Calendar of Book Related Holidays

Calendar of Book Related Holidays

April 2, 2019

Literary Event Planning Guide – Book Related Holidays and Author Birthdays –

As you can see from the list below, there are * tons * of bookish holidays, from National (Book Something) Days, to the birthdays of beloved authors! So I went through and highlighted some of my favorites from multiple sources to put together a quick reference. This will be a living article, as we will constantly update it as we find other designated bookish holidays, and add birthdays. We simply can’t post every author’s birthday, but we will keep growing the list as we discover more favorites.

So whether you are looking to celebrate National Family Reading Month in May, or want invite friends over to recite bad poems in August… Or perhaps you are simply looking for an excuse to have cake on April 23rd. Here are dozens of literary events for you to consider!

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JANUARY

Beginning Second Sunday of January: Universal Letter Writing Week

1: Charlotte Mason Birthday (1842)

2: National Science Fiction Day; Isaac Asimov Birthday (1920)

3: J. R. R. Tolkien Birthday (1892)

9: Severus Snape Birthday (HP)

18: National Thesaurus Day; Alan Alexander Milne Birthday (1882)

19: Edgar Allan Poe Birthday (1809)

Fourth Wednesday in January: Library Shelfie Day

26: Gilderoy Lockhart Birthday (HP)

30: Lily Potter Birthday (HP)

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FEBRUARY

National Library Lovers Month

First week of February: Children’s Authors and Illustrators Week

6: Athur Weasley Birthday (HP)

7: Charles Dickens Birthday (1812); Laura Ingalls Wilder Birthday (1867)

11: Mo Willems Birthday (1968)

12: Judy Blume Birthday (1938)

13: Luna Lovegood Birthday (HP)

14: Library Lovers Day

Second week of February: Freelance Writers Appreciation Week

27: John Steinbeck Jr. Birthday (1902)

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MARCH

First Full Week of March: Read an Ebook Week; Return Borrowed Books Week

1: Ron Weasley Birthday (HP)

2: Read Across America Day; Theodor Seuss Geisel Birthday (1902)

4: National Grammar Day

9: Sybill Trelawney Birthday (HP)

10: Remus Lupin Birthday (HP)

11: Douglas Adams Birthday (1952)

14: National Write Your Story Day

16: National Freedom of Information Day

21: World Poetry Day

22: James Brendan Patterson Birthday (1947)

25: National Tolkien Reading Day; Kate DiCamillo Birthday (1964)

27: James Potter Birthday (HP)

31: Emily Cook Birthday (1980)

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APRIL

National Poetry Month; D.E.A.R. Drop Everything And Read Month

1: Fred and George Weasley Birthday (HP)

2: Children’s Book Day

4: National School Librarian Day

5: National Read A Roadmap Day

Second Week of April: National Library Week

Tuesday of National Library Week: National Library Workers Day

Wednesday of National Library Week: National Bookmobile Day

10: Encourage a Young Writer Day (see: Tips for Budding Writers from a College Creative Writing Student)

12: D.E.A.R. Drop Everything And Read Day; Beverly Cleary Birthday (1916)

13: National Scrabble Day

16: National Librarian Day

17: National Haiku Poetry Day

18: National Columnists’ Day

23: National Talk Like Shakespeare Day; William Shakespeare Birthday (1564); World Book and Copyright Day

25: National Poem In Your Pocket Day (date varies year to year)

27: National Tell A Story Day

28: Terry Pratchett Birthday (1948); Horace Slughorn Birthday (HP); Harper Lee Birthday (1926)

Last Saturday in April: Independent Bookstore Day

28: National Great Poetry Reading Day

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MAY

National Get Caught Reading Month; National Family Reading Month

Free Comic Book Day: First Saturday

2: Victorie Weasley Birthday (HP); Harry Potter Day (Anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts)

5: National Cartoonists’ Day

Second Week of May: Reading Is Fun Week

12: National Limerick Day

15: Pomona Sprout Birthday (HP)

22: Sherlock Holmes Day (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birthday)

20: Mary Pope Osborne Birthday (1949)

27: A Literary Education Bookiversary (2017)

31: National Speak in Sentences Day

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JUNE

Audiobook Appreciation Month

4: Joseph Hill(strom King) Birthday (1972)

5: Draco Malfoy Birthday (HP)

5: Richard Russell Riordan Jr. Birthday (1964)

10: Maurice Bernard Sendak Birthday (1928)

22: Octavia Butler Birthday (1947)

23: Dudley Dursley Birthday (HP)

28: Dobby Birthday (HP)

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JULY

Read an Almanac Month

9: Dean Koontz Birthday (1945)

11: E. B. White Birthday (1899)

21: Ernest Hemingway Birthday (1899)

28: Helen Beatrix Potter Birthday (1866)

30: Paperback Book Day; Neville Longbottom Birthday (HP)

31: J. K. Rowling Birthday (1965); Harry Potter Birthday (HP) (perfect day to start a Harry Potter Unit Study)

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AUGUST

2: National Coloring Book Day

9: National Book Lovers Day

11: Ginny Weasley Birthday (HP)

18: Bad Poetry Day

19: Tina Goldstein Birthday (HP)

20: H. P. Lovecraft Birthday (1890)

22: BYL Anniversary (2012); Percy Weasley Birthday (HP)

26: Dolores Umbridge Birthday (HP)

30: Mary (Wollstonecraft) Shelley Birthday (1797)

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SEPTEMBER

National Library Card Signup Month; Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month

6: National Read A Book Day (shouldn’t this be every day?)

8: International Literacy Day; National Ampersand Day

13: Roald Dahl Birthday (1916)

15: .”Tomie” dePaola Birthday (1934)

19: Hermione Granger Birthday (HP)

20: George R. R. Martin Birthday (1948)

21: Stephen King Birthday (1947)

22: Hobbit Day (Bilbo and Frodo Baggins Birthday) (perfect day for The Hobbit Unit Study)

24: National Punctuation Day

25: National Comic Book Day; Sheldon Allan “Shel” Silverstein Birthday (1930); Garrick Ollivander Birthday (HP)

26: Quirinus Quirrell Birthday (HP)

Last Week of September: Banned Books Week

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OCTOBER

Children’s Magazine Month; National Book Month; National Cookbook Month; Medical Librarian Month; National Reading Group Month

First Full Week of October: Mystery Series Week

4: Minerva McGonagall Birthday (HP); Anne Rice Birthday (1941)

6: National Poetry Day (UK and Ireland); Mad Hatter Day

8: R. L. Stine Birthday (1943)

Second Week of October: National Newspaper Week

16: Dictionary Day; Oscar Wilde Birthday (1854)

17: Filius Flitwick Birthday (HP)

Third Week of October: Teen Read Week; Friends of Libraries Week

Last Friday of the month: National Frankenstein Day

30: Molly Weasley Birthday (HP)

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NOVEMBER

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo); National Life Writing Month; Picture Book Month; National Family Literacy Month

First Saturday of November: Book Lovers Day

1: National Authors Day; National Family Literacy Day

3: Sirius Black Birthday (HP)

6: National Nonfiction Day

8: “Bram” Stoker Birthday (1847)

10: Neil Gaiman Birthday (1960)

12: National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day; Neal Shusterman Birthday (1962)

13: Robert Louis Stevenson Birthday (1850)

Third Full Week: National Young Readers Week; National Book Award Week

15: I Love to Write Day

18: High Five a Librarian Day

22: Silvanus Kettleburn Birthday (HP)

29: Madeleine L’Engle Camp Birthday (1819); Bill Weasley Birthday (HP)

Week Varies During November: World Nursery Rhyme Week

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DECEMBER

Read a New Book Month

1: Jan Brett Birthday (1949) (perfect day to start the Jan Brett Christmas Unit Study)

6: Rubeus Hagrid Birthday (HP)

7: Letter Writing Day

10: Dewey Decimal System Day

12: Charlie Weasley Birthday (HP)

16: Jane Austen Birthday (1775)

21: Crossword Puzzle Day

24: Jolabokaflod, also known as the Christmas or Yule Book Flood (Iceland)

25: A’phabet Day or No L Day (Pun Day)

31: Tom Riddle Birthday (HP)

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Did we miss any book related holidays that you think we should have included? Leave a comment below and maybe we will add it to the list!