This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1956.

Events

c. January – The first book in Ed McBain's long-running 87th Precinct police procedural series, Cop Hater, is published in the United States under Evan Hunter's new pseudonym. February 2 – Eugene O'Neill's semi-autobiographical Long Day's Journey into Night (completed in 1942) receives a posthumous world première at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, in Swedish (Lång dags färd mot natt), directed by Bengt Ekerot and starring Lars Hanson. Its Broadway debut at the Helen Hayes Theatre on November 7 follows an American première at the Shubert Theatre (New Haven). February 25 – The English poet Ted Hughes and American poet Sylvia Plath meet in Cambridge, England. March 11 – The U.S. release of Sir Laurence Olivier's film version of Shakespeare's Richard III plays simultaneously on NBC network television and as afternoon matinée screenings in movie theaters. Its TV audience is put at 25–40 million – almost certainly the largest to date for a Shakespeare production. March 19 – The widowed English author Aldous Huxley marries the Italian-American film-maker and author Laura Archera at a drive-in wedding chapel in Yuma, Arizona. April 23 – The British author C. S. Lewis and American poet Joy Gresham have a civil marriage at Oxford register office.42, St Giles'. May 8 – The first performance of John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger is given by the newly formed English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The principal cast are Kenneth Haigh, Mary Ure (who begins an affair with Osborne) and Alan Bates (in his first major role). The press release describes Osborne as one of the angry young men of the time, a phrase used on July 26 in a Daily Express headline. June 16 – Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath marry at St George the Martyr, Holborn in the London Borough of Camden. June 21 – Playwright Arthur Miller appears before the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, D.C. June 26 and August 23 – Books published by the discredited psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich are burned in the United States under a court injunction. June – Nineteen-year-old Hunter S. Thompson is arrested as an accessory to robbery. June 29 – Arthur Miller marries Marilyn Monroe in White Plains, New York. July – After pleas by Israeli diplomats, the Romanian communist regime releases A. L. Zissu, formally sentenced to life imprisonment in 1954. Zissu emigrates to Israel, where he dies on September 6. July 4 – The National Library of Scotland's first purpose-built premises open in Edinburgh. July 8 – The drama series Armchair Theatre, produced by ABC Weekend TV for the ITV network in the United Kingdom, begins a twelve-year run. August 14 – Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley at Oxford register office. September 14 – Harold Pinter marries Vivien Merchant in a civil ceremony at Bournemouth, after they meet while touring in repertory theatre. October – The Ladder becomes the first nationally distributed lesbian magazine in the United States. November 1 – Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems, a signal work of the Beat Generation, is published by City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. December J. G. Ballard's first professional publications, the science fiction short stories "Escapement" and "Prima Belladonna", appear in this month's issues of New Worlds and Science Fantasy respectively. Martin Gardner begins his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American. December 3 – The author Romain Gary wins the Prix Goncourt for Les Racines du ciel. He would later become the only person to win the prize twice, publishing La Vie devant soi under the pseudonym Émile Ajar in 1975. unknown dates Finished in 1952, Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street), is first published. Sixteen-year-old Michael Moorcock becomes editor of Tarzan Adventures. Jorge Luis Borges becomes a professor of English and American literature at the University of Buenos Aires.

New books Fiction Nelson Algren – A Walk on the Wild Side Eric Ambler – The Night-Comers Kingsley Amis – That Uncertain Feeling Poul Anderson – Planet of No Return Charlotte Armstrong – A Dram of Poison Isaac Asimov – The Naked Sun James Baldwin – Giovanni's Room Sybille Bedford – A Legacy Saul Bellow – Seize the Day Pierre Berton – The Mysterious North Alfred Bester – The Stars My Destination (as Tiger! Tiger!) W. E. Bowman – The Ascent of Rum Doodle Pearl S. Buck – Imperial Woman John Bude – A Telegram from Le Touquet Anthony Burgess – Time for a Tiger Albert Camus – The Fall (La Chute) John Dickson Carr Patrick Butler for the Defense Fear is the Same (as Carter Dickson) Henry Cecil – Friends at Court Agatha Christie Dead Man's Folly "The Burden" Arthur C. Clarke – The City and the Stars A. J. Cronin A Thing of Beauty Crusader's Tomb Antonio di Benedetto – Zama Cecil Day-Lewis – A Tangled Web Nh. Dini – Dua Dunia (Two Worlds, stories) Philip K. Dick The Man Who Japed The Minority Report Gordon R. Dickson Alien From Arcturus Mankind on the Run Alfred Döblin – Tales of a Long Night (Hamlet oder Die lange Nacht nimmt ein Ende) Friedrich Dürrenmatt – A Dangerous Game (Die Panne – The Breakdown – or Traps) Ian Fleming – Diamonds Are Forever Naomi Frankel – Shaul ve-Yohannah (שאול ויוהאנה, "Saul and Joanna", publication begins) Sarah Gainham – Time Right Deadly Romain Gary – Les Racines du ciel William Golding – Pincher Martin Winston Graham – The Sleeping Partner Walter Greenwood – Down by the Sea Edward Grierson – The Second Man Henri René Guieu – Les Monstres du Néant Mark Harris – Bang the Drum Slowly Frank Herbert – The Dragon in the Sea (first book publication) Georgette Heyer – Sprig Muslin Kathryn Hulme – The Nun's Story James Kennaway – Tunes of Glory Feri Lainšček – Petelinji zajtrk Meyer Levin – Compulsion C. S. Lewis – Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold E. C. R. Lorac – Murder in Vienna Rose Macaulay – The Towers of Trebizond Ross Macdonald – The Barbarous Coast Compton Mackenzie – Thin Ice Ed McBain – Cop Hater Naguib Mahfouz – Palace Walk (بين القصرين, Bein el-Qasrein, first of the Cairo Trilogy) Ngaio Marsh – Off with His Head Grace Metalious – Peyton Place Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) – The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (金閣寺) Gladys Mitchell – Twelve Horses and the Hangman's Noose Nicholas Monsarrat – The Tribe that Lost its Head Farley Mowat – Lost in the Barrens Agnar Mykle – The Song of the Red Ruby (Sangen om den røde rubin) Patrick O'Brian – The Golden Ocean Edwin O'Connor – The Last Hurrah Pier Paolo Pasolini – Ragazzi di vita Mervyn Peake – Boy in Darkness Mary Renault – The Last of the Wine Kenneth Roberts – Boon Island João Guimarães Rosa – The Devil to Pay in the Backlands (Grande Sertão: Veredas) Françoise Sagan – A Certain Smile (Un certain Sourire) Samuel Selvon – The Lonely Londoners Irwin Shaw – Lucy Crown Georges Simenon – The Little Man from Archangel (Le Petit Homme d'Arkhangelsk) Khushwant Singh – Train to Pakistan Rex Stout Might as Well Be Dead Three Witnesses Julian Symons – The Paper Chase A. E. van Vogt – The Wizard of Linn Heimito von Doderer – Die Dämonen. Nach der Chronik des Sektionsrates Geyrenhoff (The Demons) Angus Wilson – Anglo-Saxon Attitudes P. G. Wodehouse – French Leave Kateb Yacine – Nedjma Frank Yerby – Captain Rebel Eiji Yoshikawa (吉川 英治) – The Heike Story: A Modern Translation of the Classic Tale of Love and War (Shin Heike monogatari, a retelling of The Tale of the Heike) Francis Brett Young – Wistanslow

Children and young people Rev. W. Awdry – Percy the Small Engine (eleventh in The Railway Series of 42 books by him and his son Christopher Awdry) Polly Cameron – The Cat Who Thought He Was a Tiger R. F. Delderfield – The Adventures of Ben Gunn Fred Gipson – Old Yeller Rumer Godden – The Fairy Doll C. S. Lewis – The Last BattleHahn 2015, p. 410 Alf Prøysen – Little Old Mrs Pepperpot (first in a long series of Mrs Pepperpot – Teskjekjerringa – books) Maurice Sendak – Kenny's WindowHahn 2015, p. 526 Ian Serraillier – The Silver SwordHahn 2015, p. 528 Dodie Smith – The Hundred and One DalmatiansHahn 2015, p. 541 Virginia Sorensen – Miracles on Maple HillHahn 2015, p. 545 Eve Titus – Anatole (first in the Anatole and Basil series of 14 books)

Drama Jean Anouilh – Pauvre Bitos, ou Le dîner de têtes (Poor Bitos) Ferdinand Bruckner – The Fight with the Angel (Der Kampf mit dem Engel) José Manuel Castañón – Moletú-Volevá Agatha Christie and Gerald Verner – Towards Zero Noël Coward – Nude with Violin Friedrich Dürrenmatt – The Visit (Der Besuch der alten Dame) Max Frisch – Philipp Hotz's Fury (Die Grosse Wut des Philipp Hotz) Anna Langfus – Les Lepreux (The Lepers, first performed) Hugh Leonard – The Birthday Party Saunders Lewis – Siwan Bruce Mason – The Pohutukawa Tree Ronald Millar – The Bride and the Bachelor Arthur Miller – A View from the Bridge (revised version) Hugh Mills – The House by the Lake Yukio Mishima – Rokumeikan Heiner Müller and Inge Müller – Der Lohndrücker (The Scab, written) Eugene O'Neill – Long Day's Journey into Night John Osborne – Look Back in Anger Arnold Wesker – Chicken Soup with Barley (written)

Poetry Allen Ginsberg – Howl Anne Morrow Lindbergh – The Unicorn and Other Poems Harry Martinson – Aniara Yevgeny Yevtushenko – Stantsiia Zima (Станция Зима, Zima Station, translated as Winter Station)

Non-fiction Peter Frederick Anson – The Call of the Cloister: Religious Communities and Kindred Bodies in the Anglican Communion* John G. Bennett – Dramatic Universe Peter M. Blau – Bureaucracy in Modern Society Gerald Durrell – My Family and Other Animals Margery Fish – We Made a Garden Georges Friedmann – Le travail en miettes (The Anatomy of Work) Erving Goffman – The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Carl Gustav Jung – Mysterium Coniunctionis A. J. Liebling – The Sweet Science Norman Mailer – The White Negro Karl Mannheim – Essays on the Sociology of Culture C. Wright Mills – The Power Elite Alva Myrdal and Viola Klein – Women's Two Roles: Home and Work Octavio Paz – El arco y la lira Lobsang Rampa – The Third Eye Irving Stone – Men to Match My Mountains (Account of the opening of the American Old West, 1840–1900) John Strachey – Contemporary Capitalism

Births January 2 – Storm Constantine, British science fiction and fantasy author January 4 – Sarojini Sahoo, Indian journalist, author, and poet January 8 – Jack Womack, American novelist January 10 – Antonio Muñoz Molina, Spanish novelist January 21 – Ian McMillan, English poet"Ian McMillan" , Peter Forbes, British Council, 2002 January 14 – Ronan Bennett, Northern Irish novelist February 20 – François Bréda, Romanian essayist, poet, literary critic, literary historian, translator and theatrologist (died 2018) February 26 – Michel Houellebecq, French novelist March 3 – Frank Giroud, French comics writer (died 2018) March 7 – Andrea Levy, English novelist (died 2019) March 12 – Ruth Ozeki, American novelist and filmmaker March 20 Minken Fosheim, Norwegian actress and author (died 2018) Win Lyovarin, Thai novelist and short story writer March 23 – Steven Saylor, American historical novelist April 7 – Christopher Darden, African-American attorney, author, actor and lecturer April 12 – Yasuo Tanaka, Japanese novelist and politician April 29 – Alexander Jablokov, American writer and novelist May 4 – David Guterson, American journalist and novelist May 9 – Cindy Lovell, American educator and writer May 18 – John Godber, English dramatist May 20 Boris Akunin, Russian novelist and essayist Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian writer (died 2025) June 9 – Patricia Cornwell, American crime novelist June 25 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef, writer and television personality (died 2018) June 26 – Davide Ferrario, Italian film director, screenwriter and author June 29 – Richard Summerbell, Canadian mycologist, author and songwriter July 2 – Cynthia Kadohata, Japanese-American children's writer