See also: 1947 in literature, other events of 1948, 1949 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• November 4 - T.S. Eliot wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• The Pulitzer Prize for the Novel is renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
• The first volume of Sir Winston Churchill's "The Second World War " (1948–1953) is published.
• The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene is published.
• The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer is published.

New books

• The American Political Tradition - Richard Hofstadter
• Catalina - W. Somerset Maugham
• Concluding - Henry Green
• Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
• The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline - Isaac Asimov
• The Foundling – Georgette Heyer
• The Golden Warrior - Hope Muntz
• Guard of Honor - James Gould Cozzens
• The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene
• The Hearth and the Eagle - Anya Seton
• The House of Sleep - Anna Kavan
• The Ides of March - Thornton Wilder
• John Aubrey and His Friends - Anthony Powell
• Joseph and His Brothers - Thomas Mann
• Last Of The Conquerors - William Gardner Smith
• The Living Is Easy - Dorothy West
• The Mask of Circe - C. L. Moore
• Melissa (novel) - Taylor Caldwell
• My Glorious Brothers - Howard Fast
• The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer
• Parris Mitchell of King's Row - Henry Bellamann
• Raintree County - Ross Lockridge, Jr.
• Seraph On The Sewanee - Zora Neale Hurston
• The Twenty-One Balloons - William Pène du Bois
• The White Goddess - Robert Graves
• The World is Not Enough - Zoe B. Oldenbourg
• The Young Lions - Irwin Shaw

Births

• January 1 - Lynn Abbey, writer
• February 5 - Christopher Guest, actor, writer, director, composer
• February 28 - Mike Figgis, director, writer, composer
• February 29 - Patricia A. McKillip, author of fantasy and science fiction novels
• March 17 - William Gibson, writer
• April 4 - Dan Simmons, American author of science fiction, horror and fantasy
• April 28 - Terry Pratchett, English fantasy author
• September 20 - George R. R. Martin, fantasy writer
• October 17 - Robert Jordan, fantasy writer

Deaths

• March 6 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., author of Raintree County

Awards

• Newbery Medal for children's literature: William Pene du Bois, The Twenty-One Balloons
• Nobel Prize for literature: Thomas Stearns Eliot
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: James A. Michener - Tales of the South Pacific
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: W. H. Auden: The Age of Anxiety