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

Jacques Audiberti’s play Quoat-Quoat is first produced

Civil war rages in China between Mao Tse-tung’s communists and Koumintang forces under Chiang Kai-shek; in the end, Mao’s Reds triumph

The first electronic supercomputer, called Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer (ENIAC) is developed

Stung by the published criticisms of Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian dictator Juan Perón appoints Borges to a position as poultry inspector for the Buenos Aires Municipal Market

P. G. Wodehouse publishes Joy in the Morning

Eudora Welty publishes Delta Wedding

Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay receive the Pulitzer Prize in drama for State of the Union

Benjamin Spock publishes The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care

Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay’s drama State of the Union is first performed

Malcolm Cowley publishes the Viking Portable Faulkner, a work which rejuvenated the critical reputation of William Faulkner

Christopher Isherwood publishes The Berlin Stories

Frank Yerby publishes The Foxes of Harrow

Hermann Hesse receives the Nobel Prize for Literature

Robert Lowell publishes Lord Weary’s Castle

Carson McCullers publishes The Member of the Wedding

Terence Rattigan publishes The Winslow Boy

Robert Penn Warren publishes All the King’s Men

Miguel Angel Asturias publishes El senor presidente (The President)

Alejo Carpentier publishes La musica en Cuba

Robert E. Sherwood’s screenplay for The Best Years of Our Lives is brought to the motion-picture screen by RKO Studios

Elizabeth Bishop publishes North & South

Owen Dodson publishes Powerful Long Ladder

Countee Cullen dies

Explore: Countée Cullen, Imagery, language, and theme in Countee Cullen's poem "Incident."

Julian Barnes is born

Explore: Julian Barnes

Marcio Souza is born

Winston Churchill delivers his “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri

Booth Tarkington dies

Explore: The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington, Alice Adams

Gerhart Hauptmann dies

Explore: The Weavers, Gerhart Hauptmann

Stephen Coonts is born

Larry Shue is born

Explore: The Foreigner, Larry Shue

Gertrude Stein dies

Explore: Melanctha, The Making of Americans, Gertrude Stein

H. G. Wells dies

Explore: The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells

Harley Granville-Barker dies

Susan Elaine Townsend is born

The Nuremburg War Crimes Trials end; twelve defendents are sentenced to death by hanging, three to life imprisonment, four to lesser prison terms, and three acquitted

Tim O’Brien is born

Explore: Tim O'Brien

Lewis Grizzard is born

Alan Dean Foster is born

Andrei Codrescu is born

Explore: The Posthuman Dada Guide, Andrei Codrescu

Eric Van Lustbader is born