1956 in literature

See also: 1955 in literature, other events of 1956, 1957 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice.
• Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley.
• Finished in 1952, Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street), is first published.

New books

• 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 – Eiji Yoshikawa
• 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 Naked Sun  – Isaac Asimov
• 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

• January 2 – Storm Constantine
• June 9 – Patricia Cornwell

Deaths

• January 31 – A.A. Milne

Awards

• Newbery 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