1951 In Literature

• January 12 – Janie Moore, C. S. Lewis' so-called adoptive mother, dies.
• March – The American writer Flannery O'Connor leaves hospital after being diagnosed with lupus at the age of 25.
• March 12 – Hank Ketcham's U.S. Dennis the Menace appears for the first time in 16 United States newspapers.
• March 17 – The homonymous U.K. Dennis the Menace comic strip first appears in the children's comic The Beano.
• Spring – Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", which will form a basis for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and a subsequent novel, is published as "Sentinel of Eternity" in the only issue ever produced of the American science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine 10 Story Fantasy.
• May – Joe Orton enters the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he meets his lover and ultimate murderer Kenneth Halliwell.
• June 18 – Frank Hardy is acquitted of criminal libel in the Australian state of Victoria over his self-published 1950 roman à clef on corruption in Melbourne political life, Power Without Glory.
• July 16 – J. D. Salinger's coming-of-age story The Catcher in the Rye is published by Little, Brown and Company in New York City.
• September 6 – William S. Burroughs shoots and kills his common-law wife Joan Vollmer, apparently by accident, in Mexico City.
• December 16 – Noël Coward leaves his home, White Cliffs, on the south coast of England, having sold it to Ian Fleming.
• unknown dates
  • E. E. Cummings and Rachel Carson are awarded Guggenheim Fellowships. It is Cummings' second.
  • Janet Frame's first book, The Lagoon and Other Stories, is published by the Caxton Press (New Zealand) (dated 1952) while the author is a patient in Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, Seacliff, New Zealand, scheduled for a lobotomy. It is awarded the Hubert Church Memorial Award, at the time one of New Zealand's most prestigious literary prizes. This results in the cancellation of Frame's operation.
  • Béla Hamvas completes his epic novel Karnevál. He is banned from publication in Hungary at the time, so that it will appear only in 1985, 17 years after his death.
  • A Question of Upbringing, the first book in Anthony Powell's twelve-novel series A Dance to the Music of Time, is published by Heinemann in the U.K.
  • The custom of performing medieval mystery plays is revived at York and Chester, England.
  • The Théâtre national de la Colline in Paris is founded.

Fiction

• Martha Albrand – Desperate Moment
• Eric Ambler – Judgment on Deltchev
• Charlotte Armstrong – The Black-Eyed Stranger
• Sholem Asch – Moses
• Isaac Asimov
  • Foundation
  • The Stars Like Dust
• Nigel Balchin – A Way Through the Wood
• Samuel Beckett – Molloy
• Peter Blackmore – The Blue Goose
• Ray Bradbury
  • The Illustrated Man
  • "The Last Night of the World" (short story)
• John Brophy – Turn the Key Softly
• Gill Hunt – Galactic Storm
• Gerald Butler – Blow Hot, Blow Cold
• Taylor Caldwell – The Balance Wheel
• Morley Callaghan – The Loved and the Lost
• Truman Capote – The Grass Harp
• L. Sprague de Camp
  • Rogue Queen
  • The Undesired Princess
• John Dickson Carr – The Devil in Velvet
• Henry Cecil – The Painswick Line
• Camilo José Cela – The Hive (La Colmena)
• James Hadley Chase – But a Short Time to Live
• Peter Cheyney – Ladies Won't Wait
• Agatha Christie
  • The Under Dog and Other Stories
  • They Came to Baghdad
• Arthur C. Clarke – Prelude to Space
• Beverly Cleary – Ellen Tebbits
• Howard Clewes – The Long Memory
• Claud Cockburn – Beat the Devil
• Julio Cortázar – Bestiario
• Freeman Wills Crofts – French Strikes Oil
• Edmund Crispin – The Long Divorce
• Robertson Davies – Tempest-Tost
• August Derleth – The Memoirs of Solar Pons
• Heimito von Doderer – Die Strudlhofstiege, oder Melzer und die Tiefe der Jahre (The Strudelhof Steps)
• Owen Dodson – Boy at the Window
• Daphne du Maurier – My Cousin Rachel
• Friedrich Dürrenmatt – Suspicion
• Howard Fast – Spartacus
• Per Anders Fogelström – Sommaren med Monika
• Anthony Gilbert – Lady Killer
• Michael Gilbert – Death Has Deep Roots
• Julien Gracq – Le Rivage des Syrtes (The Opposing Shore)
• Graham Greene – The End of the Affair
• Henri René Guieu – Le Pionnier de l'atome
• Cyril Hare – An English Murder
• John Hawkes – The Beetle Leg
• Robert A. Heinlein – The Puppet Masters
• A. P. Herbert – Number Nine
• James Hilton – Morning Journey
• Anne Hocking – Mediterranean Murder
• Elizabeth Jane Howard and Robert Aickman – We Are for the Dark: Six Ghost Stories
• Laurence Hyde – Southern Cross (wordless novel)
• Hammond Innes – Air Bridge
• Michael Innes – Operation Pax
• James Jones – From Here to Eternity
• Margaret Kennedy – Lucy Carmichael
• A. M. Klein – The Second Scroll
• Wolfgang Koeppen – Tauben im Gras (Pigeons on the Grass)
• Kalki Krishnamurthy
  • Poiman Karadu
  • Ponniyin Selvan (பொன்னியின் செல்வன், The Son of Ponni; publication begins)
• Louis L'Amour – The Rustlers of the West Fork
• Eric Linklater – Laxdale Hall
• E. C. R. Lorac – Murder of a Martinet
• Ross Macdonald – The Way Some People Die
• Olivia Manning – School for Love
• Ngaio Marsh – Opening Night
• John Masters – Nightrunners of Bengal
• François Mauriac – Le Sagouin (The Marmoset)
• James A. Michener – Return to Paradise
• Nancy Mitford – The Blessing
• Gladys Mitchell – The Devil's Elbow
• Nicholas Monsarrat – The Cruel Sea
• Alberto Moravia – The Conformist (Il conformista)
• Robert Pinget – Entre Fantoine et Agapa
• Anthony Powell – A Question of Upbringing
• J. B. Priestley – Festival at Farbridge
• Ernest Raymond – A Chorus Ending
• John Rhode – Doctor Goodwood's Locum
• Sax Rohmer – Sumuru
• J. D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye
• Ernst von Salomon – The Questionnaire (Der Fragebogen)
• Ooka Shohei (大岡 昇平) – Fires on the Plain (野火, Nobi)
• Vern Schneider – The Teahouse of the August Moon
• Georges Simenon
  • Maigret and the Burglar's Wife
  • Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters
• Margit Söderholm – Meeting in Vienna
• Cardinal Spellman – The Foundling
• Howard Spring – The Houses in Between
• John Steinbeck – The Log from the Sea of Cortez
• Rex Stout
  • Curtains for Three
  • Murder by the Book
• Cecil Street
  • Beware Your Neighbour
  • The Secret Meeting
• William Styron – Lie Down in Darkness
• Elizabeth Taylor – A Game of Hide and Seek
• Phoebe Atwood Taylor – Diplomatic Corpse
• Josephine Tey – The Daughter of Time
• Jerrard Tickell – Appointment with Venus
• Anne de Tourville – Jabadao
• Henry Wade – Diplomat’s Folly
• P. G. Wodehouse – The Old Reliable
• Herman Wouk – The Caine Mutiny
• John Wyndham – The Day of the Triffids
• Frank Yerby – A Woman Called Fancy
• Marguerite Yourcenar – Memoirs of Hadrian (Mémoires d'Hadrien)
• Juan Eduardo Zúñiga – Inútiles totales (Totally useless)

Children and young people

• M. E. Atkinson – Castaway Camp (first in the Fricka series of five books)
• Rev. W. Awdry – Henry the Green Engine (sixth in The Railway Series of 42 books by him and his son Christopher Awdry)
• Viola Bayley – The Dark Lantern
• Margaret Biggs – The Blakes Come to Melling
• Anne de Vries – Into the Darkness (De Duisternis in, first in the Journey Through the Night – Reis door de nacht – series of four books)
• Eleanor Estes – Ginger Pye
• Rumer Godden – The Mousewife
• Cynthia Harnett – The Wool-Pack
• C. S. Lewis – Prince Caspian
• Elinor Lyon – We Daren't Go A'Hunting
• Gianni Rodari – l romanzo di Cipollino (The Adventures of the Little Onion)
• Sydney Taylor – All-of-a-Kind Family

Drama

• Muriel Box and Sydney Box – The Seventh Veil
• Agatha Christie – The Hollow
• Ian Hay – The White Sheep of the Family
• Kenneth Horne – And This Was Odd
• Eugène Ionesco – The Lesson (La Leçon)
• Ronald Jeans – Count Your Blessings
• Maryat Lee – Dope!
• A. A. Milne – Before the Flood
• Lawrence Riley – Kin Hubbard
• Jean-Paul Sartre – The Devil and the Good Lord (Le Diable et le Bon Dieu)
• Peter Ustinov
  • The Love of Four Colonels
  • The Moment of Truth
• John Van Druten – I Am a Camera
• John Whiting
  • A Penny for a Song
  • Saint's Day (first performance)
• Tennessee Williams – The Rose Tattoo

Poetry

• Clark Ashton Smith – The Dark Chateau
• Frank O'Hara – A City Winter and Other Poems
• Iona and Peter Opie – The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes

Non-fiction

• Nelson Algren – Chicago: City on the Make (essay)
• Lou Andreas-Salomé (died 1937) – Lebensrückblick (Looking Back)
• Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism
• Albert Camus – The Rebel (L'Homme révolté)
• Rachel Carson – The Sea Around Us
• Nirad C. Chaudhuri – The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian
• Wolfgang Clemen – The Development of Shakespeare's Imagery
• Thomas B. Costain – The Magnificent Century (second book in the Plantagenet or Pageant of England series)
• Daphne du Maurier (ed.) – The Young George du Maurier: a selection of his letters 1860–67
• Jacquetta Hawkes
  • A Land
  • A Guide to the Prehistoric and Roman Monuments in England and Wales
• Eric Hoffer – The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements
• Karl Huber (executed 1943) – Leibniz
• Dumas Malone – Jefferson and the Rights of Man
• C. Wright Mills – White Collar: The American Middle Classes
• Vladimir Nabokov – Speak, Memory
• J. A. Schumpeter – Imperialism and Social Classes
• Tran Duc Thao – Phénoménologie et matérialisme dialectique

• January 1 – Ashfaq Hussain, Urdu poet
• January 13 – Nigel Cox, New Zealand novelist
• January 22 – Steve J. Spears, Australian actor, singer, and playwright (died 2007)
• February 13 – Katja Lange-Müller, German novelist
• February 17 – Jagadish Mohanty, Indian novelist (died 2013)
• March 4 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, South Korean-born novelist and artist (died 1982)
• March 12 – Susan Musgrave, Canadian poet and children's writer
• March 17 - Lian Tanner, Australian children's writer
• April 5 – Guy Vanderhaeghe, Canadian author
• April 16 – Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian novelist and essayist
• April 19 – Pierre Lemaitre, French suspense novelist
• May 3 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian novelist, essayist and TV presenter
• May 9
  • Christopher Dewdney, Canadian poet
  • Joy Harjo, Native American poet
• May 15 – David Almond, English writer for children and young adults
• May 20 – Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist, writer and broadcaster (died 2020)
• May 21 – Al Franken, American comedian, actor, writer and politician
• June 5 – Suze Orman, American financial advisor, writer and television personality
• June 15 – Amir Barghashi, Iranian-born Swedish actor and dramatist
• June 22 – Rosario Murillo, Nicaraguan poet and political activist
• June 29 – Don Rosa, American writer and artist of Disney comics
• August 20 – Greg Bear, American science fiction writer
• August 24 – Orson Scott Card, American science fiction writer
• September 14 – Volodymyr Melnykov, Ukrainian poet, writer, songwriter and composer
• September 15 – Jared Taylor, American author and journalist
• September 20 – Javier Marías, Spanish novelist
• September 29 – Andrés Caicedo, Colombian novelist and cinema critic (suicide 1977)
• October 3 – Bernard Cooper, American writer
• October 11 – Louise Rennison, English author and comedian (died 2016)
• October 12 – Peter Flannery, English dramatist
• October 17 – Clark Parent, Haitian novelist, musician and politician
• November 18 - Dennis Foon, Canadian playwright, screenwriter and novelist
• December 6 – Tomson Highway, Canadian and Cree playwright, novelist and children's author
• December 8 – Bill Bryson, American travel writer
• December 20 – Peter May, Scottish novelist and television dramatist
• December 22 – Charles de Lint, Canadian fantasy author and Celtic folk musician
• Unknown dates
  • Mohammed Achaari, Moroccan writer
  • Carol Birch, English novelist

• January 6 – Maila Talvio, Finnish writer, nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature (born 1871)
• January 7 – René Guénon, French philosophical writer (born 1886)
• January 10 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist (born 1885)
• January 29 – James Bridie, Scottish dramatist (born 1888)
• February 13 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (born 1877)
• February 16 – Henri-René Lenormand, French dramatist (born 1882)
• February 19 – André Gide, French author (born 1869)
• February 28 – Vsevolod Vishnevsky, Russian dramatist and screenwriter (born 1900)
• March 11 – János Zsupánek, Prekmurje Slovene poet and author (born 1861)
• March 25 – Oscar Micheaux, African American author, film director and producer (born 1884)
• April 3 – Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian poet and dramatist (born 1890)
• April 9 – Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian-born novelist (born 1903; suicide)
• April 12 - Henry De Vere Stacpoole. Irish author (born 1863)
• April 29 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (born 1889)
• May 2 – Alphonse de Châteaubriant, French writer (born 1877)
• May 25 – Paula von Preradović, Austrian poet and writer (born 1887)
• May 30 – Hermann Broch, Austrian writer (born 1886)
• June 10 – Håkon Evjenth, Norwegian children's writer (born 1894)
• June 11 – W. C. Sellar, Scottish humorist (born 1898)
• August 14 – William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper tycoon (born 1863)
• August 18 – Richard Malden, English editor, classical and Biblical scholar, and ghost story writer (born 1879)
• August 31 – Abraham Cahan, American Jewish journalist and novelist (born 1860)
• September 2 – Antoine Bibesco, Romanian dramatist (born 1878)
• September 7 – F. G. Loring, English writer and naval officer (born 1869)
• September 28 – Petre P. Negulescu, Romanian philosopher (born 1870)
• November 5 – I. C. Vissarion, Romanian novelist, dramatist, poet and science writer (born 1879)
• November 27 – Timrava (Božena Slančíková), Slovak novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1867)
• December 4 – Pedro Salinas, Spanish poet (born 1891)
• December 10 – Algernon Blackwood, English novelist and journalist (born 1869)

• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Harnett, The Wool-Pack
• Frost Medal: Wallace Stevens
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Chapman Mortimer, Father Goose
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Noel Annan, Leslie Stephen
• Newbery Medal: Elizabeth Yates, Amos Fortune, Free Man
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Pär Lagerkvist
• Premio Nadal: Luis Romero, La noria
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Conrad Richter, The Town
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Carl Sandburg, Complete Poems

• Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. ISBN 9780198715542.