This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1768.

• March – John Wilkes, returning from exile in France, is elected to the Parliament of Great Britain.
• May 10 – John Wilkes is imprisoned for attacking King George III of Great Britain in print.
• July 28 – Thomas Gray succeeds Lawrence Brockett as Regis Professor of History at the University of Cambridge.^[1]
• December 12 – Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde, father of Lady Eleanor Butler, inherits Kilkenny Castle in Ireland. This brings about the first meeting of the Ladies of Llangollen.^[2]
• unknown dates
  • John Murray (publisher) is established in London.
  • The Theatre Royal, Bath (Old Orchard Street Theatre) and Theatre Royal, Norwich assume these titles on being granted Royal Patents, making them officially England's only legal provincial theaters.^[3][4]
  • The Leeds Library is founded, becoming the oldest surviving subscription library of its type in Britain.^[5]

• March 22 – Melesina Trench, Irish-born writer and socialite (died 1827)
• September 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (died 1848
• November 18 – Zacharias Werner, German religious poet (died 1823)
• November 21 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian (died 1834)

• March 1 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher (born 1694)
• March 18 – Laurence Sterne, Irish-born novelist and cleric (born 1713)
• April 9 – Sarah Fielding, English novelist and children's author (born 1710)
• May 30 – Eggert Ólafsson, Icelandic writer and linguist (drowned, born 1726)
• July 4 – Willem van Haren, Dutch poet (born 1710)
• August 20 – Joseph Spence, English memoirist and professor of poetry (born 1699)
• November 25 – Alexander Russell, Scottish physician and naturalist (born c. 1715)
• December 20 – Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (born 1692)