1956 in literature

Events

• Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person to ever win the Prix Goncourt twice.

• Finished in 1952, Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy[?] (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street), is first published.

New Books

• Andersonville - MacKinlay Kantor[?]
• Aniara (poetry) - Harry Martinson
• Auntie Mame - Patrick Dennis[?]
• Boon Island[?] - Kenneth Roberts[?]
• Cairo Trilogy[?] - Naguib Mahfouz
• A Certain Smile[?] - Françoise Sagan[?]
• Diamonds Are Forever - Ian Fleming
• Don't Go Near the Water[?] - William Brinkley[?]
• Eloise[?] - Kay Thompson[?]
• The Fall (La Chute) - Albert Camus
• Heike Story[?] - Yoshikawa Eiji[?]
• Howl and Other Poems[?] - Allen Ginsberg
• The Last Battle[?] - C. S. Lewis
• The Last Hurrah[?] - Edwin O'Connor[?]
• The Last of the Wine[?] - Mary Renault
• The Mandarins[?] - Simone de Beauvoir
• Minority Report - Philip K. Dick
• Misty of Chincoteague[?] - Marguerite Henry[?]
• The Mysterious North[?] - Pierre Berton
• The Nun's Story - Kathryn Hulme
• Palace Walk[?] - Naguib Mahfouz
• Peyton Place - Grace Metalious[?]
• Les racines du ciel[?] - Romain Gary
• Seize the Day[?] - Saul Bellow
• The Sweet Science[?] - A. J. Liebling[?]
• Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold[?] - C. S. Lewis
• The Tribe That Lost Its Head[?] - Nicholas Monsarrat[?]
• The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster[?] - Norman Mailer

Births

• June 9 - Patricia Cornwell

Deaths

• January 31 - A.A. Milne

Awards

• Newberry Medal for children's literature: Jean Lee Latham[?], Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
• Nobel Prize for literature: Juan Ramón Jiménez
• Prix Goncourt: Romain Gary for Les racines du ciel
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Albert Hackett[?], Frances Goodrich[?], Diary of Anne Frank
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: MacKinlay Kantor[?] - Andersonville
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop: Poems - North & South