It's the new year, and we're filling up our calendars with literary holidays! I love planning almost as much as I love celebrating, so I've updated last years's list of holidays to celebrate all year long, so I can get my 2019 calendar in order. If you have more literature-based or library-friendly holidays, please let me know and I will add them in.
Please note that, while many of these holidays are officially sponsored by (and you can purchase posters and such from) the American Library Association, many of them are made up just for fun, and there is no official, cohesive, governing body. As such, you can celebrate them however you like. I have linked to official sources where I was able.
January
National Braille Literacy Month (Louis Braille was born 1/4/1809)
International Creativity Month
1/10 - Common Sense Day (Thomas Paine's
Common Sense was first published January 10, 1776)
1/12 - I'm Afraid I Can't Do That, Day - In
2001, A Space Odyssey, HAL first goes online on January 12, 1997.
1/16 - Appreciate a Dragon Day - from Falkor to Viserion, today is the day to celebrate fictional dragons.
1/18 - Winnie the Pooh Day (A.A. Milne’s Birthday)
1/19 - Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday
1/25 - Burns Supper/Burns Night (to celebrate Scottish poet Robert Burns)
1/29 - “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is first published
1/31 - Inspire Your Heart with the Arts Day
February
Love Your Library Month
2/2 -
Take Your Child to the Library Day (first Saturday of February)
2/3-19 -
Children's Authors and Illustrators Week (first week of February)
2/8 - John Grisham's birthday
2/12 - Judy Blume's birthday
2/14 - Library Lovers’ Day
2/16 - Reading Rainbow Day (LeVar Burton's birthday)
2/22 - Edward Gorey's birthday
March
Paws To Read Month - a celebration of reading dog programs
First full week – Return of Borrowed Books Week
3/1-7 -
Will Eisner Week - a celebration that promotes comics, graphic novel literacy, free speech, and the work of artist Will Eisner
3/2 -
Read Across America Day (Dr. Seuss’s Birthday)
3/4 - National Grammar Day
3/3-9 - (First full week of March) – Read an eBook Week
3/3-9 - Teen Tech Week
3/8 - National Proofreading Day
3/15 - The Ides of March (Julius Caesar is stabbed, 44 B.C.)
3/16 - Freedom of Information Day
3/17-23 - World Folk Tales and Fables Week
3/20 - Won't You Be My Neighbor? Day - Mr. Rogers's birthday! Wear a cardigan, feed the fish, and have a beautiful day in your neighborhood
3/21 -
United Nations World Poetry Day
3/22 - Wonder Woman's birthday (according to the official DC Comics calendar)
3/22 - Captain James T. Kirk's birthday (If
Star Trek is correct, he will be born on March 22, 2233, in Riverside, Iowa)
3/25 - Gondorian New Year - the day that the One Ring was destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom
April
National Poetry Month
3/30 - 4/6
Money Smart Week
4/1 - Hatching Day - celebrate the Dragonriders of Pern series on Anne McCaffrey's birthday by enjoying bubbly pies and coffee!
4/2 - International Children’s Book Day (Hans Christian Anderson’s Birthday)
4/3 - Paraprofessional Day - Celebrate your paras!
4/4 - 1984 Day (the day that the protagonist of the book started writing his diary)
4/7-13 - National Library Week
4/9 -
National Library Workers’ Day
4/10 (Thursday of National Library Week) – Celebrate Teen Literature Day
4/12 - D.E.A.R. Day (Beverly Cleary’s birthday)
4/16 - National Bookmobile Day
4/17 - Chaucer Day (both the day that the characters began their journey, and the day that Chaucer first read
The Canterbury Tales to the court of King Richard II, in 1397)
4/18 - National Columnists Day (in memory of well-known columnist and 1944 Pulitzer Prize Winner Ernie Pyle, who died in WWII)
4/23 - Shakespeare’s birthday
4/23 - World Book and Copyright Day
4/24 - Library of Congress Appreciation Day - the library was founded April 24, 1800
4/26 - Poem in Your Pocket Day
4/27 - National Tell a Story Day
4/30 - Children’s Book Day/El Dia de los Ninos
May
Get Caught Reading Month
4/29-5/5
Children’s Book Week
5/2 - Harry Potter Day (May 2 was the day of the Battle of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series; many also celebrate July 31, which is both Harry's and J.K. Rowling's birthdays)
5/4 - Intergalactic Star Wars Day ("May the Fourth be with you.")
5/4 - Free Comic Book Day (first Saturday in May)
5/9 - Peter Pan Day (James M. Barrie’s birthday)
5/12 - Limerick Day - the birthday of noted author of limerick poems, Edward Lear
5/18 - International Museums Day (spread the love and promote your museum passes!)
5/20 - Eliza Doolittle Day
5/21 - National Readathon Day
5/25 - Towel Day (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Day)
5/27 - Dashiell Hammett's birthday - author of
The Maltese Falcon and creator of the "hard-boiled" school of detective fiction
June
LGBT Book Month
Audiobook Appreciation Month
6/10 - Maurice Sendak's birthday. Let The Wild Rumpus Start!
6/12 -Anne Frank’s birthday (on which she received her diary)
6/14 - Caldecott Day - the Caldecott Medal was first awarded on June 14, 1938
6/16 - Bloomsday (the day on which most of James Joyce's Ulysses, whose main character is Leopold Bloom, takes place)
6/19 –-National Garfield the Cat Day (strip is first published, 1978)
6/22 - Octavia Butler's birthday
Bonus: Any beautiful Wednesday in June can be Mrs. Dalloway Day
July
Read an Almanac Month
July 4-6 - National Tom Sawyer Days
7/10 - Clerihew Day (in honor of the poet Edmund Clerihew, who invented a fun style of poetry)
7/18-21 - (third week of July) – Hemingway Days takes place in the Florida Keys
7/30 - National Paperback Book Day
7/31 -Harry Potter Day (July 31is both Harry's and J.K. Rowling's; many also celebrate May 2, which was the day of the Battle of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series)
August
Read a Romance Month
8/1 - Spiderman Day - The popular character debuted August 1, 1962
8/9 - Book Lovers’ Day
8/14 - Coloring Book Day
8/15 - National Relaxation Day
8/20 - H.P. Lovecraft's birthday
8/21 - Poet's Day
8/25 - Founder's Day - the United State National Park Service was founded on August 25, 1916
8/30 - Frankenstein Day (author Mary Wollenstone Shelley was born August 30, 1797)
8/31 - We Love Memoirs Day
September
Library Card Sign-Up Month
Be Kind to Writers and Editors Month
9/6 - Read a Book Day
9/7 - Google Day (Google was founded on September 7, 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page)
9/8 - International Literacy Day
9/13 -
Roald Dahl Day
9/22 - Hobbit Day
9/22 - Dear Diary Day
Last week of Sept. - Banned Books Week
Wednesday of Banned Books Week - Banned Websites Awareness Day
October
National Book Month (no longer sponsored by the National Book Foundation, but we can celebrate anyway)
National Reading Group Month
National Medical Librarians Month
National Arts and Humanities Month
10/2 - Phileas Fogg's Wager Day - "I will bet twenty thousand pounds against anyone who wishes, that I will make a tour of the world in eighty days or less."
10/6-12 (first full week of October) National Mystery Series Week
10/6 - Mad Hatter Day (because his hat says 10/6)
10/11 - Myths and Legends Day
10/13-19 (week of Columbus Day) - Teen Read Week
10/16 - Dictionary Day (Noah Webster’s Birthday)
10/18 - Newspaper Comic Strip Day - the first newspaper comic strip ever run was "The Yellow Kid Takes a Hand at Golf" by Richard Fenton Outcault, on October 18, 1896.
10/21-27
National Friends of Libraries Week
November
Picture Book Month
National Family Literacy Month
National Novel Writing Month
11/1 - National Family Literacy Day
11/1 - National Authors Day
11/3-9 (first full week of November) -
International Games Week
11/6 - National Non-Fiction Day (it's "national" in England; let's spread it internationally!)
11/10 - Neil Gaiman's birthday
11/10 - Sesame Street Premier Day (November 10, 1969)
11/11-15 - (starts the Monday of the second full week in November) National Young Readers Week - in conjunction with the Library of Congress and the
Pizza Hut Book It! Program
11/14 - Astrid Lindgren’s birthday (author of Pippi Longstocking)
11/15 - I Love to Write Day
11/16 - World Philosophy Day
11/18 - High-Five a Librarian Day
11/30 -
Joy of Cooking publication anniversary, November 30, 1924 - cookbook clubs, unite!
December
Read a New Book Month
12/1 - Sherlock Holmes Day (“A Study in Scarlet” was said to have been first published 12/1/1887 - this is actually in dispute, but we can still celebrate)
12/10 - Dewey Decimal System Day (Melville Dewey's birthday)
12/16 - Jane Austen’s birthday
12/21 - Celebrate Short Fiction Day - The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. Why not celebrate with some short stories?
12/24 - Jolabokaflod - the "Christmas Book Flood" is an Icelandic tradition, in which people open gifts of books on Christmas Eve, and retire to bed early to read them.
