2020 literary calendar with 122 occasions for book fans
Don’t you love it when you have an opportunity to celebrate all that books and authors bring to our world?
You have plenty of them this year! There’s a day, week, month, or special occasion for just about every book-related topic you can think of in 2020.
Want to support your local library? Promote literacy? Get more people reading? You’ll get what you need in the 2020 literary calendar.
How to use the 2020 literary calendar
How can you take advantage of these special dates? It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4. Here are the basics.
Step 1. Start by reviewing the list below and selecting those that resonate with you. For example, if you are a children’s book author, one of them might be Children’s Authors & Illustrators Week starting February 3. Is the Grapes of Wrath the best book you’ve ever read? Feburary 27, John Steinbeck’s birthday, might be for you.
Step 2. Add the dates you like to your calendar. Then schedule time before each holiday or occasion to create the materials you’ll use to promote the event. (Don’t be like me and forget to do this.)Â The lead time depends on what you’ll do to recognize the event, how much time you need, and whether your plan involves collaborating with others.
Step 3. Decide how you’ll recognize the occasion. Here are a few ideas:
- Write a blog post or article about why it’s important to you. This can be for your blog, for someone else’s, or on a platform such as Medium.
- Join a local library committee to plan and execute library-related events.
- Reduce the price of your book for a limited time.
- Create an event-related image to share on social media. Some themed months, weeks, and dates with an organization behind them create images you can use, too. Here’s one for Independent Bookstore Day, April 25.
Step 4: Execute your plan.
Your 2020 literary calendar
Ready to have some fun? Here’s a month-by-month breakdown.
January
1 – Copyright Law Day
2 – National Science Fiction Day
4 – World Braille Day
12 – Universal Letter Writing Week
14 – Poetry at Work Day
18 – Thesaurus Day
18 – Winnie the Pooh Day (birthday of author A.A. Milne)
19 – Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday
22 – Library Shelfie Day
25 – Burns Supper (Robert Burns’s birthday)
January 26 – February 2 – Family Literacy Week
27 – Lewis Carroll’s birthday (author of Alice in Wonderland )
27 – Family Literacy Day in Canada
February
Library Lovers’ Month
1 – Take Your Child to the Library Day
3-7 Children’s Authors and Illustrators Week
5 – World Read Aloud Day
9 – Read in the Bathtub Day
12 –Judy Blume’s birthday
14 – International Book Giving Day
14 – Library Lovers’ Day
19 – Amy Tan’s birthday
23-29 Canada’s Freedom to Read Week
26 – Tell a Fairy Tale Day
27 – John Steinbeck’s birthday
March
1-7 – Read an E–book Week
2 – Read Across America Day
2 – Dr. Seuss’s birthday
3-9 – Return Borrowed Books Week
4 – National Grammar Day
5 – World Book Day in the UK and Ireland
16 – Freedom of Information Day
20 – World Storytelling Day
21 – World Poetry Day
26 – Robert Frost’s birthday
30 – Pencil Day
April
National Poetry Month
1 – Reading is Funny Day
1 – Poetry and the Creative Mind Day
2 – Children’s Book Day
2 – Hans Christian Anderson’s birthday
4 – School Librarian Day
4 – Maya Angelou’s birthday
12 – Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) Day
12 – Beverly Cleary’s birthday
13 – Scrabble Day
14 – Noah Webster published American Dictionary of the English Language
15 – Rubber Eraser Day
16 – Celebrate Teen Literature Day
18 – Newspaper Columnists Day
19-25 – National Library Week
19-25 – National Poetry Week
21 – National Library Workers Day
22 – National Bookmobile Day
23 – Take Action for Libraries Day
23 – William Shakespeare’s birthday
23 – World Book and Copyright Day
23 – English Language Day
25 – Independent Bookstore Day
27 – Tell a Story Day
28 – Great Poetry Reading Day
May
Short Story Month
Get Caught Reading Month
1 – Mother Goose Day
2 – Free Comic Book Day
4-10 – Children’s Book Week
5 – National Cartoonists Day
12 – Limerick Day
22 – Sherlock Holmes Day
31 – Walt Whitman’s birthday
June
Audiobook Appreciation Month
GLBT Book Month
10 – Ballpoint Pen Day
22 – Octavia Butler’s birthday
23 – The first typewriter patent was awarded
25 – Eric Carle’s birthday
July
Read an Almanac Month
4 – National Tom Sawyer Day
11 – E.B. White’s birthday
21 – Ernest Hemingway’s birthday
30 – Paperback Book Day
31 – J.K. Rowling’s birthday
August
2 – National Coloring Book Day
9 – Book Lovers Day
18 – Bad Poetry Day
21 – Poet’s Day
31 – We Love Memoirs Day
September
Library Card Sign Up Month
Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month
Literacy Month
Read a New Book Month
4 – Richard Wright’s birthday
6 – Read a Book Day
7 – Buy a Book Day
8 – International Literacy Day
21-27 Science Literacy Week in Canada
22 – Hobbit Day
22 – Dear Diary Day
24 – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthday
25 – National Comic Book Day
September 27-October 2 – Banned Books Week
29 – International Coffee Day in the U.S. (October 1 in the UK)
October
National Book Month
6 – Mad Hatter Day
7 – Random Acts of Poetry Day
11 – Myth and Legends Day
16 – Dictionary Day
20 – National Day of Writing
20-26 – National Friends of Libraries Week
November
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
National Memoir Writing Month
National Non-Fiction Month in the UK
Picture Book Month
National Family Literacy Month
1 – National Author’s Day
10 – Young Readers Day
15 – I Love to Write Day
18 – High Five a Librarian Day
December
10 – Dewey Decimal System Day
16 – Jane Austen’s birthday
21 – Crossword Puzzle Day
21 – National Short Story Day
24 – Jolabokaflod, Iceland’s Yule Book Flood
Here’s a short disclaimer: Please note that there’s conflicting information online about some of these dates, but we’ve tried our best to verify and validate everything. Please let us know if you have a correction or clarification.
Have we missed anything? If you know of a holiday or occasion that should be on this calendar but isn’t, tell us in a comment. We’ll continually update this as needed. Thanks!Â
Editor’s note 1-15-20: Thanks to an alert reader, we’ve add #123: May is Short Story Month.
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Thanks so much, Sandra! You’ve given me tremendous fuel for my social media output this year! We can only send so many “Buy my book!” postings before people tune us out.
Ohmygosh, Sadira, you are SO right! I’m glad you found some helpful options in this list! And feel free to share the link with any others you think might benefit from it — the whole point is to HELP.
Sandy
These are great! Thank you for compiling this list. One addition–National Unicorn Day, April 9.
Thanks, AR!
Sandy
Sandra,
I absolutely love this! Thanks for this tremendous tip! I will be implementing. I’m with Sadira Stone regarding buy my book posts.
Best regards,
Donna
I’m so glad to hear it, Donna! I hope you can have a little fun with some of these.
I think my favorite option is creating an image that recognizes the special date and using it to ask about experiences. On one of these occasions, I asked people to name the book that stayed with them the longest, and learned about SO MANY books that I had to add to my to-be-read list!
Sandy
Thank you for this resource !
You’re welcome, Marcia!
Sandy
I agree with all the above. A great resource. I’ve been wading through webpages that list all kinds of notables, but not specifically books.
I’m glad it’s helpful, Bonnie. Thanks for the feedback!
Sandy
I’m definitely using and sharing this. Thanks, Sandy
I’m so glad it’s helpful, Gabi! Thanks for sharing it.
Sandy
This is a wonderful list. I’ll be sharing it with writing friends.
Thanks, Pauline! I appreciate it, and I suspect they will, too.
Sandy
How about a “Start Learning a Language Day”?
Provide the date and the connection to authors, books, and publishing, and we can update the list.
Thanks,
Sandy