See also: 1867 in literature, other events of 1868, 1869 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• First edition of the World Almanac published

New Books

• Biarritz - Hermann Goedsche
• Dead-Sea Fruit - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
• Deep Down - RM Ballantyne
• Haunted Lives - Sheridan Le Fanu
• The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Little Meg's children - Hesba Stretton
• Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
• The Luck of Roaring Camp - Bret Harte
• The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
• Robert Falconer - George MacDonald
• Slaves of Paris - Emile Gaboriau
• Sweet Anne Page - Mortimer Collins

Births

• February 23 - W. E. B. Du Bois (+ 1963)
• March 28 - Maxim Gorky, author (+ 1936)
• May 6 - Gaston Leroux, author (+ 1927)
• October 18 - Ernst Didring, Swedish writer (+ 1931)

Deaths

• June 18 - Charles Harpur, Australian poet
• November 30 - August Blanche, Swedish writer, statesman

Awards