The Calendar of Literary Facts contains more than 6,500 events in literary history.
1954 Literary Facts
Françoise Sagan publishes Bonjour tristesse
Harriette Simpson Arnow publishes The Dollmaker
Robinson Jeffers publishes Hungerfield and Other Poems
Ernest Hemingway receives the Nobel Prize for Literature
Robinson Jeffers receives the Pulitzer Prize for Hungerfield and Other Poems
Paul Horgan publishes Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History
Peter De Vries publishes The Tunnel of Love
Yukio Mishima publishes Shiosai (The Sound of Waves)
Theodore Roethke receives the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for The Waking: Poems 1933-53
P. K. Page publishes The Metal and the Flower
Camara Laye publishes Le Regard du roi (The Radiance of the King)
Simone de Beauvoir publishes Les Mandarins (The Mandarins)
J. R. R. Tolkien publishes The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, volumes one and two of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, are published
John Betjeman publishes A Few Late Chrysanthemums: New Poems
Dannie Abse publishes Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve
Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons is produced
Kingsley Amis publishes Lucky Jim
Rosemary Sutcliff publishes The Eagle of the Ninth
Wallace Stevens publishes The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens
William Golding publishes Lord of the Flies
William Faulkner publishes A Fable
Juan Goytisolo publishes Juegos de manos
Max Frisch publishes Stiller: Roman (I’m Not Stiller)
Gore Vidal publishes Messiah
The U.S. Supreme Court declares racial segregation unconstitutional, in Brown v. Board of Education
Viet-Minh forces besiege and defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu, ending French rule in Vietnam
John Patrick receives the Pulitzer Prize in drama for The Teahouse of the August Moon
Jaroslav Seifert publishes Maminka
Vicente Aleixandre publishes Historia del corazon
Leonard Bacon dies
John Patrick Shanley is born
Explore: Doubt, John Patrick Shanley, What is the theme of John Patrick Shanley's 2004 play Doubt?
Harvey Fierstein is born
Explore: Torch Song Trilogy, Harvey Fierstein
Louise Erdrich is born
Explore: The Red Convertible, Louise Erdrich, What are some themes in Louise Erdrich's "The Shawl"?
Lynn Riggs dies
Explore: The Cherokee Night, Green Grow the Lilacs, Lynn Riggs
Jacinto Benavente dies
Colette dies
Explore: Gigi, The Vagabond, Colette
Donald Margulies is born
Explore: Dinner with Friends, Donald Margulies
Kazuo Ishiguro is born
Explore: An Artist of the Floating World, A Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro
Sandra Cisneros is born
Explore: The House on Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros
James Hilton dies
Explore: Lost Horizon, Good-bye, Mr. Chips, James Hilton