This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1968.
Events
January 1 – Cecil Day-Lewis is announced as the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. April – The American edition of Andrew Garve's thriller The Long Short Cut becomes the first book printed completely by electronically-controlled typesetting (electronic composition). May – The Action Theater in Munich is disbanded after its building is wrecked by one of its founders, jealous of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's growing power in the group. June 17 – Tom Stoppard's parodic comedy The Real Inspector Hound opens at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End, starring Richard Briers and Ronnie Barker. July 28 – Last Exit to Brooklyn is cleared of obscenity in the English appeal court. John Mortimer appears for the defence. September 26 – Theatres Act 1968 (royal assent July 26) ends censorship of the theatre in the United Kingdom. November – The English novelist Anthony Burgess and his new wife Liana settle in Lija on Malta. unknown dates The first translations and book-length discussion of the Sumerian high priestess Enheduanna's work is published. Dean R. Koontz's first novel, Star Quest, is published by Ace Books in the United States. The Arvon Foundation is established by young poets John Fairfax and John Moat in the UK to promote creative writing.
New books
Fiction Ayi Kwei Armah – The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born Elizabeth Bowen – Eva Trout Anthony Burgess – Enderby Outside Victor Canning – The Melting Man Agatha Christie - By the Pricking of My Thumbs Cormac McCarthy – Outer Dark Per Anders Fogelström – Stad i världen Michael Innes – Appleby at Allington John Irving – Setting Free the Bears Halldór Laxness – Kristnihald undir jökli (Christianity under the Glacier) John le Carré – A Small Town in Germany Helen MacInnes – The Salzburg Connection Ngaio Marsh – Clutch of Constables N. Scott Momaday – House Made of DawnScarberry-García, Susan. Landmarks of Healing: a Study of House Made of Dawn. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1990. Print. Brian Moore – I Am Mary Dunne Fănuș Neagu – Îngerul a strigat ("The Angel Has Shouted") Anthony Powell – The Military PhilosophersBarnes, Simon, "Magic in Action: Coincidences in A Dance to the Music of Time." Secret Harmonies 10 (Spring 2023):149-157. Giorgio Scerbanenco – I ragazzi del massacro Robert Silverberg – The Masks of Time Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – Cancer Ward (, Rakovy Korpus) Muriel Spark – The Public Image
Children and young people Lloyd Alexander – The High King Joan Aiken – The Whispering Mountain Peter S. Beagle - The Last Unicorn Don Freeman – Corduroy Russell Hoban – The Mouse and His Child Ted Hughes – The Iron Man Judith Kerr – The Tiger Who Came to Tea Alexander Key – Escape to Witch Mountain David McKee – Elmer the Patchwork Elephant Robert C. O'Brien – The Silver Crown Jill Tomlinson – The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark Paul Zindel – The Pigman (first in The Pigman trilogy)
Drama Arthur Miller - The Price Michel Tremblay – Les Belles-Sœurs
Poetry
Non-fiction Eldridge Cleaver – Soul on Ice Joan Didion – Slouching Towards Bethlehem Esther Hautzig – The Endless Steppe (autobiography) Bevis Hillier – Art Deco of the 20s and 30s Pauline Kael – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Gershon Legman – Rationale of the Dirty Joke Peter Maas – The Valachi Papers Erich von Däniken – Chariots of the Gods? (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft) Citing Der Spiegel, in issue 12/1969 (March 17, 1969), p. 184 and issue 12/1973 (March 19, 1973), p. 145. Gwyn Thomas – A Few Selected Exits James D. Watson – The Double Helix
Births March 28 – Iris Chang, American historian and journalist (died 2004) July 7 – Jeff VanderMeer, American writer and editor October 7 – Rachel Kushner, American writer unknown dates Brock Clarke, American writer Fatou Diome, French-Senegalese writer K. V. Johansen, Canadian children's author Park Min-gyu, South Korean writer
Deaths January 21 – Will Lang, Jr., American journalist (born 1914) March 23 – Edwin O'Connor, American journalist, novelist, and radio commentator (born 1918) April 4 - Muhammad Taha al-Huwayzi, Iranian-Iraqi Ja'fari jurist, religious teacher and poet (born 1889) April 16 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1885) April 27 – Vasily Azhayev, Soviet writer (born 1915) April 29 – Anthony Boucher, American author, critic, and editor (born 1911) May 1 – Sir Harold Nicolson, British biographer (born 1886) May 30 – Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor, Romanian anthropologist, ethnographer and children's writer (born 1900) May 31 – Abel Bonnard, French poet, novelist and politician (born 1883) June 1 – Helen Keller, deaf-blind American author, activist and lecturer (born 1880) August 21 - Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian writer (born 1893) November 17 – Mervyn Peake, English novelist (dementia, born 1911) November 25 – Upton Sinclair, American novelist and politician (born 1878) November 28 – Enid Blyton, English author and poet (born 1897) December 5 – Anna Kavan, British novelist, short story writer and painter (born 1901) December 20 – John Steinbeck, American novelist (congestive heart failure, born 1902) December 24 – D. Gwenallt Jones, Welsh poet (born 1899)
Awards Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Léopold Sédar Senghor Hugo Award for Best Novella: Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer / Weyr Search by Anne McCaffrey
References
Sources
External links Popular Books of 1968 at Goodreads Published 1968 Books at Goodreads 1968 Books at Goodreads