1559 in literature

	… 1549; 1550; 1551; 1552; 1553; 1554; 1555; ; 1556; 1557; 1558; 1559; 1560; 1561; 1562; ; 1563; 1564; 1565; 1566; 1567; 1568; 1569 …;
	Art; Archaeology; Architecture; Literature; Music; Philosophy; Science; +...

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1559.

Events

Publication of the Elizabethan version of the Book of Common Prayer.
Pope Paul IV promulgates the Pauline Index, an early version of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

Jacques Amyot (translator)
- Daphnis et Chloë, from Longus' Daphnis and Chloe
- Vies des hommes illustres, from Plutarch's Parallel Lives (begins)
Joachim du Bellay – Discours au roi
Realdo Colombo – De Re Anatomica
Jorge de Montemayor – Diana
Die Magdeburger Centurien (Magdeburg Centuries, first three volumes, publication continues up to 1574)

February 18 – Isaac Casaubon, Genevan classicist and church historian (died 1614)
October – Jacques Sirmond, Jesuit scholar (died 1651)
December – Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola, dramatist and poet (died 1613)
Unknown dates
- Luis Cabrera de Córdoba, Spanish historian (died 1623)
- Christopher Holywood, Jesuit writer (died 1626)
- John Penry, Protestant pamphleteer and martyr (died 1593)