- January 4 , John Toland , author and historian
- January 4, Joan Aiken , author of ''The Wolves of Willoughby Chase''
- January 4, Jeff Nuttall , poet, publisher, and author of ''Bomb Culture''
- January 10 , Alexandra Ripley , author of '' Scarlett ''
- January 10/11 ?, Spalding Gray , actor and author
- January 13 , Zeno Vendler , philosopher and linguist
- January 14 , Jack Cady , science fiction author
- January 15 , Olivia Goldsmith , author
- January 15, Alex Barris , Canadian actor and writer
- January 22 , George Woodbridge , illustrator
- January 29 , M. M. Kaye , author of '' The Far Pavilions ''
- 29 January , Janet Frame , New Zealand author
- February 2 , Alan Bullock , historian
- February 4 , Hilda Hilst , Brazilian novelist
- February 5 , Frances Partridge , last surviving member of the Bloomsbury Group
- February 7 , Norman Thelwell , cartoonist
- February 8 , Julius Schwartz , comic book and pulp magazine editor
- February 16 , Bill Oakley , comic book letterer
- February 19 , Hermann Krings , German philosopher
- February 27 , Paul Sweezy , economist and founding editor of the '' Monthly Review ''
- February 28 , Daniel J. Boorstin , historian
- February 29 , Jerome Lawrence , playwright
- March 9 , Albert Mol , author, actor, and dancer
- March 29 - Peter Ustinov , actor, dramatist and memoirist (b. 1921)
- March 30
- ---Dr Michael King OBE New Zealand Historian , Author and Biographer
- --- Alistair Cooke , English-born journalist and broadcaster (b. 1908 )
- May 2 , Paul Guimard , French writer
- April 26 , Hubert Selby, Jr. , American author
- July 1 , Peter Barnes , playwright
- September 18 - Norman Cantor , Canadian historian (b. 1929 )
- September 24 - Françoise Sagan , French writer (b. 1935 )
- October 16 , Vincent Brome , English biographer and novelist
- October 20 , Anthony Hecht , American poet
- November 24 , Arthur Hailey , Canadian author
- December 2 - Mona Van Duyn , American poet (b. 1921 )
- December 8 , Jackson Mac Low , American poet
- December 12 , Phaswane Mpe , South African novelist (b. 1970 )
- December 18 - Anthony Sampson , British journalist and biographer (b. 1926 )
- December 28 , Susan Sontag , American novelist (b. 1933 )
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