1953 in literature

Events

• January 22 - The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opens on Broadway.

• February 19 - Censorship: The State of Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States.

• After five years as an English Teacher, Frederick Buechner moves to New York to become a full time writer.

• Go Tell It on the Mountain[?] by James Baldwin is published. In 2001, the book would be named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.

New Books

• The Adventures of Augie March[?] - Saul Bellow
• Battle Cry[?] - Leon Uris
• Beyond This Place[?] - A.J. Cronin
• The Bridges at Toko-Ri[?] - James A. Michener
• Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
• The Cornerstone[?] - Zoe B. Oldenbourg[?]
• The Demolished Man[?] - Alfred Bester
• Désirée[?] - Annemarie Selinko[?]
• Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
• From Here to Eternity - James Jones[?]
• Go Tell It on the Mountain[?] - James Baldwin
• Heartsnatcher[?] - Boris Vian
• The High and the Mighty[?] - Ernest K. Gann[?]
• A Kiss Before Dying[?] - Ira Levin
• The Long Goodbye[?] - Raymond Chandler
• Lord Vanity[?] - Samuel Shellabarger
• Madame de Pompadour[?] - Nancy Mitford
• Maud Martha[?] - Gwendolyn Brooks[?]
• The Robe - Lloyd C. Douglas[?]
• The Silver Chair[?] - C. S. Lewis
• The Sojourner[?] - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings[?]
• Time and Time Again[?] - James Hilton
• The Unconquered[?] - Ben Ames Williams[?]

Births

• March 12 - Carl Hiaasen, author

Deaths

• April 4 - Rachilde[?] (Marguerite Vallette-Eymery), French author
• November 8 - John van Melle, South African author
• November 9 - Dylan Thomas, poet and author
• November 27 - Eugene O'Neill, playwright
• November 30 - Francis Picabia, painter, poet

Awards

• Newberry Medal for children's literature: Ann Nolan Clark[?], Secret of the Andes
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: William Inge, Picnic
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Archibald MacLeish[?]: Collected Poems 1917-1952