Calendar

The Calendar of Literary Facts contains more than 6,500 events in literary history.

1931 Literary Facts

The U.S. Supreme Court decides the case of Near v. Minnesota, determining that prior restraint in publishing is unconstitutional except in rare and extreme circumstances

Spain declares itself a republic

Japanese forces invade and conquer Manchuria

The “Scottsboro Boys,” nine young black men accused of raping two white women, are tried and convicted in Scottsboro, Alabama; this case gains widespread publicity and discussion

Margaret Ayer Barnes receives the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for Years of Grace

Erik Axel Karlfeldt receives the Nobel Prize for Literature

Frans Eemil Sillanpää publishes Nuorena nukkunut (The Maid Silja)

George Dillon publishes The Flowering Stone

Caroline Gordon publishes Penhally

Henry Steele Commager and Samuel Eliot Morison publish The Growth of the American Republic

Edmund Wilson publishes Axel’s Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870-1930

Pearl S. Buck publishes The Good Earth

Okot p’Bitek is born

Roberto Arlt publishes Los lanzallamas

Ogden Nash publishes Hard Lines

Georges Simenon publishes Pietr-le-Letton (The Strange Case of Peter the Lett)

Morley Callaghan publishes No Man’s Meat

Juan Goytisolo is born

Explore: Juan Goytisolo, Quarantine

E. L. Doctorow is born

Explore: E. L. Doctorow, A House on the Plains

Floyd Salas is born

Judith Viorst is born

Toni Morrison is born

Explore: The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Toni Morrison

Tom Wolfe is born

Explore: Tom Wolfe

Rolf Hochhuth is born

Explore: Rolf Hochhuth

Donald Barthelme is born

Explore: The Indian Uprising, Snow White, Donald Barthelme

Kahlil Gibran dies

Explore: The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran, The Broken Wings

Tomas Transtroemer is born

George Starbuck is born

David Eddings is born

Clive Cussler is born

Caroline Blackwood is born

Explore: Caroline Blackwood

Ivan Klima is born

Explore: Ivan Klíma

Fay Weldon is born

Explore: Fay Weldon, Ind Aff

Desmond Tutu is born

David Cornwell (John Le Carré) is born

Explore: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, A Perfect Spy, John le Carré

Abelardo B. Delgado is born

Vachel Lindsay dies

Explore: Vachel Lindsay

Lonne Elder III is born

Explore: Ceremonies in Dark Old Men