1942 in literature

See also: 1941 in literature, other events of 1942, 1943 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

New books

• After The Storm – Annie Greene Nelson
• Black Alibi – Cornell Woolrich
• Black Lamb and Grey Falcon – Rebecca West
• Cross Creek – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
• David  – Earl Birney
• Floods of Spring – Henry Bellamann
• Frenchman's Creek – Daphne du Maurier
• The Matchlock Gun – Walter D. Edmonds
• Picketing Hell – Adam Clayton Powell, Sr.
• The Last Time I Saw Paris – Elliot Paul
• The Poky Little Puppy – Janette Sebring Lowrey
• The Robe – Lloyd C. Douglas
• The Stranger (L'Étranger) – Albert Camus
• The Strong City – Taylor Caldwell
• To Be a Pilgrim – Joyce Cary
• West with the Night – Beryl Markham

Births

• January 31 – Derek Jarman, director, writer (+ 1994)
• October 23 – Michael Crichton, author
• December 6 – Peter Handke, Austrian novelist

Deaths

Awards

• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Walter D. Edmonds, The Matchlock Gun
• Nobel Prize for literature: not awarded
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: William Rose Benet, The Dust Which Is God
• Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Ellen Glasgow, In This Our Life