This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1921.
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- January 1 – The publishing firm Jonathan Cape is founded in Bloomsbury, London, by Herbert Jonathan Cape and Wren Howard.[1]
- February – Margaret Caroline Anderson and Jane Heap, publishers of The Little Review, are convicted of obscenity in a New York court for publishing the "Nausicaa" episode of James Joyce's Ulysses.[2]
- March – Jorge Luis Borges returns to his native Buenos Aires in Argentina after a period living with his family in Europe.
- April 20 – The Hungarian Ferenc Molnár's play Liliom is first produced on Broadway in English.
- May 9 – The première of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author (Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore) at the Teatro Valle in Rome divides the audience.
- May – A production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre directed by Robert Atkins at The Old Vic, London, restores the unexpurgated text for the first time since Shakespeare's day.
- June 6 – The première of Tristan Tzara's parodic The Gas Heart (Le Cœur à gaz) takes place at a Dada Salon at the Galerie Montaigne in Paris. It provokes audience derision.
- June 10 – D. H. Lawrence's novel Women in Love is first published commercially by Martin Secker in London.
- September 5 – The Cervantes Theatre (Buenos Aires) opens with a production of Lope de Vega's La dama boba (The Foolish Lady, 1613).[3]
- September 26 – The Maddermarket Theatre in Norwich, England, an old chapel, is turned into an English Renaissance theatre for period drama by an amateur repertory company directed by Walter Nugent Monck.[4] It opens with As You Like It.
- December 9 – John William Gott becomes the last person in England imprisoned for blasphemous libel.
- December 31 – Mexican poet Manuel Maples Arce distributes the first Stridentist manifesto, Comprimido estridentista, in the broadsheet Actual No. 1 in Mexico City.
Children and young people
- January 5 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (died 1990)
- January 19 – Patricia Highsmith, American crime writer (died 1995)
- January 21 – Charles Eric Maine, English science fiction writer (died 1981)
- February 4 – Betty Friedan, American feminist author (died 2006)
- February 5 – Marion Eames, Welsh novelist writing mainly in Welsh (died 2007)[18]
- February 15 – Radha Krishna Choudhary, Indian historian and writer (died 1985)
- March 1 – Richard Wilbur, American poet and translator (died 2017)
- March 3 – Paul Guimard, French novelist (died 2004)
- March 24 – Wilson Harris, Guyanese-born poet, novelist and essayist (died 2018)
- April 21 – Angela Bianchini, Italian fiction writer and literary critic (died 2018)
- May 20 – Wolfgang Borchert, German author and playwright (died 1947)
- May 23
- May 29
- June 11 – Michael Meyer, English translator and biographer (died 2000)
- June 12 – Christopher Derrick, English author, critic, and academic (died 2007)[19]
- June 14 – John Bradburne, English poet and missionary (killed 1979)
- August 11 – Alex Haley, American writer (died 1992)
- August 17 – Elinor Lyon, British children's writer (died 2008)[20]
- August 18 – Frédéric Jacques Temple, French poet and writer (died 2020)
- September 12 – Stanisław Lem, Polish science fiction novelist, philosopher, satirist and physician (died 2006)
- September 15 – Richard Gordon, English author (died 2017)
- September 16 – Mohamed Talbi, Tunisian historian (died 2017)[21]
- September 26 – Cyprian Ekwensi, Nigerian writer (died 2007)
- October 2 – Edmund Crispin (Robert Bruce Montgomery), English crime writer (died 1978)[22]
- October 9 – Tadeusz Różewicz, Polish poet, dramatist and writer (died 2014)[23]
- October 17 – George Mackay Brown, Scottish poet (died 1996)[24]
- November 6 – James Jones, American novelist (died 1977)
- November 22 – Brian Cleeve, Irish author (died 2003)
- December 20 – Israil Bercovici, Romanian dramatist and historian (died 1988)
- February 6 – Abba Goold Woolson, American author and poet (born 1838)
- February 17 – Rosetta Luce Gilchrist, American physician, author (born 1850)
- February 24 – John Habberton, American critic (born 1842)[25]
- March 22 – E. W. Hornung, English author (born 1866)
- April 6 – Maximilian Berlitz, German-born American textbook writer and language school proprietor (born 1852)
- May 5 – Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian publicist (born 1864)
- May 12 – Emilia Pardo Bazán, Spanish novelist (born 1851)[26]
- May 13 – Jean Aicard, French writer (born 1848)
- June – N. D. Popescu-Popnedea, Romanian novelist, folklorist, archivist and almanac compiler (born 1843)
- June 5 – Georges Feydeau, French playwright (born 1862)
- June 18 – Eduardo Acevedo Díaz, Uruguayan writer (born 1851)[27]
- June 20 – Mary Lynde Craig, American writer, teacher, attorney, activist (born 1834)
- June 26 – Alfred Percy Sinnett, English Theosophist author (born 1840)
- July 4 – Antoni Grabowski, Polish Esperantist (born 1857)[28]
- July 7 – Luca Caragiale, Romanian poet, novelist and translator (pneumonia, born 1893)
- August 1 – Helen Vickroy Austin, American journalist and horticulturist (born 1829)
- August 7 – Alexander Blok, Russian poet (born 1880)
- August 8 – Juhani Aho, Finnish author and journalist (born 1861)[29]
- August 19 – Georges Darien, French anarchist writer (born 1862)
- August 25 – Nikolay Gumilev, Russian poet (executed, born 1886)
- September 3 - Maria I. Johnston, American author, journalist, editor and lecturer (born 1835)
- September 22 - Ivan Vazov, Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright (born 1850)[30]
- September 26 – Matei Donici, Bessarabian Romanian poet and professional soldier (born 1847)
- October 1 – Lillian Rozell Messenger, American poet (born 1843)[31]
- October 10 – Otto von Gierke, German historian (born 1841)[32]
- November 1 – Sarah Dyer Hobart, American author of poetry, prose, and songs (born 1845/46)[33]
- November 8 – Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Slovak poet, dramatist and translator (born 1849)
- November 14 – Christabel Rose Coleridge, English novelist and editor (born 1843)
- December 28 – Hester A. Benedict, American poet (born 1838)[34]
- date unknown
"Norwich Players' New Theatre". The Times. No. 42836. London. 1921-09-27. p. 8. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Books. Part 1, group 1. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1922. p. 433.
Mary Cholmondeley (2013). The Romance of His Life - And Other Romances - The Original Classic Edition. Emereo Pty Limited. ISBN 9781486443871. Michael Dirda, Classics for Pleasure (New York: Harcourt, 2007), p. 144. Elster, Kristian (1924). Illustreret Norsk litteraturhistorie (in Norwegian). Vol. 2. Kristiania: Gyldendal. p. 808. Leavis, Q. D. (1965). Fiction and the Reading Public (rev. ed.). London: Chatto & Windus. Andro Linklater. Compton Mackenzie: A Life Hogarth Press, 1992. Page 336
Julius Glück, El la klasika periodo de Esperanto (Grabowski kaj Kabe), en Muusses Esperanto Biblioteko No. 5, Purmerend, 1937. p. 6.