1578 in literature

• December – Publication of John Lyly's didactic prose romance Euphues: the Anatomy of Wyt, originating the ornate English prose style known as Euphuism.{{cite book|author=John Lyly|title=John Lyly 'Euphues: the Anatomy of Wit' and 'Euphues and His England': An Annotated, Modern-Spelling Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YhMeoQsah3IC&pg=PA24|date=28 June 2003|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-6458-6|pages=24}}
• unknown date – Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga is sent on a mission to Zaragoza by King Philip II of Spain.

• Diogo de Payva de Andrada – Defensio Tridentinæ fidei (posthumously published){{cite book|title=A New and General Biographical Dictionary: Containing an ... Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons in Every Nation in the World, Particularly the British and Irish ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqEDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA199|year=1793|publisher=The Proprietors|pages=199}}
• George Best – A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discoverie…under the Conduct of Martin Frobisher
• John Florio – First Fruits
• Jaroš Griemiller – Rosarium philosophorum
• Gabriel Harvey – Smithus, vel Musarum lachrymae
• John Lyly – Euphues: the Anatomy of Wit
• Margaret Tyler, The Mirrour of Princely Deedes and Knighthood{{cite book|author1=Helen Ostovich|author2=Elizabeth Sauer|author3=Melissa Smith|title=Reading Early Modern Women: An Anthology of Texts in Manuscript and Print, 1550-1700|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRZMdU4FnVYC&pg=PA333|year=2004|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-96646-7|pages=333}}

• Jan Kochanowski – Odprawa posłów greckich ("The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys")
• George Whetstone – Promos and Cassandra

• See 1578 in poetry

• April 2 – Francesco Amico, Italian theologian
• June – Mary Fitton, possible inspiration for Shakespeare's The Dark Lady (died 1647)
• August 24 – John Taylor, English poet and waterman (died 1653)
• unknown dates
• Giambattista Andreini, Italian dramatist and actor (died 1650)
• Jacob Bidermann, German dramatist (died 1627)
• George Hakewill, English author and cleric (died 1649)

• May 4 – Martin Eisengrein, German theologian and polemicist (born 1535){{cite book|author=Gale Group|title=New Catholic Encyclopedia: Ead-Fre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fwgKAQAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Thomson/Gale|isbn=978-0-7876-4009-5|page=142}}
• July 27 – Jane Lumley, English translator from Greek and Latin (born 1537){{cite book |last1=Robin |first1=Diana Maury |last2=Larsen |first2=Anne R. |last3=Levin |first3=Carole |title=Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England |date=2007 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781851097722 |page=221 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ8mdTjxungC&pg=PA221|language=en}}
• August 11 – Pedro Nunes, Portuguese polymath (born 1502)
• October 12 – Cornelius Gemma, Dutch physician, astronomer and astrologer (born 1535)
• unknown date – Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari, Italian printer (born c. 1508)
• probable – Johann Stumpf, Swiss writer on history and topography (born 1500)

{{Reflist}}

{{Year in literature article categories}}