1937 in literature

See also: 1936 in literature, other events of 1937, 1938 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• January 9 – The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.

New books

• The Citadel – A.J. Cronin
• Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie
• Diary of a Country Priest – Georges Bernanos
• The Face on the Cutting-Room Floor – Cameron McCabe
• The Good Society – Walter Lippmann
• The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
• Life and Death of a Spanish Town – Elliot Paul
• Light Woman – Zona Gale
• More Joy in Heaven – Morley Callaghan
• Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
• The Old Bunch  – Meyer Levin
• Out of Africa – Isak Dinesen
• Roller Skates – Ruth Sawyer
• Star Maker – Olaf Stapledon
• Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
• These Low Grounds – Waters Edward Turpin
• Uncommon Danger – Eric Ambler
• The Years – Virginia Woolf

Births

• January 1 – John Fuller, poet
• January 7 – Ian La Frenais, TV comedy writer
• January 9 – Judith Krantz, bestselling novelist
• February 21 – Jilly Cooper, novelist and journalist
• April 29 – Jill Paton Walsh, novelist
• May 8 – Thomas Pynchon, novelist
• May 13 – Roger Zelazny, American writer of fantasy and science fiction
• May 13 – Roch Carrier, novelist and short-story writer
• June 16 – Erich Segal, Love Story author
• July 3 – Tom Stoppard, dramatist
• August 5 – Carla Lane, comedy writer
• September 5 – Dick Clement, TV comedy writer
• November 17 – Peter Cook, comedian, satirist and writer
• date unknown – Jan Karon, novelist
• date unknown – Roger McGough, poet
• date unknown – Richard Ingrams, editor

Deaths

• March 15 – H. P. Lovecraft, horror writer
• June 19 – J. M. Barrie, novelist and dramatist
• August 11 – Edith Wharton, writer
• December 24 – Elizabeth Haldane
• December 26 – Ivor Gurney, war poet
• December 29 – Don Marquis, poet
• date unknown – H. C. McNeile ("Sapper"), "Bulldog Drummond" novelist
• date unknown – Gerald Duckworth, publisher

Awards

• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Ruth Sawyer, Roller Skates
• Nobel Prize for literature: Roger Martin du Gard
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman, You Can't Take It With You
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Frost: A Further Range
• Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Margaret Mitchell – Gone With the Wind