This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in1576.

• December –James Burbage opensThe Theatre, the second permanent public playhouse inLondon (and the first to have a substantial life – 22 years), ushering in the great age ofElizabethan drama.^[1]
• unknown dates
  • The composerRichard Farrant opens the firstBlackfriars Theatre in London, presenting plays performed by theChildren of the Chapel.^[2]
  • The composerThomas Whythorne writes aBooke of songs and sonetts with longe discourses sett with them [sic], an early example ofautobiographical writing in English.

• Jean Bodin –Les Six livres de la République (The Six Books of the Republic)
• Ulpian Fulwell –Ars adulandi, or, The Art of Flattery (dialogues)
• Étienne de La Boétie (died 1563) –Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (Discours de la servitude volontaire, published asLe Contr'un)
• George Pettie –A Petite Palace of Pettie His Pleasure
• Peter Martyr Vermigli (died 1562; edited byRobert le Maçon) –Loci Communes
• George Whetstone –The Rocke of Regard

• Luigi Pasqualigo –Il Fedele
• George Wapull –The Tide Tarrieth No Man published^[3]

• See1576 in poetry
• Tulsidas –Ramcharitmanas
• The Paradise of Dainty Devices, the most popular of the Elizabethan verse miscellanies

• January 12 –Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian (died1660)^[4]
• May 27 –Caspar Schoppe, German controversialist (died1649)^[5]
• June 6 –Giovanni Diodati, Bible translator (died1649)^[6]
• October –John Marston, English dramatist and poet (died1634)^[7]
• October 30 –Enrico Caterino Davila, Italian historian (died1631)^[8]
• unknown dates
  • William Ames, English philosopher (died1633)^[9]
  • Johann Bogermann, Dutch translator (died1637)
  • Samuel Collins, theologian (died1651)
  • Charles Fitzgeoffrey, Elizabethan poet (died1638)
  • Goldastus, Swiss Calvinist historian (died1635)
  • John Weever, English poet and antiquary (died1632)

• January 19 –Hans Sachs, German poet and dramatist (born1494)^[10]
• February 10 –Wilhelm Xylander, German classical scholar (born 1532)^[11]
• March 18 –Johann Stössel, German Lutheran theologian (born1524; died in prison)
• May 2 –Bartolomé Carranza, Spanish theologian (born 1503)
• June 30 –Franciscus Sonnius, Flemish theologian (born 1506)
• October 14 –Konrad Heresbach, Calvinist writer (born1496)
• unknown dates
  • Basil Faber, German theologian (born1520)
  • Aloysius Lilius, Italian philosopher (born c. 1510)^[12]
  • Lancelot Ridley, English theologian^[13]
  • Mavro Vetranović, Croatian Benedictine poet and author (born1482)

• 1576 in literature
• Years of the 16th century in literature

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata