This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1969.
Children and young people
Eric Carle – The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Frances Carpenter – South American Wonder Tales
Penelope Farmer – Charlotte Sometimes
Paul Gallico – The Poseidon Adventure
Rumer Godden – Operation Sippacik
Ruth Park – The Muddle-Headed Wombat on a Rainy Day
Gary Paulsen – Mr. Tucket (first in Mr. Tucket series)
William Steig – Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Elfrida Vipont with Raymond Briggs – The Elephant and the Bad Baby
Anne de Vries – Into the Darkness (first in the Reis door de nacht series of five books)
Bill Peet – Fly Homer Fly
Leilah Assunção – Fala Baixo Senão Eu Grito (Speak Quietly or I’ll Scream)
Aimé Césaire – Une Tempête
Dario Fo – Mistero Buffo
Athol Fugard – Boesman and Lena
Joe Orton – What the Butler Saw (posthumously premiered and published)
Dennis Potter – Son of Man (television)
Dalmiro Sáenz – Quién yo? (Who me?)
David Storey – In Celebration
James Schuyler – Freely Espousing
Dean Acheson – Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department
Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
H. Rap Brown – Die Nigger Die!
Henri Charrière – Papillon
L. Sprague de Camp and George H. Scithers (editors) – The Conan Swordbook
Antonia Fraser – Mary, Queen of Scots
Peter Geach – God and the Soul
Søren Hansen and Jesper Jensen – The Little Red Schoolbook (Den Lille Røde Bog For Skoleelever)
Anton LaVey – The Satanic Bible
Laurie Lee – As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
Peter Maas – The Valachi Papers
Desmond Morris – The Human Zoo
Harold Perkin – The Origins of Modern English Society 1780–1880
Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull – The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong
David Reuben – Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
January 12 – David Mitchell, English novelist
January 17 – Michael Moynihan, American journalist and publisher
January 21 – M. K. Hobson, American speculative fiction author
March – Jez Butterworth, English dramatist and screenwriter
May 6 – Emmanuel Larcenet, French comics author
May 28 – Muriel Barbery, French novelist
May 29 – Qiu Miaojin (邱妙津), Korean-born novelist (suicide 1995)
July 5 – Armin Kõomägi, Estonian author and screenwriter
August 4 – Jojo Moyes, English journalist and romantic novelist
October 24 – Emma Donoghue, Irish-born Canadian novelist, dramatist, and academic
November 13 – John Belluso, American dramatist (died 2006)
November 28 – Hanne Ørstavik, Norwegian novelist
November 30 – David Auburn, American dramatist
Unknown dates
Adrian Goldsworthy, British military historian and novelist
John Harris, English writer, journalist and critic
Tom McCarthy, English novelist
January 11 – Richmal Crompton, English children's writer (born 1890)
January 21 – Giovanni Comisso, Italian writer (born 1895)
March 11 – John Wyndham, English science fiction novelist (born 1903)
March 24 – Margery Fish, English gardening writer (born 1892)
March 26 – John Kennedy Toole, American novelist (suicide, born 1937)
March 27 – B. Traven, presumed German-born novelist (unknown year of birth)
May 4 – Osbert Sitwell, English novelist and poet (born 1892)
July 24 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish playwright and novelist (born 1904)
July 27 – Vivian de Sola Pinto, English poet and memoirist (born 1895)
August 14 – Leonard Woolf, English political theorist (born 1880)
August 27 – Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (born 1884)
September 6 – Gavin Maxwell, Scottish naturalist and author (cancer, born 1914)
September 17 – Greye La Spina, American dramatist and short story writer (born 1880)
September 20 – Elinor Brent-Dyer, English children's writer (born 1894)
October 21 – Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet (internal hemorrhage, born 1922)
Unknown date – Rachel Davis Harris, African American librarian (born 1869)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Samuel Beckett
See 1969 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Prix Goncourt: Félicien Marceau, Creezy
Prix Médicis: Hélène Cixous, Dedans
Booker Prize: P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For
Carnegie Medal for children's literature: K. M. Peyton, The Edge of the Cloud
Cholmondeley Award: Derek Walcott, Tony Harrison
Eric Gregory Award: Gavin Bantock, Jeremy Hooker, Jenny King, Neil Powell, Landeg E. White
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Elizabeth Bowen, Eva Trout
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Stevie Smith
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Tennessee Williams
Hugo Award: John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar
Nebula Award: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Lloyd Alexander, The High King
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Howard Sackler, The Great White Hope
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: N. Scott Momaday – House Made of Dawn
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: George Oppen: Of Being Numerous
Miles Franklin Award: George Johnston, Clean Straw for Nothing
Premio Nadal: Francisco García Pavón Las hermanas coloradas
Viareggio Prize: Fulvio Tomizza, L'albero dei sogni
1969 in literature Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
