Are you looking for unique ways to celebrate your love of literature this year? Here, you’ll find the ultimate list of bookish holidays, including special days, weeks, months, author birthdays, and more. You’ll be able to quickly and easily plan your content and activities for the entire year in one spot, whether you’re a Bookstagrammer, teacher, librarian, or another type of book lover. So, read, save, and share this helpful guide!
Ultimate List of Bookish Holidays
January
- National Book Blitz Month
- National Braille Literacy Month
- 1: Public Domain Day
- 1:J.D. Salinger’s birthday
- 2: National Science Fiction Day
- 3: J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday
- 4: World Braille Day
- 7: Zora Neale Hurston’s birthday
- 8: Stephen Hawking’s birthday
- 9: National Word Nerd Day
- 11: Poetry at Work Day
- 12: Jack London’s birthday
- 16: Book Publishers Day
- 18: A.A. Milne’s birthday
- 18: Thesaurus Day
- 19: Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday
- 24: Library Shelfie Day
- 24: Edith Wharton’s birthday
- 25: Virginia Woolf’s birthday
- 27: Lewis Carroll’s birthday
- 27: J.D. Salinger’s birthday
- 28: Pride & Prejudice was published in 1813
- 29: Oprah Winfrey’s birthday
- 30: National Storytelling Week
February
- Library Lovers Month
- 1: African American Read-In
- 1: Robinson Crusoe Day
- 2: Ayn Rand’s birthday
- 2: James Joyce’s birthday
- 3: Take Your Child to the Library Day
- 7: Charles Dickens’s birthday
- 7: World Read Aloud Day
- 9: Read in the Bathtub Day
- 12: Judy Blume’s birthday
- 14: International Book Giving Day
- 14: Library Lovers Day
- 14: Read to Your Child Day
- 16: Reading Rainbow Day
- 18: Toni Morrison’s birthday
- 20: Clean Out Your Bookcase Day
- 26: Victor Hugo’s birthday
- 27: John Steinbeck’s birthday
March
- Gardening, Nature, and Ecology Books Month
- National March into Literacy Month
- National Reading Month
- Read an E-Book Month
- 1: National Ghostwriters Week
- 2: Dr. Seuss’s birthday
- 2: Read Across America Day/Week
- 2: Children’s Picture Book Day
- 2: Jewish Book Week
- 3: Read an eBook Week
- 3: Returned Borrowed Books Week
- 4: Grammar Day
- 6: Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s birthday
- 7: National Library Week
- 8: National Proofreading Day
- 14: National Write Your Story Day
- 17: World Folktales and Fables Week
- 19: International Read To Me Day
- 20: Bibliomania Day
- 20: World Storytelling Day
- 21: World Poetry Day
- 21: Shakespeare Week
- 25: Tolkien Reading Day
- 26: Robert Frost’s birthday
April
- National Literature Month
- National Poetry Month
- School Library Month
- 1: Library Snap Shot Day
- 1: Reading is Funny Day
- 2: International Children’s Book Day
- 4: Maya Angelou’s birthday
- 4: 1984 Day (the protagonist started writing the book on 4/4/1984)
- 4: School Librarian Day
- 7: National Library Week
- 9: National Library Workers Day
- 10: The Great Gatsby was published in 1925
- 10: Encourage a Young Writer Day
- 12: Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R. Day)
- 13: National Scrabble Day
- 14: National Donate a Book Day
- 16: National Librarian Day
- 17: National Haiku Day
- 18: Celebrate Teen Literature Day
- 21: Thank You for Libraries Day
- 22: Charlotte Bronte’s birthday
- 23: William Shakespeare’s birthday
- 23: Talk Like Shakespeare Day
- 23: World Book and Copyright Day
- 23: World Book Day
- 24: The Library of Congress created in 1800
- 27: Independent Bookstore Day
- 27: National Tell a Story Day
- 28: Harper Lee’s birthday
- 28: Great Poetry Reading Day
May
- National Get Caught Reading Month
- Latino Books Month
- National Share a Story Month
- 1: Mother Goose Day
- 2: Harry Potter Day
- 2: Children’s Book Week
- 4: Star Wars Day
- 9: Make a Book Day
- 16: National Biographer’s Day
- 22: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birthday
- 22: Sherlock Holmes Day
- 26: World Dracula Day
- 28: Ian Fleming’s birthday
- 31: Walt Whitman’s birthday
June
- Rainbow Book Month
- Audiobook Appreciation Month
- 12: Anne Frank’s birthday
- 25: Anthony Bourdain’s birthday
- 25: George Orwell’s birthday
- 27: Helen Keller’s birthday
July
- 4: Alice in Wonderland Day
- 4: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthday
- 11: To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960
- 21: Ernest Hemingway’s birthday
- 27: Beatrix Potter’s birthday
- 30: Paperback Book Day
- 30: Emily Bronte’s birthday
- 31: J.K. Rowling’s birthday
- 31: Harry Potter’s birthday
August
- Romance Awareness Month
- Women in Translation Month
- 1: Herman Melville’s birthday
- 2: National Coloring Book Day
- 9: Book Lovers Day
- 14: Love Your Bookshop Day
- 18: Bad Poetry Day
- 21: Poet’s Day
- 22: Ray Bradbury’s birthday
- 28: Leo Tolstoy’s birthday
- 30: Frankenstein Day
- 31: We Love Memoirs Day
September
- Library Card Sign-Up Month
- National Literacy Month
- 6: National Read a Book Day
- 7: Buy a Book Day
- 8: International Literacy Day
- 11: Libraries Remember Day
- 13: National Twilighters Day
- 13: Roald Dahl’s birthday
- 15: Agatha Christie’s birthday
- 18: Read an eBook Day
- 19: Hermione Granger’s birthday
- 21: Stephen King’s birthday
- 22: Hobbit Day
- 22: Banned Books Week
- 24: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthday
- 25: William Faulkner’s birthday
- 26: T.S. Eliot’s birthday
- 30: Truman Capote’s birthday
- 30: Little Women was published in 1868
October
- Black Speculative Fiction Month
- National Book Month
- National Cookbook Month
- National Family Literacy Month
- National Reading Group Month
- Learning Disabilities and Dyslexia Awareness Month
- 1: National Poetry Day
- 2: Random Acts of Poetry Day
- 4: Anne Rice’s birthday
- 5: Bookshop Day
- 6: Mad Hatter Day
- 7: Mystery Series Week
- 8: R.L. Stine’s birthday
- 13: Teen Reading Week
- 15: I Love to Write Day
- 16: Oscar Wilde’s birthday
- 16: Dictionary Day
- 17: Arthur Miller’s birthday
- 17: Black Poetry Day
- 20: National Day on Writing
- 25: Frankenstein Friday
- 27: Sylvia Plath’s birthday
- 31: Books for Treats Day
November
- Library and Information Services Month
- National Family Literacy Month
- National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
- Philippine Book Development Month
- National Life Writing Month
- Picture Book Month
- 1: National Author’s Day
- 1: National Family Literacy Day
- 7: National Book Award Week
- 11: National Young Readers Week
- 11: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ’s birthday
- 11: Fyodor Dostoevsky’s birthday
- 11: (Unofficial) November 11 by Colleen Hoover Day
- 13: Robert Louis Stevenson’s birthday
- 21: World Philosophy Day
- 22: (Unofficial) 11/22/63 by Stephen King Day
- 25: National Book Week
- 29: Louisa May Alcott’s birthday
- 29: C.S. Lewis’s birthday
- 30: Mark Twain’s birthday
- 30: L.M. Montgomery’s birthday
December
- 5: Joan Didion’s birthday
- 10: Emily Dickinson’s birthday
- 10: Dewey Decimal System Day
- 11: Colleen Hoover’s birthday
- 16: Jane Austen’s birthday
- 24: Jolabokaflod
- 30: Rudyard Kipling’s birthday
Methodology
I started this list of bookish holidays back in 2020, and I’ve updated it annually over the years. My favorite resources to search and double-check literary holidays include Wikipedia, National Day Calendar, National Today, and Days of the Year.
Conclusion
These bookish holidays offer the widest array of dates to celebrate. From honoring literary legends to engaging in special book-related activities, you’ll feel the joy of living the bookish lifestyle all year long.
So, mark your calendar, save these book holidays, and have fun!
Celebrate further with these birthday quotes from books.
OMG totally pinning this post! Thanks for sharing.
Wow! This is a phenomenal resource. I so appreciate all of the work you’ve done and your willingness to share (hashtag guide has been a lifesaver!). Thank you. 🙂
Great post and amazing list of ideas, thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.
Oh I totally printed this! Thanks so much!
Yay! I love hearing that!!
Thank you for putting all this together, its amazing and will definitely be using!
This is SO amazing! Thanks so much for sharing- definitely bookmarking this!