This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1556.

• Unknown dates
  • The first printing press in India is introduced by Jesuits at Saint Paul's College, Goa.^[1]
  • The first written evidence of Yakshagana dance-drama is found on an inscription at the Lakshminarayana Temple, Hosaholalu in India.^[2]
  • Augustus, Elector of Saxony, establishes a royal state library in Dresden, predecessor of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.^[3]

• Georg Bauer – De re metallica
• John Ponet – A Short Treasure of Politic Power

• Pierre de Ronsard – Les Hymnes

• March 7 – Guillaume du Vair, French lawyer and philosopher (died 1621)
• April 27 – François Béroalde de Verville, French novelist and poet (died 1626)
• July 25 (baptised) – George Peele, English dramatist and poet (died 1596)
• August 10 – Philipp Nicolai, German poet and composer (died 1608)
• November 15 – Jacques Davy Duperron, French poet, cardinal and politician (died 1618)
• November 25 (baptised) – John Heminges, English actor and editor of the First Folio (died 1630)^[4]
• Unknown date – John Paul Nazarius, Italian theologian (died 1645)

• April 26 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and teacher (born 1490)
• May 7 – Hieronymus Andreae, German printer and publisher (date of birth unknown)
• July 31 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish theologian, founder of the Jesuits (born 1491)
• October 21 – Pietro Aretino, Italian satirist (born 1492)^[5]
• October 31 – Johannes Sleidanus, Luxembourgeois historian (born 1506)
• November 14 – Giovanni della Casa, Florentine poet (born 1503)
• December 23 – Nicholas Udall, English dramatist (born 1504)^[6]
• Unknown dates
  • Fuzûlî, Ottoman poet and philosopher (born c.1483)
  • Oddur Gottskálksson, Icelandic translator (born 1514/1515)^[7]