The Calendar of Literary Facts contains more than 6,500 events in literary history.
1944 Literary Facts
Commentary, a monthly magazine of Jewish cultural advancement, begins publication; notable early contributors include Norman Mailer, Lionel Trilling, and Bernard Malamud
Jorge Luis Borges publishes Ficciones 1935-1944
Jean Anouilh’s Antigone is produced
William Sansom publishes Fireman Flower, and Other Stories
Saul Bellow publishes Dangling Man
Joseph Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace is produced
Dorothy Livesay publishes Day and Night
William Meredith publishes Love Letter from an Impossible Land
John Hersey publishes A Bell for Adano
Alberto Pincherle publishes Agostino: Romanzo (Two Adolescents: Agostino and Disobedience)
Melvin B. Tolson publishes Rendezvous with America
Allied forces land on the Normandy coast on D-Day, establishing a western front to the European Theater of operations in World War II
German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun designs the V-2 rocket for long-range use against Britain
First operational jet airplane, the ME-262, is tested in Germany
Vietnam, long a French colony, declares its independence from France
Friedrich A. von Hayek publishes The Road to Serfdom
Martin Flavin receives the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for Journey in the Dark
Johannes V. Jensen receives the Nobel Prize for Literature
Karl Shapiro publishes V-Letter and Other Poems
Marilynne Robinson is born
Terry Brooks is born
Angela Davis is born
Explore: Angela Davis
Jean Giraudoux dies
Explore: The Madwoman of Chaillot, Tiger at the Gates
Alice Walker is born
Explore: The Color Purple, Everyday Use, Alice Walker
Richard Ford is born
Explore: Independence Day, Rock Springs, Richard Ford
Felice Picano is born
Barry Beckham is born
Stephen Leacock dies
Explore: Stephen Leacock, My Financial Career, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, Literary Lapses
Frederick Schiller Faust dies
Explore: Destry Rides Again, Montana Rides Again
Armistead Maupin is born
Explore: Armistead Maupin
George Ade dies
Janet Dailey is born
Leroy V. Quintana is born
Explore: Leroy V. Quintana
An assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler’s life, involving a briefcase-bomb, fails
Explore: Adolf Hitler
Buchi Emecheta is born
Explore: Buchi Emecheta, Second-Class Citizen, The Slave Girl
Antoine de Saint-Exupery dies
Explore: Wind, Sand and Stars, The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Richard Rodriguez is born
Explore: Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory, Days of Obligation
Jacques Roumain dies
Sherley Anne Williams is born
Explore: Dessa Rose, Sherley Anne Williams
Eavan Boland is born
Explore: It's a Woman's World, Eavan Boland, Mother Ireland
Paul Durcan is born
Mary Chase’s drama Harvey is first performed
Explore: Harvey, Mary Chase
Rita Mae Brown is born
Explore: Rita Mae Brown
Romain Rolland dies
Explore: Jean-Christophe