1986 in literature

See also: 1985 in literature, other events of 1986, 1987 in literature, list of years in literature.

Deaths

• January 1 - Lord David Cecil, critic and biographer
• January 4 - Christopher Isherwood, novelist
• January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer, founder of Scientology
• February 11 - Frank Herbert, American science fiction author
• February 26 - Robert Penn Warren, poet, author
• March 4 - Elizabeth Smart, Canadian poet and novelist
• March 18 - Bernard Malamud, novelist
• April 14 - Simone de Beauvoir, philosopher and feminist writer
• May 15 - Theodore H. White, writer
• June 14 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer
• August 3 - Beryl Markham, traveller and author
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright
• December 17 - J. F. Hendry, poet
• December 19 - Virginia C. Andrews, novelist