1953 in literature

The year 1953 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

Events

 * January 22 - The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opens on Broadway.
 * February 19 - Censorship: The State of Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States.
 * After five years as an English Teacher, Frederick Buechner moves to New York to become a full time writer.
 * Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin is published. In 2001, the book would be named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.
 * April 13 - The face of popular literature is transformed with the publication of Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.
 * Ronald Harwood becomes Sir Donald Wolfit's dresser.
 * John Dickson Carr writing as "Carter Dickson" publishes his final Sir Henry Merrivale mystery novel.
 * Ian Fleming's James Bond was first brought into the world in Casino Royale.
 * American novelist Howard Fast is awarded the Stalin Peace Prize.

New books

 * Sholom Aleichem - Adventures of Mottel the Cantor's Son
 * Isaac Asimov - Second Foundation
 * James Baldwin - Go Tell It on the Mountain
 * Saul Bellow - The Adventures of Augie March
 * Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man
 * Zealia Bishop - The Curse of Yig
 * Ray Bradbury
 * Fahrenheit 451
 * The Golden Apples of the Sun
 * Gwendolyn Brooks - Maud Martha
 * William S. Burroughs - Junkie
 * John Dickson Carr - The Cavalier's Cup (as by Carter Dickson)
 * Raymond Chandler - The Long Goodbye
 * Agatha Christie
 * After the Funeral
 * A Pocket Full of Rye
 * Arthur C. Clarke
 * Against the Fall of Night
 * Childhood's End
 * Beverly Cleary - Otis Spofford
 * Ivy Compton-Burnett - The Present and the Past
 * A. J. Cronin - Beyond This Place
 * L. Sprague de Camp
 * The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens
 * Sprague de Camp's New Anthology of Science Fiction
 * The Tritonian Ring and Other Pusadian Tales
 * L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt - Tales from Gavagan's Bar
 * Lloyd C. Douglas - The Robe
 * Ian Fleming - Casino Royale
 * Ernest K. Gann - The High and the Mighty
 * Davis Grubb - The Night of the Hunter
 * Mark Harris - The Southpaw
 * L. P. Hartley - The Go-Between
 * James Hilton - Time and Time Again
 * David Karp - One
 * Ira Levin - A Kiss Before Dying
 * C. S. Lewis - The Silver Chair
 * James A. Michener - The Bridges at Toko-Ri
 * Zoe B. Oldenbourg - The Cornerstone
 * Mervyn Peake - Mr Pye
 * Ellery Queen - The Scarlet Letters
 * Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - The Sojourner
 * Samuel Shellabarger - Lord Vanity
 * Wilmar H. Shiras - Children of the Atom
 * Rex Stout - The Golden Spiders
 * Leon Uris - Battle Cry
 * Boris Vian - Heartsnatcher
 * A. E. van Vogt - The Universe Maker
 * Evelyn Waugh - Love Among the Ruins
 * Ben Ames Williams - The Unconquered
 * John Wyndham - The Kraken Wakes

New drama

 * Arthur Adamov - Professor Taranne
 * Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot
 * Agatha Christie - Witness for the Prosecution
 * Max Frisch - The Fire Raisers
 * Witold Gombrowicz - The Marriage
 * Arthur Miller - The Crucible

Short stories

 * Roald Dahl - "Nunc Dimittis"

Poetry

 * Faber Book of Twentieth Century Verse

Non-fiction

 * George Dangerfield - The Era of Good Feelings (Bancroft Prize)
 * L. Sprague de Camp - Science-Fiction Handbook
 * G. R. Elton - The Tudor Revolution in Government
 * Heinrich Harrer - Seven Years in Tibet
 * Nancy Mitford - Madame de Pompadour
 * Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations

Births

 * February 10 - John Shirley, science fiction and horror writer
 * March 12 - Carl Hiaasen, author
 * March 25 - John Tierney, New York Times journalist
 * April 3 - Pieter Aspe, author of the "Inspector Van In" novels
 * April 20 - Sebastian Faulks, English novelist
 * May 19 - Victoria Wood, comedienne and writer
 * July 29 - Frank McGuinness, dramatist and poet
 * August 10 - Mark Doty, poet
 * September 23 - Nicholas Witchell, TV journalist
 * November 5 - Joyce Maynard, memoirist and former lover of J. D. Salinger
 * date unknown
 * Pat Cadigan, science fiction author
 * George Dyson, science historian
 * Peter Robinson, poet

Deaths

 * April 4 - Rachilde (Marguerite Vallette-Eymery), French author
 * April 9 - C. E. M. Joad, philosopher
 * April 24 - Alfred Vierkandt, sociologist
 * June 5 - Moelona, novelist and translator
 * June 25 - Richard Jebb, journalist
 * July 6 - Julia de Burgos, poet
 * July 16 - Hilaire Belloc, humorous poet, essayist and travel writer
 * August 30 - Maurice Nicoll, psychologist
 * November 8 - John van Melle, South African author
 * November 9 - Dylan Thomas, poet and author
 * November 27 - Eugene O'Neill, playwright
 * November 30 - Francis Picabia, painter, poet
 * date unknown
 * Idris Davies, poet
 * Gordon Hall Gerould, philologist
 * Alice Milligan, poet
 * T. F. Powys, novelist, brother of John Cowper Powys
 * Eirik Vandvik, classicist and translator

Awards

 * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Edward Osmond, A Valley Grows Up
 * Christopher Award: Marie Killilea, Karen
 * Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama: Douglas LePan, The Net and the Sword
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Margaret Kennedy, Troy Chimneys
 * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Carola Oman, Sir John Moore
 * National Book Award for Fiction: Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
 * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Ann Nolan Clark, Secret of the Andes
 * Nobel Prize for Literature: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
 * Premio Nadal: Luisa Forrellad, Siempre en capilla
 * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: William Inge, Picnic
 * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Archibald MacLeish, Collected Poems 1917-1952
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Arthur Waley