1977 in literature

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This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1977.

Events

February 20 – An episode of Doctor on the Go, co-written by Douglas Adams and Graham Chapman, marks the beginning of Adams' career writing for BBC radio.
March 4 – Andrés Caicedo's novel ¡Que viva la música! ("Let Music Live!", translated as Liveforever) is published in his hometown of Cali, Colombia. This afternoon he commits suicide by overdose, age 25.
July 11 – The English magazine Gay News is found guilty of blasphemous libel for publishing a homoerotic poem, "The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name" by James Kirkup, in a case (Whitehouse v Lemon) brought on behalf of Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers and Listeners Association at the Old Bailey in London. John Mortimer appears for the defence. This is the first time a prosecution for this offence has been brought since 1921, and will be the last before the offence is abolished in 2008.^[1]^[2]
September 15 – Christopher Tolkien, with Guy Gavriel Kay, completes and publishes his late father's work, The Silmarillion.
Fall – Philosophy and Literature, an academic journal that explores the connections between literary and philosophical studies by presenting ideas on the aesthetics of literature, critical theory, and the philosophical interpretation of literature, is founded at Johns Hopkins University.
V. S. Naipaul declines the offer of a CBE.

January 14 – Anaïs Nin, French-Cuban erotic novelist and diarist (born 1903)
February 27 – John Dickson Carr, American crime novelist (born 1906)
March 4
- Andrés Caicedo, Colombian novelist and cinéaste (suicide, born 1951)
- Alexandru Ivasiuc, Romanian novelist (killed in earthquake, born 1933)
March 15 – Hubert Aquin, French Canadian novelist, essayist and political activist (suicide, born 1929))
April 7 – Jim Thompson, American fiction writer (born 1906)
April 11 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (born 1900)
May 9 – James Jones, American novelist (heart failure, born 1921)
July 2 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian/American novelist (born 1899)
September 4 – E. F. Schumacher, German-born economist (born 1911)
September 12 – Robert Lowell, American poet (heart attack, born 1917)
October 27 – James M. Cain, American novelist and newspaperman (born 1892)
November 10 – Dennis Wheatley, English occult novelist (born 1897)
November 30
- Miloš Crnjanski, Serbian poet and novelist (born 1893)
- Terence Rattigan, English dramatist (bone cancer, born 1911)
December 9 – Clarice Lispector, Brazilian novelist (ovarian cancer, born 1920)
December 22 – Frank Thiess, German novelist (born 1890)
Unknown dates
- Héctor Germán Oesterheld, Argentine comic book writer (disappearance, born 1919)
- Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari, Punjabi novelist (born 1914)

Prix Goncourt: Didier Decoin, John l'enfer
Prix Médicis French: Michel Butel, L'Autre Amour
Prix Médicis International: Héctor Bianciotti, Le Traité des saisons – Argentina

^ "11 July 1977: Gay paper guilty of blasphemy". On This Day. BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2013-06-29. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (England and Wales).
^ Smith, Dai (2004-06-19). "Alun Richards (obituary)". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
^ "Programmes | Newsnight | Review | Abigail's Party". BBC News. 2002-07-25. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
^ Parsons, Nicholas (1985). The Book of Literary Lists. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-99171-2.