See also: 1903 in literature, other events of 1904, 1905 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• January - Mark Twain begins dictating his autobiography

• September - Mark Twain purchases a home at 21 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York.

• The Cherry Orchard, a drama by Anton Chekov

• The first volume of Jean-Christophe is published. The ten-volume history of the development of a musician of genius, written by Romain Rolland, will be completed in 1912 and earn its author the Nobel Prize.

• Nostromo by Joseph Conrad is published.

• The Golden Bowl by Henry James is published.

New Books

• Ashes - Stefan Zeromski
• The Cherry Orchard - Anton Chekhov
• The Common Lot - Robert Herrick
• The Divine Fire - May Sinclair
• A Dog's Tale - Mark Twain
• A Drama in Livonia - Jules Verne
• The Food of the Gods - H. G. Wells
• Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - M.R. James
• Ghost Stories - James Montague
• The Golden Bowl - Henry James
• The Green Eye of Goona - Arthur Morrison
• Green Mansions - William Henry Hudson
• Hadrian the Seventh - Frederick Rolfe
• The Island Pharisees - John Galsworthy
• A Journey In Search of Christmas - Owen Wister
• The Late Mattia Pascal - Luigi Pirandello
• Marcus and Faustina - John R. Carling
• Master of the World - Jules Verne
• The Napoleon of Notting Hill - G. K. Chesterton
• Nostromo - Joseph Conrad
• Peter Camenzind - Hermann Hesse
• Philosophy 4 - Owen Wister
• The Prodigal Son - Hall Caine
• The Sea-Wolf - Jack London
• The Tale of Benjamin Bunny - Beatrix Potter
• Theophano, The Crusade of the Tenth Century - Frederic Harrison

Births

• January 31 - John O'Hara, novelist (d. 1970)
• February 1 - S. J. Perelman, humorist, author
• February 4 - MacKinlay Kantor, historian (d. 1977)
• March 26 - Joseph Campbell, author and expert on mythology
• May 6 - Harry Martinson, Swedish author, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature
• July 13 - Pablo Neruda, poet
• November 28 - Nancy Mitford, English novelist and biographer (d. 1973)

Deaths

• May 5 - Mór Jókai, Hungarian writer
• June 5 - Olivia Langdon Clemens, wife of Mark Twain
• July 14 - Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer
• August 22 - Kate Chopin, author

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray y Eizaguirre