modern French Poets. Gale Group. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-7876-5252-4.
- ^ Bernard A. Cook (2001). Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 840. ISBN 978-0-8153-4058-4.
- ^ Konzett, Matthias (2000). Encyclopedia of German Literature. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 814. ISBN 9781135941222.
- ^ Jay Parini (2004). The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Oxford University Press. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-19-515653-9.
- ^ Igoe, Vivien (2001). Dublin burial grounds & graveyards. Dublin: Wolfhound Press. p. 179. ISBN 9780863278723.
- ^ Ove Røsbak. "Alf Prøysen, 1914–1970" (in Norwegian). Norsk Oversetterleksikon. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ Henry Scott Stokes (2000). The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-8154-1074-4.
- ^ Elizabeth A. Brennan; Elizabeth C. Clarage (1999). Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-57356-111-2.
- ^ Contemporary Novelists. St. James Press. 1972. p. 1188.