1976 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1976.

• June 21 – The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa, is opened as a multiracial venue by Barney Simon.[1]
• September 3 – Novelist Antonio di Benedetto is released from prison after 18 months of imprisonment and torture under the National Reorganization Process (military dictatorship) in Argentina.[2]
• September 9 – The Royal Shakespeare Company starts a noted production of Shakespeare's Macbeth at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in the leading roles, directed by Trevor Nunn.[3]
• October 25 – The Royal National Theatre on London's South Bank opens in premises designed by Sir Denys Lasdun, with a performance of Goldoni's 18th-century comedy Il Campiello.[4]
• unknown dates
  • Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers is established in new premises at Nanterre.[5]
  • Mary Ronnie became the world's first female national librarian, at the National Library of New Zealand.[6]

• Brian Aldiss – The Malacia Tapestry
• Kingsley Amis – The Alteration
• Isaac Asimov – The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories
• Margaret Atwood – Lady Oracle
• Elliott Baker – Klynt's Law
• Nina Bawden – Afternoon of a Good Woman[7]
• Martin Bax – The Hospital Ship.[8]
• Ann Beattie – Chilly Scenes of Winter[9]
• Peter Benchley – The Deep[10]
• Jack M. Bickham – Twister[11]
• Michael Bishop – And Strange at Ecbatan the Trees
• John Blackburn – The Face of the Lion[12]
• Lady Caroline Blackwood – The Stepdaughter
• Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac – La lèpre[13]
• Ben Bova
  • City of Darkness
  • The Multiple Man[14]
• Ray Bradbury – Long After Midnight
• Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • Drums of Darkness
  • The Shattered Chain (tenth in the Darkover series)
• John Braine – Waiting for Sheila[15]
• William F. Buckley – Saving the Queen (the first Blackford Oakes thriller)[16]
• Eleanor Alice Burford
  • The Passionate Enemies (writing as Jean Plaidy)
  • The Plantagenet Prelude (writing as Jean Plaidy)
  • The Pride of the Peacock (writing as Victoria Holt)
  • Saraband for Two Sisters (writing as Philippa Carr)
• Anthony Burgess – Beard's Roman Women[17]
• Taylor Caldwell – Ceremony of the Innocent[18]
• Ramsey Campbell – The Height of the Scream[19]
• Rosemary Carter
  • Forests of the Dragon
  • Man of the Wild
• Jack L. Chalker – A Jungle of Stars[20]
• Vera Chapman – The King's Damosel
• James Hadley Chase – Do Me a Favour, Drop Dead[21]
• C. J. Cherryh
  • Brothers of Earth (first in the Hanan Rebellion duology)
  • Gate of Ivrel (first in The Morgaine Cycle)
• Agatha Christie – Sleeping Murder
• Arthur C. Clarke (edited by Angus Wells) – The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1937 – 1955
• Jon Cleary – A Sound of Lightning
• Theodore R. Cogswell (co-writing with Charles A. Spano, Jr.) – Spock, Messiah!
• Michael Collins – The Blood-Red Dream[22]
• Catherine Cookson
  • The Slow Awakening (writing as Catherine Merchant)[23]
  • The Tide of Life[24]
• Michael Crichton – Eaters of the Dead[25]
• Clive Cussler – Raise the Titanic!
• Lionel Davidson – The Sun Chemist
• Dorothy Salisbury Davis – A Death in the Life
• Len Deighton – Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy
• Samuel R. Delany – Triton
• Colin Dexter – Last Seen Wearing (second in the Inspector Morse series)
• Philip K. Dick (co-written with Roger Zelazny) – Deus Irae
• Peter Dickinson – King and Joker[26]
• Gordon R. Dickson – The Dragon and the George
• Jane Donnelly
  • Dark Pursuer
  • The Intruder[27]
  • The Silver Cage
• Rosalyn Drexler (written as Julia Sorel)
  • Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway (TV film novelization)[28]
  • Rocky (film novelization)[29]
• Michel Droit – La Mort du connétable[30]
• Allen Drury – A God Against the Gods
• Lois Duncan – Summer of Fear
• Allan W. Eckert – The HAB Theory
• Clive Egleton – State Visit[31]
• Charles Einstein – The Blackjack Hijack[32]
• Buchi Emecheta – The Bride Price
• Marian Engel – Bear
• Paul Erdman – The Crash of '79
• John Farris – The Fury
• Dick Francis – In the Frame
• Brian Freemantle – The November Man[33]
• Alan Dean Foster (ghostwritten as George Lucas) – Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker
• Paula Fox – The Widow's Children
• Dick Francis – In the Frame
• Christopher Frank – The Dream of the Mad Monkey (Le Rêve du singe fou)
• Morton Freedgood (written as John Godey) – The Talisman[34]
• John Gardner
  • Moriarty
  • To Run a Little Faster
• Brian Garfield – Gundown[35]
• Hugh Garner – The Intruders[36]
• Romain Gary (writing as Émile Ajar) – Hocus Bogus (Pseudo)
• Noel Gerson
  • Neptune
  • Special Agent
• William Goldman – Magic
• Richard Gordon – Doctor on the Job (fourteenth in the Doctor series)
• Winston Graham – The Four Swans (sixth in the Poldark series)
• Gerald Green – The Hostage Heart[37]
• Peter Van Greenaway – Suffer! Little Children[38]
• Sam Greenlee – Baghdad Blues[39]
• Judith Guest – Ordinary People
• Joe Haldeman – Mindbridge
• Alex Haley – Roots: The Saga of an American Family
• Donald Hamilton – The Retaliators (seventeenth in the Matt Helm series)
• Harry Harrison – Skyfall
• Sterling Hayden – Voyage: A Novel of 1896
• Marcy Heidish – A Woman Called Moses
• Frank Herbert – Children of Dune
• James Herbert – The Survivor
• James Herriot – Vets Might Fly (fifth in the James Herriot series)
• George V. Higgins – The Judgment of Deke Hunter
• Jack Higgins – Storm Warning
• Reginald Hill – Another Death in Venice[40]
• Helen Hodgman – Blue Skies
• Robert Holdstock
  • Eye Among the Blind
  • The Graveyard Cross
  • Magic Man
  • On the Inside
  • The Time Beyond Age
  • Travellers
• Cecelia Holland
  • Floating Worlds
• Velda Johnston
  • Deveron Hall
  • The Frenchman
• Gayl Jones – Eva's Man
• Thomas Keneally – Season in Purgatory
• Warren Kiefer – The Pontius Pilate Papers
• Dean Koontz
  • Prison of Ice (writing as David Axton)
  • Night Chills
• William Kotzwinkle – Doctor Rat
• Michael Kurland – Tomorrow Knight
• Derek Lambert (writing as Richard Falkirk) – Blackstone Underground (fifth in the Blackstone series)
• Louis L'Amour
  • The Rider of Lost Creek
  • To the Far Blue Mountains
  • Where the Long Grass Blows
• Ursula K. Le Guin – Orsinian Tales
• Elsie Lee
  • The Nabob's Widow[41]
  • Roommates[42]
• John Lee – The Ninth Man
• Tanith Lee – Don't Bite the Sun
• Stanisław Lem – The Chain of Chance
• Elmore Leonard – Swag
• Rhoda Lerman – The Girl That He Marries
• Ira Levin – The Boys from Brazil
• Roger Longrigg – The Babe in the Wood[43]
• Robert Ludlum – The Gemini Contenders
• Richard A. Lupoff
  • The Crack in the Sky
  • Lisa Kane
  • Sandworld
  • The Triune Man
• Ross Macdonald – The Blue Hammer (eighteenth and final novel in the Lew Archer series)
• Alistair MacLean – The Golden Gate
• George R. R. Martin – A Song for Lya
• Eugene McCabe – Victims: A Tale from Fermanagh
• Helen McCloy – The Changeling Conspiracy
• Barbara Mertz
  • Legend in Green Velvet (writing as Elizabeth Peters)
  • Patriot's Dream (writing as Barbara Michaels)
• Nicholas Meyer – The West End Horror
• James Mills – The Seventh Power
• Thomas F. Monteleone – The Time Connection
• Robin Moore
  • Dubai
  • The Establishment (co-written with Harold Shumate)
  • Hotel Tomayne
  • The Kaufman Snatch
  • The Pearl Harbor Cover-Up (co-written with Frank Schuler)
  • The Season (co-written with Patricia Hornung)
  • The Terminal Connection
  • Valency Girl (co-written with Susan Deitz)
• Michael Moorcock
  • The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the 20th Century
  • The End of All Songs
  • Moorcock's Book of Martyrs
  • The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
  • The Time of the Hawklords (co-writing as with Michael Butterworth)
• Ryū Murakami – Almost Transparent Blue
• Fănuș Neagu – Frumoșii nebuni ai marilor orașe ("Those Beautiful Lunatics of the Great Cities")[44]
• Christopher Nicole
  • Dark Passage (writing as Andrew York)
  • Mistress of Darkness
  • Guillotine (writing as Mark Logan)
  • Tricolour (writing as Mark Logan)
• Larry Niven
  • The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton
  • A World Out of Time
• Frederick Nolan – The Mittenwald Syndicate[45]
• Andrew J. Offutt
  • Beautiful Bitch (writing as John Cleve)
  • Chieftain of Andor
  • Disciplined! (writing as Jeff Morehead)
  • The Erogenous Zone (writing as John Cleve)
  • Succulent Line-Up (writing as John Cleve)
  • Serena, Darling (writing as John Cleve)
  • The Submission of Claudine (writing as Turk Winter)
  • Triple Play! (writing as Jeff Morehead)
  • The Undying Wizard (second volume in the Cormac Mac Art continuation series
• T. V. Olsen
  • Day of the Buzzard
  • Westward They Rode
• Robert B. Parker – Promised Land
• James Patterson – The Thomas Berryman Number
• Gary Paulsen
  • The Death Specialists[46]
  • The Implosion Effect[47]
• Samuel Anthony Peeples – The Man Who Died Twice[48]
• Doris Piserchia – A Billion Days of Earth
• Denis Pitts – The Predator[49]
• Dudley Pope – Ramage's Diamond (seventh in the Ramage series)[50]
• Timothy Powers – The Skies Discrowned[51]
• Terry Pratchett – The Dark Side of the Sun
• Richard Price – Bloodbrothers
• Christopher Priest – The Space Machine
• Bill Pronzini
  • Freebooty (writing as Jack Foxx)[52]
  • Games[53]
  • The Running of Beasts (with Barry N. Malzberg)[54]
• Manuel Puig – Kiss of the Spider Woman
• Simon Raven – The Survivors
• Piers Paul Read – Polonaise
• Ishmael Reed – Flight to Canada
• Douglas Reeman
  • Passage to Mutiny (ninth in the Richard Bolitho series, writing as Alexander Kent)
  • Surface with Daring[55]
• Ruth Rendell
  • A Demon in My View
  • The Fallen Curtain
• Anne Rice – Interview with the Vampire
• Harold Robbins – The Lonely Lady
• Tom Robbins – Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
• Rosemary Rogers – Wicked Loving Lies
• William Rotsler (written as John Ryder Hall) – Futureworld (film novelization)[56]
• Lawrence Sanders
  • The Tangent Factor
  • The Tangent Objective
• Pamela Sargent – Cloned Lives
• Elizabeth Savage – The Girls from the Five Great Valleys
• Hubert Selby Jr. – The Demon
• David Seltzer – The Omen (film novelization)[57]
• Tom Sharpe – Wilt
• Bob Shaw
  • Cosmic Kaleidoscope
  • A Wreath of Stars
• Sidney Sheldon – A Stranger in the Mirror
• Anne Rivers Siddons – Heartbreak Hotel
• Alan Sillitoe – The Widower's Son
• Robert Silverberg – Shadrach in the Furnace
• Clifford D. Simak – Shakespeare's Planet
• George Frederick Sims – The End of the Web
• Upton Sinclair (died 1968) – The Coal War
• Carolyn Slaughter – The Story of the Weasel
• Guy N. Smith
  • The Ghoul (film novelization)
  • Night of the Crabs (first in the Crabs series)
  • Return of the Werewolf (second in the Werewolf by Moonlight series)
• Wilbur Smith – Cry Wolf
• Jerry Sohl
  • Blow-Dry (writing by Nathan Butler)
  • I, Aleppo
• Muriel Spark – The Takeover
• Judith St. George – The Secret in the Old House
• Brian Stableford
  • The Face of Heaven (first in The Realms of Tartarus trilogy)
  • The Florians (first in the Daedalus Mission series)
  • The Mind-Riders
• Christina Stead – Miss Herbert (The Suburban Wife)
• John Steinbeck – The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
• Fred Mustard Stewart – Six Weeks
• Mary Stewart – Touch Not the Cat
• David Storey – Saville
• Jacqueline Susann – Dolores
• Rosemary Sutcliff – Blood Feud
• Douglas Sutherland – Strike![58]
• Bernard Taylor – The Godsend
• Elizabeth Taylor (died 1975) – Blaming
• Mildred D. Taylor – Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
• Emma Tennant – Hotel de Dream
• Paul Theroux – The Family Arsenal
• Craig Thomas – Rat Trap
• Arthur Tofte – The Day the Earth Stood Still (film novelization)[59]
• Glen Tomasetti – Thoroughly Decent People: An Australian Folktale
• Elleston Trevor (writing as Adam Hall) – The Kobra Manifesto (seventh in the Quiller series)
• William Trevor – The Children of Dynmouth
• Leon Uris – Trinity
• Jack Vance – Maske: Thaery
• Gore Vidal – 1876
• Kurt Vonnegut – Slapstick
• Frank Waldman – The Pink Panther Strikes Again (film novelization)[60]
• Alice Walker – Meridian
• Irving Wallace – The R Document
• Ian Watson – Orgasmachine[61]
• Alec Waugh – Married to a Spy
• Angus Wells
  • The Burning Man (written as Andrew Quiller)
  • Death Wears Grey (written as Andrew Quiller)
  • The Golden Dead (written as Andrew Quiller)
  • The Land of Mist (written as Andrew Quiller)
  • The Return of a Man Called Horse (film novelization)[62]
  • Vengeance Hunt (written as Andrew Quiller)
• Morris West – The Navigator
• Donald E. Westlake – Dancing Aztecs
• Lionel White – Jailbreak
• Patrick White – A Fringe of Leaves
• Christopher Wood
  • The Further Adventures of Barry Lyndon by Himself[63]
  • Seven Nights in Japan (written as John Drew) (film novelization)
• Richard Woodley – The Bad News Bears (film novelization)[64]
• Colin Wilson – The Space Vampires
• Gene Wolfe – The Devil in a Forest
• Roger Zelazny
  • Bridge of Ashes
  • Doorways in the Sand
  • The Hand of Oberon (fourth in The Chronicles of Amber series)
  • My Name Is Legion

• Raymond Abrashkin (with Jay Williams) – Danny Dunn Scientific Detective (fourteenth in the Danny Dunn series)
• Richard Adams – The Tyger Voyage[65]
• Lynne Reid Banks
  • The Adventures of King Midas
  • The Farthest-Away Mountain
• Marc Brown – Arthur's Nose (first in the Arthur Read series)
• Mary Virginia Carey – The Mystery of Death Trap Mine (24th in the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series)
• Betty Cavanna – Mystery of the Emerald Buddha
• Michael Collins (as William Arden) – The Mystery of the Dancing Devil (25th in the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series)
• Helen Cresswell – The Winter of the Birds
• Vic Crume – The Shaggy D.A. (film novelization)[66]
• Peter Dickinson (illustrated by David Smee) – The Blue Hawk
• Jack Gantos – Rotten Ralph (first in the Rotten Ralph series)
• Roger Hargreaves (Mr. Men)
  • Mr. Bounce
  • Mr. Chatterbox
  • Mr. Dizzy
  • Mr. Impossible
  • Mr. Jelly
  • Mr. Funny
  • Mr. Fussy
  • Mr. Lazy
  • Mr. Mean
  • Mr. Muddle
  • Mr. Noisy
• Janet Quin-Harkin (illustrated by Anita Lobel) – Peter Penny's Dance
• Marguerite Henry (illustrated by Wesley Dennis) – A Pictorial Life Story of Misty
• Diana Wynne Jones – Power of Three
• Judith Kerr – Mog's Christmas (second in the Mog series)
• Alexander Key – Jagger, the Dog from Elsewhere
• E. L. Konigsburg – Father's Arcane Daughter
• Richard Peck – Are You in the House Alone?
• Florence Engel Randall – A Watcher in the Woods
• William Rawls – Summer of the Monkeys
• Maurice Sendak (co-writing with Matthew Margolis) – Some Swell Pup or Are You Sure You Want a Dog?
• William Steig
  • Abel's Island
  • The Amazing Bone
• Dr. Seuss
  • The Cat's Quizzer
  • Hooper Humperdink...? Not Him! (writing as Theo. LeSieg)
• Ruth Plumly Thompson (illustrated by Dick Martin) – The Enchanted Island of Oz
• Eve Titus – Basil in Mexico (fourth in the Basil of Baker Street series)
• Gertrude Chandler Warner – Benny Uncovers a Mystery (19th in the Boxcar Children series)
• Robert Westall – The Wind Eye
• Paul Zindel – Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball!

• Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Mugo – The Trial of Dedan Kimathi[67]
• Neil Simon – California Suite[68]

• Bruce Bahrenburg – The Creation of Dino De Laurentiis' King Kong[69]
• James Herbert Brennan – An Occult History of the World
• Lothar-Günther Buchheim – U-Boot-Krieg
• Richard Dawkins – The Selfish Gene
• Leonard Gribble
  • Famous Mysteries of Detection
  • Famous Mysteries of Modern Times
• Tony Hillerman (editor) – The Spell of New Mexico
• Christopher Keane – The Hunter
• Arthur Koestler – The Thirteenth Tribe
• Ron Kovic – Born on the Fourth of July
• Daniel P. Mannix – We Who Are Not as Others
• James A. Michener – Sports in America
• Arthur Ransome (died 1967) – The Autobiography of Arthur Ransome (edited by Rupert Hart-Davis)
• Teddy Stauffer – Forever is a Hell of a Long Time: An Autobiography
• William Stevenson – A Man Called Intrepid
• Bob Woodward (with Carl Bernstein) – The Final Days

• August 29 - Mieko Kawakami, Japanese novelist and poet
• October 31 – Seth Abramson, American journalist and poet[70]
• unknown dates
  • Bora Chung, Korean short story writer and novelist[71]

• January 12 – Agatha Christie, English crime writer (born 1890)[72]
• January 25 – Victor Ehrenberg, German historian (born 1891)[73]
• February 2 – Barbara Euphan Todd, English children's writer (born 1890)[74]
• February 12 – John Lewis, Welsh philosopher (born 1889)[75]
• March 5 – Charles Lederer, American screenwriter and film director (born 1910)[76]
• March 7 – Tove Ditlevsen, Danish poet and fiction writer (suicide, born 1917)[77]
• March 13 – Sergiu Dan, Romanian novelist and journalist (born 1903)[78]
• April 2 – Taos Amrouche, Algerian novelist (born 1913)[79]
• April 28 – Richard Hughes, British novelist (born 1900)[80]
• May 7 – Alison Uttley, English writer of children's books (born 1884)[81]
• July 3 – Alexander Lernet-Holenia, Austrian poet, dramatist and fiction writer (born 1897)[82]
• July 15 – Paul Gallico, American novelist, short story and sports writer (born 1897)[83]
• August 9 – José Lezama Lima, Cuban writer and poet (born [1910)[84]
• August 29 – Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengali poet (born 1899)[85][86]
• September 10 – Dalton Trumbo, American novelist and screenwriter (born 1905)[87]
• October 30 – Barbu Solacolu, Romanian poet, translator and economist (born 1897)[88]
• November 4 – Robert Speaight, English actor, biographer and essayist (born 1904)[89]
• November 6 – Patrick Dennis, American novelist (pancreatic cancer, born 1921)[90]
• November 23 – André Malraux, French novelist (born 1901)[91]
• December 21 – Munro Leaf, American children's author (born 1905)[92]
• December 22 – Martín Luis Guzmán, Mexican novelist and journalist (born 1887)[93]
• December 26 – Yashpal, Hindi novelist (born 1903)[94]
• December 29 – G. B. Edwards, Guernsey-born writer (born 1899)[95]

• Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Max Frisch[96]