1978 in literature

See also: 1977 in literature, other events of 1978, 1979 in literature, list of years in literature.

Deaths

• January 12 - Robert Harbin, author of many books on origami
• March 1 - Paul Scott, Raj Quartet author
• March 24 - Leigh Brackett, science fiction writer
• April 14 - F. R. Leavis, literary critic
• May 1 - Sylvia Townsend Warner, poet and novelist
• May 12 - Louis Zukofsky, modernist poet
• September 15 - Edmund Crispin, crime writer
• September 28 - Pope John Paul I, author of Illustrissimi under his real name of Albino Luciani
• November 15 - Margaret Mead, anthropologist and author
• date unknown - Walter C. Alvarez, medical author