This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1938.

Books

Martin Boyd – Night of the Party
Eleanor Dark – Waterway^[1]
Arthur Gask – The Fall of a Dictator
Xavier Herbert – Capricornia
Michael Innes – Lament for a Maker
Norman Lindsay – Age of Consent
Alice Grant Rosman – Unfamiliar Faces^[2]
Nevil Shute – Ruined City
Christina Stead – House of All Nations
E. V. Timms – Maelstrom
Arthur Upfield – The Bone is Pointed

Short stories

Alan Marshall – "Clarkey's Dead"^[3]
Katharine Susannah Prichard – "Marlene"^[4]

Poetry

Main article: 1938 in poetry

R. D. FitzGerald – Moonlight Acre
A. D. Hope – "Standardisation"^[5]
Jack Lindsay – "On Guard for Spain"^[6]
Jack Moses – Nine Miles from Gundagai^[7]
John Shaw Neilson
- Beauty Imposes : Some Recent Verse^[8]
- "The Crane is My Neighbour"

Awards and honours

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
ALS Gold Medal^[9]	R. D. FitzGerald	Moonlight Acre	Melbourne University Press

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1938 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

10 March – Tony Morphett, scriptwriter (died 2018)^[10]
28 July – Robert Hughes, critic (died 2012)^[11]
21 August – Mudrooroo, novelist, poet and playwright (died 2019)^[12]
17 October – Les Murray, poet (died 2019)^[13]
30 October – Morris Lurie, novelist (died 2014)^[14]
21 December – Frank Moorhouse, novelist (died 2022)^[15]

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1938 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

21 January – Will Dyson, poet and artist (born 1880)^[16]
7 February – Constance Le Plastrier, writer, schoolteacher and botanist (born 1864)^[17]
22 June – C. J. Dennis, poet (born 1876)^[18]
29 November — John Sandes, poet, journalist and author (born 1863)^[19]

References

^ "Austlit — Waterway by Eleanor Dark". Austlit. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
^ "Austlit — Unfamiliar Faces by Alice Grant Rosman". Austlit. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
^ "Austlit — "Clarkey's Dead" by Alan Marshall". Austlit. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
^ "Austlit — "Marlene" by Katharine Susannah Prichard". Austlit. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
^ "Austlit — "Standardisation" by A. D. Hope". Austlit. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
^ "Austlit — "On Guard for Spain" by Jack Lindsay". Austlit. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
^ "Austlit — Nine Miles from Gundagai by Jack Moses". Austlit. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
^ "Austlit — Beauty Imposes : Some Recent Verse by John Shaw Neilson". Austlit. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
^ "Literary Gold Medal : Award to Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald" The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 1940, p16
^ "Tony Morphett". Austlit. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Robert Hughes". Austlit. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Mudrooroo". Austlit. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Les Murray". Austlit. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Morris Lurie". Austlit. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Frank Moorhouse". Austlit. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Will Dyson : Death of Famous Cartoonist" The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 January 1938, p14
^ "Constance Le Plastrier". Austlit. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Dennis, Clarence Michael James (1876–1938) by Ian F. McLaren". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Sandes, John (1863–1938) by Ken Stewart". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 10 August 2023.

v t e Years in Australian literature (1855–present)
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21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024