2014 Event French author Patrick Modiano receives the Nobel Prize in Literature, winning the award over noted poet Adonis and writers Haruki Murakami, Svetlana Alexievich, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o 2013 Event The 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Canadian writer Alice Munro 2012 Event The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Chinese author Mo Yan, famous for the hallucinatory realism writing style 2012 Event The brother of Columbian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1982 Nobel Prize of Literature recipient, announces he suffers from Dementia and can no longer write 2012 Event German poet, Gunter Grass, awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature, is declared a persona non grata by the Internal Affairs Minister of Israel, over his poem, 'What Must Be Said.' 2011 Event The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer 2010 Event Mario Vargas Llosa is announced the winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature 2006 Death Karin Struck, author, wrote women's literature, politically liberal, openly opposes abortion, converted to Catholicism, 1996 dies 1998 Death Octavio Paz, writer, won Nobel prize winner for literature in 1990, dies at 84 1998 Death Laxness, Iceland's Nobel Literature laureate, dies at 95 1997 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Dario Fo 1996 Death Nico Kiasashvii, professor of English Literature, dies at 69 1995 Death Fernand Lodewick, literature historian (Literature), dies at 85 1994 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Kenzaburo Oe 1993 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Toni Morrison 1992 Event Nobel Prize for literature is given to West Indies poet Derek Walcott 1990 Event Octavio Paz wins Nobel Prize for literature 1988 Event Naguib Mahfouz is 1st Arabic writer to win Nobel literature prize 1988 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Naguib Mahfouz 1987 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Joseph Brodsky 1985 Event French author Claude Simon won the Nobel Prize in literature 1985 Death Gerard Schmook, Flemish literature historian/custodian, dies at 86 1982 Death Gerard[us PM] Knuvelder, literature historian (Anthology), dies 1980 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Czeslaw Milosz 1978 Event Isaac Bashevis Singer wins Nobel Prize for literature 1976 Event American Saul Bellow wins Nobel Prize for Literature 1976 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Saul Bellow 1976 Death Eugen Roth, songwriter, humorous poet, wrote, 'Ein Mensch' or 'Humans', won Munich art prize for literature, 1952, dies at 81 in Munich, Germany 1975 Death Ivo Andric, writer, novelist, awarded Nobel Prize for Literature, wrote 'Bosnian Chronicle', 'The Bridge on the Drina', dies in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, at age 82 1971 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Pablo Neruda 1970 Event Soviet author Alexander I Solzhenitsyn wins Nobel Prize for Literature 1970 Death Desiderius A Stracke, Flemish jesuit/literature historian, dies at 94 1967 Death Herman Uyttersprot, Flemish literature historian, dies at 58 1966 Event Israeli Shmuel Yosef Agnon wins Nobel Prize for literature 1962 Event American author John Steinbeck awarded Nobel Prize in literature 1961 Birthday Tom Holt, born in London, author, British novelist, writes mythopoeic novels that parody mythology, history, literature 1961 Birthday David Leavitt, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, writer, gay literature, professor at Princeton, author of, 'The Lost Language of Cranes', 'The Body of Jonah Boyd', 'The Indian Clerk' 1959 Death Gustave Charlier, Belgian literature historian, dies 1958 Event Boris Pasternak refuses Nobel prize for literature 1958 Event Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak, wins Nobel Prize for Literature 1957 Event French author Albert Camus awarded Nobel Prize in Literature 1956 Death Ernst R Curtius, German literature historian, dies at 70 1954 Birthday Sandra Cisneros, born in Chicago, Illinois, author, wrote, 'The House on Mango Street', 'Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories', a figure in Chicana literature 1954 Event Ernest Hemingway wins Nobel prize for literature 1954 Event Nobel prize for literature awarded to Ernest Hemingway 1954 Death Jan Kalf, Dutch literature/art historian, dies at 80 1953 Death Douwe Kalma, Fries literature/christian-socialist, dies at 57 1953 Death Emil Ermatinger, Switzerland, literature critic, dies at 80 1953 Death Johannes B Tielrooy, literature (French Living Lesson), dies at 66 1953 Event Georgia approves U.S. 1st literature censorship board 1952 Birthday Orhan Pamuk, born in Istanbul, Turkey, novelist, professor in the Humanities, teaching comparative literature, writing, at Columbia University, received 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature 1951 Death Georges Rency, Belgian poet/literature, dies at 75 1950 Event Nobel for literature awarded to William Faulkner 1948 Event T. S. Eliot wins Nobel Prize for literature 1947 Event PC Hooft prize forms for literature 1947 Birthday Karin Struck, born in Germany, author, wrote women's literature, politically liberal, openly opposes abortion, converted to Catholicism, 1996 1946 Birthday Elfriede Jelinek, born in Murzzuschlag, Austria, writer, playwright, novelist, member, Austria's Communist Party, awarded Nobel Prize in Literature, 2004 1944 Death Camille Looten, Belgian priest/literature historian, dies 1944 Death Paul Hazard, French literature historian, dies at 65 1943 Death Walter Brandligt, literature/resistance fighter, executed at 42 1940 Death Walter Benjamin, German/French literature critic/writer, dies at 48 1939 Birthday Seamus Heaney, born in Ireland, poet, writer, poetry professor at the University of Oxford, Nobel Prize in Literature recipient, wrote play The Cure at Troy, Seeing Things, The Spirit Level, Beowulf: A New Translation 1938 Event Nobel for literature awarded to Pearl Buck (Good Earth) 1937 Death Albert Verwey, Dutch poet/literature historian (Motion), dies at 71 1936 Event Nobel for literature awarded to Eugene O'Neill 1935 Death Lodewijk Scharpe, Flemish literature historian, dies at 65 1934 Birthday Adolf Muschg, born in Zollikon, canton of Zurich, writer, German language and literature professor, wrote provocative works, including If Auschwitz is in Switzerland 1930 Event Nobel for literature awarded to Sinclair Lewis for "Babbitt" 1927 Birthday Oskar Pastior, born in Sibiu, Romania, poet, writer, translator, studied German at University of Bucharest, translated Romanian literature into German, among other works by Tudor Arghezi, Tristan Tzara, Gellu Naum, Urmuz 1926 Death August Sauer, Austria literature historian, dies at 70 1926 Birthday Nico Kiasashvii, professor of English Literature 1922 Event Newberry Medal 1st presented for kids literature (Hendrik Van Loon) 1918 Death Henry Adams, U.S. literature historian (Esther), dies at 80 1918 Birthday Jack Morpurgo, American Literature scholar, Leeds University 1917 Birthday Gerrit Borgers, literature 1915 Birthday Hans [Henri A] Gomperts, Dutch literature, Duck on Attic 1915 Birthday Alfred Kazin, U.S. writer/literature critic, Inmost Leaf 1913 Birthday Claude Simon, born in Antananarivo, Madagascar, writer, prize-winning author, 1985 Nobel Laureate in Literature, identified with the nouveau roman movement 1910 Birthday Cao Yu, born in China, born Wan Jiabao, playwright, dramatist, celebrated for Thunderstorm, Sunrise, and Peking Man, responsible for spoken theater in 20th century Chinese literature 1909 Birthday Fernand Lodewick, literature historian 1909 Birthday Herman Uyttersprot, Flemish literature historian 1909 Birthday Rene Etiemble, French literature historian, Parlez-vous Franglais 1907 Event Ruyard Kipling receives Nobel prize for literature 1907 Birthday Leon Edel, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, biographer, literary critic, wrote biography of Henry James, won Pulitzer Prize, wrote on James Joyce, taught literature at Sir George Williams University, now Concordia University 1906 Birthday John Humphreys Whitfield, scholar of Italian language and literature 1906 Birthday Henry Roth, born in Galicia, Austro-Hungary, writer, short story writer, novelist, Call It Sleep considered masterpiece of Jewish American literature 1902 Birthday Gerard P M Knuvelder, Dutch literature historian, Vocation, Kitty 1900 Birthday Korneel Goossens, Flemish literature/art historian 1900 Birthday James Sutherland, English literature scholar/actor, Rob Roy 1953 1899 Birthday George Calinescu, Romania, literature, Enigma Otilei 1899 Birthday Kawabata Yasunari, Zen writer, Nobel Literature 1968 1897 Birthday Bernard Verhoeven, poet/literature, About the Laugh 1895 Birthday Eugen Roth, born in Munich, Germany, songwriter, humorous poet, wrote, 'Ein Mensch' or 'Humans', won Munich art prize for literature, 1952 1893 Death Cornelis E van Koetsveld, Dutch vicar/literature, dies at 86 1892 Birthday Ivo Andric, born in Dolac, Bosnia, writer, novelist, awarded Nobel Prize for Literature, wrote 'Bosnian Chronicle', 'The Bridge on the Drina' 1892 Birthday Walter Benjamin, German literature critic/writer 1887 Birthday Francis Bull, Norway, writer, Norsk literature historian 1887 Death Pavel Annenkov, Russian literature historian, dies at 73 1887 Death Pavel Annenkov, Russian literature historian/critic, dies at 73 1887 Death Multatuli, writer, named most important Dutch writer of all time, 2002, Society for Dutch literature, dies in Ingelheim am Rhine, Germany 1886 Death Wilhelm Scherer, German literature historian, dies at 45 1886 Birthday Ernst R. Curtius, German literature historian 1885 Birthday Gustave Charlier, Belgian literature historian/critic 1881 Death Fredrik Cygnaeus, Finnish poet/literature critic, dies at 73 1878 Birthday Paul Hazard, French literature historian 1875 Birthday Desiderius A. Stracke, Flemish jesuit/literature historian 1873 Birthday Emil Ermatinger, born in Switzerland, literature historian 1872 Death Johan R Thorbecke, literature/liberal premier, dies 1871 Birthday Nicolae Iorga, writer/poet/literature historian/president of Romania 1869 Birthday Lodewijk Scharpe, Flemish literature historian 1865 Birthday Albert Verwey, Dutch poet/literature historian, Motion 1859 Birthday Karl Bleibtreu, German author, Revolution of Literature 1855 Birthday Camille Looten, Belgian priest/literature historian 1855 Birthday August Sauer, Austria literature historian, Euphorion 1854 Death Matthijs Siegenbeek, literature (Defeated German Spelling), dies 1848 Death Vissarion G Belinski, Russian literature critic, dies 1841 Birthday Wilhelm Scherer, German literature historian 1840 Death John H van de Palm, theologist/literature/speaker, dies at 77 1820 Birthday Multatuli, born in Amsterdam, Eduard Douwes Dekker, writer, named most important Dutch writer of all time, 2002, Society for Dutch literature 1813 Birthday Pavel Annenkov, Rus literature historian, Zametsjatelnoje desjatileti 1807 Birthday Cornelis E van Koetsveld, vicar/literature 1807 Birthday Fredrik Cygnaeus, Finnish poet and literature critic 1781 Death Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, writer, dramatist, art critic, Enlightenment era writer, influenced development of German literature, dies at 52 in Braunschweig, Germany 1756 Birthday Willem Bilderdijk, Dutch poet/literature, Disease of Scientists 1729 Birthday Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, born in Kamenz, Germany, writer, dramatist, art critic, Enlightenment era writer, influenced development of German literature 1711 Death Arnold Moonen, vicar/literature (Defeated German Spraekkunst), dies 1684 Birthday Ludvig Baron Holberg, founder, Danish and Norwegian literature 1644 Birthday Arnold Moonen, Dutch vicar/literature, David's holy saint graduals 1604 Death Janus Dousa, Johan van de Does, literature/politician, dies at 58 1273 Death Rumi, Mawlana, Mawlawi, poet, theologian, wrote, the six books of the Masnavi, influenced Persian literature, dies 1207 Birthday Rumi, born in Balkh, Khorasan, now Afghanistan, Mawlana, Mawlawi, poet, theologian, wrote, the six books of the Masnavi, influenced Persian literature
