This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1979.
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Children and young people
- February 4 – Ben Lerner, American poet, novelist and critic
- February 10 – Johan Harstad, Norwegian novelist[7]
- February 27 - Alexander Gordon Smith, British children's and young-adult author
- March 28 – Benjamin Percy, American short story writer
- April 14 – Patrick Somerville, American novelist and short story writer
- May 21 - James Clancy Phelan, American young-adult and thriller writer
- June 28 – Florian Zeller, French novelist and dramatist
- July 14 – Yukiko Motoya, Japanese fiction writer, playwright, theatre director and voice actress
- unknown dates
- January – Dilys Cadwaladr, Welsh-language poet (born 1902)
- January 27 – Victoria Ocampo, Argentine publisher, writer and critic (born 1890)[9]
- February 9 – Allen Tate, American poet and essayist (born 1899)[10]
- February 25 – John L. Wasserman, American entertainment critic (car accident, born 1938)[11]
- February 27 – Sir George Clark, English historian (born 1890)
- March 26 – Jean Stafford, American short story writer and novelist (heart failure; born 1915)[12]
- April 8 – Breece D'J Pancake, American short story writer (suicide, born 1952)
- May 10 – J. B. Morton (Beachcomber), English humorous newspaper columnist (born 1893)
- May 14 – Jean Rhys, Dominica-born English novelist (born 1890)[13]
- June 1 – Eric Partridge, New Zealand/British lexicographer (born 1894)[14]
- June 3 – Arno Schmidt, German novelist (born 1914)[15]
- June 7 – Forrest Carter, American genre novelist (heart failure, born 1925)
- July 6 – Malcolm Hulke, English television writer (born 1924)
- July 7 – Ahmad Qandil, Saudi Arabian poet (born 1911) [16]
- July 15 – Juana de Ibarbourou, Uruguayan poet (born 1892)
- July 21 – Eugène Vinaver, Russian-born English literary scholar (born 1899)
- July 23 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and novelist (born 1898)[17]
- July 29 – Herbert Marcuse, German Jewish philosopher (born 1898)[18]
- August 8 – Nicholas Monsarrat, English novelist (born 1910)
- August 16 – Jerzy Jurandot (Jerzy Glejgewicht), Polish poet and dramatist (born 1911)
- August 20 – Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and writer (born 1922)[19]
- August 22 – James T. Farrell, American novelist (born 1904)[20]
- September 5 – John Bradburne, English poet and missionary (killed by guerillas; born 1921)
- September 6 – Guy Bolton, British playwright (born 1884)[21]
- September 25 – Zhou Libo (周立波), Chinese novelist and translator (born 1908)
- October 6 – Elizabeth Bishop, American poet (born 1911)
- October 17 – S. J. Perelman, American humorist (born 1904)[22]
- October 18 – Virgilio Piñera, Cuban poet and short-story writer (born 1912)
- December 12 – Goronwy Rees, Welsh journalist and academic (born 1909)[23]
- December 19 – Donald Creighton, Canadian historian (born 1902)
United States
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction :
- Nebula Award: Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake
- Hugo Award: Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake
- Locus Award for Best Novel: Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake
- Newbery Medal for children's literature:
- Bancroft Prize: Christopher Thorne, Allies of a Kind: The United States, Britain, and the War Against Japan, 1941–1945
- Bancroft Prize: Anthony F. C. Wallace, Rockdale: The Growth of An American Village in the Early Industrial Revolution
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Sam Shepard, Buried Child
- Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography: Leonard Baker, Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Penn Warren, Now and Then: Poems 1976–1978
- Pulitzer Prize for History: Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics
- Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction: E. O. Wilson, On Human Nature
"Mandel, Emily St. John 1979– --" in Contemporary Authors, v. 301. Gale, 2010.
John Wasserman (1993). Praise, Vilification, & Sexual Innuendo, Or, How to be a Critic: The Selected Writings of John L. Wasserman (1964-1979). Chronicle Books. p. 1. ISBN 9780811802475.
Stacy Lorraine Braukman; Susan Ware (2004). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Belknap Press. p. 609.
Meanjin, volume 38. University of Melbourne. 1979. p. 516.
Review of Contemporary Fiction. John O'Brien. 1988. p. 142.
"Obituaries". Cross & Cockade Journal. 20. the Society: 380. 1979.
State, Paul (2004). Historical Dictionary of Brussels. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Group. p. 225. ISBN 9780810865556.
Wald, Alan (1987). The New York intellectuals : the rise and decline of the anti-Stalinist left from the 1930s to the 1980s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 259. ISBN 9780807841693.
"Mr Guy Bolton", obituary, The Times, 23 November 1979, p. 11