This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1958.
Events
January 7 – Tennessee Williams' one-act plays Suddenly, Last Summer and Something Unspoken are premièred off-Broadway. January 13 – In One, Inc. v. Olesen, the Supreme Court of the United States affirms that homosexual writing is not as such obscene. March 29 – The stage première of Max Frisch's dark comedy Biedermann und die Brandstifter (known in English as The Fire Raisers) takes place at the Schauspielhaus Zürich. April 28 – The première of Harold Pinter's play The Birthday Party is held at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in England, with Richard Pearson playing the lead as Stanley. May 19 – The London début of the production of Pinter's The Birthday Party, starring Richard Pearson, takes place at the Lyric Opera House (Hammersmith). It closes after a week, but its reputation is saved by a review by Harold Hobson in The Sunday Times on May 25. May 27 – The 19-year-old Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey is staged by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London. Littlewood had received the script with a covering letter stating "A fortnight ago I didn't know the theatre existed". Spring/Summer – London publishers Faber introduce their paper-covered editions, including T. S. Eliot's Collected Poems, William Golding's Lord of the Flies, J. W. Dunne's An Experiment with Time and the first of several science fiction anthologies edited by Edmund Crispin, all with covers designed by Berthold Wolpe based on the Albertus typeface. August 18 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States. c. September – Herbert Marcuse begins teaching at Brandeis University, Massachusetts. October 14 – Brendan Behan's play The Hostage is first performed in an English version by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London. Also this year, Behan's autobiographical Borstal Boy is published in London, and on November 12 it is banned in Ireland by the Censorship of Publications Board. October 23 – Announcement of the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Boris Pasternak leads to denunciation of him in the Soviet Union and threats to expel him. October 28 – Samuel Beckett's monologue Krapp's Last Tape is first performed by Patrick Magee at the Royal Court Theatre, London. Also this year, Beckett's novel The Unnamable is first published in English. November – Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's is published in this month's Esquire magazine (having been rejected for July's Harper's Bazaar). It appears soon afterwards as the title story in a collection published by Random House in New York City. unknown dates The first volume of Shelby Foote's military history The Civil War: A Narrative is published in the United States. Jack Kerouac writes and narrates the "beat" film, Pull My Daisy (released 1959). Ken Kesey is awarded a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship to enrol in the creative writing program at Stanford University. Mervyn Peake begins to develop Parkinson's disease.
New books Fiction Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart Kingsley Amis – I Like It Here Jorge Amado – Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon (Gabriela, Cravo e Canela) Louis Aragon – La Semaine Sainte Chingiz Aytmatov – Jamila Layla Balabakki – I Live (أنا أحيا) H. E. Bates – The Darling Buds of May Samuel Beckett – The Unnamable (author's translation of L'Innommable (1953)) Margot Bennett – Someone from the Past Thomas Berger – Crazy in Berlin John Bingham – Murder Plan Six James Blish – A Case of Conscience Anita Rowe Block – Love Is a Four Letter Word Joseph Payne Brennan – Nine Horrors and a Dream Algis Budrys Man of Earth Who? Dino Buzzati – Sessanta racconti Philip Callow – Common People Truman Capote – Breakfast at Tiffany's John Dickson Carr – The Dead Man's Knock Rosario Castellanos – Balún-Canán Henry Cecil – Sober as a Judge Raymond Chandler – Playback Agatha Christie – Ordeal by Innocence Richard Condon – The Oldest Confession A. J. Cronin The Innkeeper's Wife The Northern Light Cecil Day-Lewis – A Penknife in My Heart L. Sprague de Camp – An Elephant for Aristotle Patrick Dennis – Around the World with Auntie Mame August Derleth The Mask of Cthulhu The Return of Solar Pons Elaine Dundy – The Dud Avocado Marguerite Duras – Moderato Cantabile Lawrence Durrell Balthazar Mountolive Nawal El Saadawi – Memoirs of a Woman Doctor () Ian Fleming – Dr. No C. S. Forester – Hornblower in the West Indies Carlos Fuentes – Where the Air Is Clear (first published in Spanish as ) Peter George – Red Alert Rumer Godden – The Greengage Summer Julien Gracq – Balcony in the Forest (Un Balcon en forêt) Graham Greene – Our Man in Havana Cyril Hare – He Should Have Died Hereafter Marlen Haushofer – We Murder Stella (Wir töten Stella) A. P. Herbert – Made for Man Georgette Heyer – Venetia Thomas Hinde – Happy as Larry Harold L. Humes – The Underground City Emyr Humphreys – A Toy Epic Hammond Innes – The Land God Gave to Cain Michael Innes – The Long Farewell Rona Jaffe – The Best of Everything Anna Kavan – A Bright Green Field and Other Stories Jack Kerouac The Dharma Bums The Subterraneans Frances Parkinson Keyes – Victorine Audrey Erskine Lindop– I Thank a Fool Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (died 1957) – The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) E. C. R. Lorac – Murder on a Monument John D. MacDonald – The Executioners Ross Macdonald – The Doomsters Richard Matheson – A Stir of Echoes Gladys Mitchell – Spotted Hemlock Alberto Moravia – Two Women (La ciociara) Penelope Mortimer – Daddy's Gone A-Hunting Iris Murdoch – The Bell M. T. Vasudevan Nair – Naalukettu R. K. Narayan – The Guide Kenzaburō Ōe (大江 健三郎) – Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids (芽むしり仔撃ち, Memushiri ko-uchi) Maurice Procter – Man in Ambush Barbara Pym – A Glass of Blessings Jean Raspail – Welcome, Honourable Visitors Ernest Raymond – The Quiet Shore Mary Renault – The King Must Die Anya Seton – The Winthrop Woman Alan Sillitoe – Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Terry Southern (as Maxwell Kenton) – Candy Rex Stout And Four to Go Champagne for One Randolph Stow – To the Islands Yves Thériault – Agaguk Zaim Topčić – Lump of Sun (Grumen sunca) Robert Traver – Anatomy of a Murder Leon Uris – Exodus Jack Vance – The Languages of Pao Rex Warner – Young Caesar Jerome Weidman – The Enemy Camp T. H. White – The Once and Future King (combined edition) Angus Wilson – The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot S. Yizhar – Days of Ziklag (ימי צקלג, Yemei Tziklag)
Children and young people Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams – Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine Rev. W. Awdry – Duck and the Diesel Engine (thirteenth in The Railway Series of 42 books by him and his son Christopher Awdry) Enid Blyton – Five Get into a Fix Michael Bond – A Bear Called Paddington (introducing Paddington Bear) Bruce Carter – The Kidnapping of Kensington Anne de Vries – The New Day (De Nieuwe Dag, last in the Journey Through the Night – Reis door de nacht series) E. W. Hildick – Jim Starling (first of a series of seven) A. A. Milne, Latin by Alexander Lenard – Winnie ille Pu Elyne Mitchell – The Silver Brumby (first in the Silver Brumby series) Philippa Pearce – Tom's Midnight Garden Keith Robertson – Henry Reed Inc. (first in the Henry Reed series) Dr. Seuss – Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories Elizabeth George Speare – The Witch of Blackbird Pond William O. Steele – The Perilous Road Catherine Storr – Marianne Dreams Rosemary Sutcliff – Warrior Scarlet Nigel Tranter – Spaniard's Isle Henry Treece – The Children's Crusade
Drama Samuel Beckett – Krapp's Last Tape Brendan Behan – The Hostage Bertolt Brecht – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui, written 1941, first performed) Agatha Christie The Unexpected Guest Verdict Clemence Dane – Eighty in the Shade Refik Erduran – Bir Kilo Namus (One Kilo Honesty) Max Frisch – The Fire Raisers (Biedermann und die Brandstifter, first stage adaptation) Jean Genet – The Blacks: A Clown Show (Les Nègres, clownerie, first published) Kenneth Horne – Wolf's Clothing N. C. Hunter – A Touch of the Sun Ann Jellicoe – The Sport of My Mad Mother Ronald Millar – The Big Tickle Sławomir Mrożek – The Police (Policja) Heiner Müller and Inge Müller Die Korrektur (The Correction) Der Lohndrücker (The Scab, first performed) Mohan Rakesh – Ashadh Ka Ek Din (आषाढ़ का एक दिन, One Day in Ashadh) Barry Reckord – Flesh to a Tiger Elmer Rice – Cue for Passion Peter Shaffer – Five Finger Exercise N. F. Simpson – The Hole Wole Soyinka – The Swamp Dwellers Derek Walcott – Drums and Colours Arthur Watkyn – Not in the Book Arnold Wesker – Chicken Soup with Barley (first performed) Tennessee Williams – Suddenly, Last Summer
Poetry John Betjeman – Collected Poems Ko Un – Hyondae Munhak Octavio Paz – La estación violenta Eli Siegel – Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems Clark Ashton Smith – Spells and Philtres
Non-fiction Henri Alleg – La Question Hannah Arendt – The Human Condition Brendan Behan – Borstal Boy Shelby Foote – The Civil War: A Narrative – Vol 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville John Kenneth Galbraith – The Affluent Society J. Edgar Hoover – Masters of Deceit Aldous Huxley – Brave New World Revisited Claude Lévi-Strauss – Structural Anthropology Philip O'Connor – Memoirs of a Public Baby Eric Partridge – Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English John Maynard Smith – The Theory of Evolution John Steinbeck – Once There Was A War Raymond Williams – Culture and Society 1780–1950 Michael Young – The Rise of the Meritocracy
Births February 9 – Walid al-Kubaisi, Norwegian-Iraqi author, journalist, translator, film director and government scholar (died 2018) March 14 – James Robertson, Scottish novelist April 6 – Graeme Base, English-born Australian children's author and illustrator April 15 – Benjamin Zephaniah, English dub poet (died 2023) May 7 – Robert Antoni, West Indian novelist May 8 – Roddy Doyle, Irish novelist May 14 – Anna Höglund, Swedish writer and illustrator May 18 – Jonathan Maberry, American writer May 21 – Taku Ashibe (芦辺 拓), Japanese mystery novelist May 22 – Wayne Johnston, Canadian novelist May 26 – Moinul Ahsan Saber, Bangladeshi writer and editor June 10 – James F. Conant, American philosopher June 14 – Todur Zanet, Gagauz poet and translator June 16 – Isobelle Carmody, Australian science fiction, fantasy and children's writer June 22 – Bruce Campbell, American actor, producer, writer and director July 3 – Charlie Higson, English speculative fiction writer July 5 – Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (murdered 1996) August 15 – Victor Shenderovich, Russian writer August 29 – Michael Jackson, American pop singer, songwriter and author (died 2009) September 5 – Pierre Leroux, Canadian novelist, journalist and screenwriter October 30 – Flora Fraser, English biographer November 11 – Kathy Lette, Australian novelist, playwright and activist November 24 – Gregory Doran, English theater director December 2 – George Saunders, American fiction writer December 10 – Cornelia Funke, German children's author unknown dates Lionel Fogarty, indigenous Australian poet (died 2026) Margaret Smith, American poet Nega Mezlekia, Ethiopian writer
Deaths February 4 – Henry Kuttner, American science fiction author (born 1915) February 6 – Charles Langbridge Morgan, English novelist and dramatist (born 1894) February 24 – Herbert Adams, English writer of mystery novels (born 1874) March 15 – Michael Joseph, English publisher (born 1897) March 17 – Margiad Evans, Anglo-Welsh writer and poet (born 1909) March 21 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, American science fiction writer (born 1923) March 24 – Seumas O'Sullivan, Irish poet (born 1879) April 7 – Elliot Paul, American writer (born 1892) April 8 – Ethel Turner, English-born Australian novelist and children's author (born 1873) May 5 – James Branch Cabell, American fantasy author (born 1879)