2022 literary calendar has 149 opportunities for celebrating all things books
The new year brings so many special days, weeks, and months for celebrating books and reading that you need a year-long literary calendar to keep track of all of them.
Whether you want to celebrate the importance of grammar, support indie bookstores, or dig into the dictionary, there’s an occasion you can you can celebrate and enjoy.
Use this 2022 literary calendar to help support books, reading, and literacy in the coming year. They’re all important in civilized society.
(Looking for our 2023 Literary Calendar? You’ll find it here.)
Use this 2022 literary calendar to help support books, reading, and literacy in the coming year. They're all important in civilized society.Click to tweetHow to use your 2022 literary calendar
What’s the best way to use these special dates? Here are ideas.
Step 1. Start by reviewing the list below and selecting those that speak to you. For example, do you have a favorite classic author from years gone by? Throw one of them a virtual birthday party! (I might have to do that for Louisa May Alcott on November 29.) Are you a children’s book author or illustrator? You’ve got an entire week in February dedicated to you. Take advantage of it!
Step 2. Add your favorite occasions and dates to your calendar, but also create a reminder a few days in advance so you have time to plan and create what you’ll use to promote the special day.
Step 3. Decide how you’ll recognize the occasion. Here are a few ideas:
- Team up with a group of authors to donate proceeds from book sales during a specific period to a nonprofit or cause linked to one of the occasions that’s close to your heart.
- Blog about why the special day is important to you or write about it in your email newsletter.
- Create a short video to share on social media. Use Instagram or Facebook Stories or share it on your book’s Facebook page.
- Create an event-related image to share on social media. Here’s one I created for World Book Day, which is on March 3 this year.
Step 4: Don’t let all of these amazing ways to honor books and reading go to waste. Take action!
Your 2022 literary calendar
Now you’re ready to make things happen. Here’s your month-by-month, 2022 literary calendar.
January
National Braille Literacy Month
1 – Copyright Law Day
2 – National Science Fiction Day
9-15 – Universal Letter Writing Week
11 – Poetry at Work Day
18 – Thesaurus Day
18 – Winnie the Pooh Day (birthday of author A.A. Milne)
19 – Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday
23 – National Handwriting Day
25 – Burns Supper (Robert Burns’s birthday)
26 – Library Shelfie Day
27 – Family Literacy Day in Canada
February
Library Lovers’ Month
2-8 – Children’s Authors and Illustrators Week
2 – World Read Aloud Day
5 – Take Your Child to the Library Day
7 – Charles Dickens’s birthday
9 – Read in the Bathtub Day
12 – Judy Blume’s birthday
14 – International Book Giving Day
14 – Library Lover’s Day
19 – Amy Tan’s birthday
20-26 – Freedom to Read Week in Canada
26 – Tell a Fairy Tale Day
27 – John Steinbeck’s birthday
March
National Reading Month
Small Press Month
2 – Read Across America Day
2 – Dr. Seuss’s birthday
3 – World Book Day in the UK and Ireland
4 – National Grammar Day
6-12 – Read an E-book Week
6-12 – Return Borrowed Books Week
16 – Freedom of Information Day
20 – World Storytelling Day
21 – World Poetry Day
26 – Robert Frost’s birthday
30 – Pencil Day
April
D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) Month
National Poetry Month
School Library Month
1 – Reading is Funny Day
2 – International Children’s Book Day
2 – National Children’s Picture Book Day
2 – Hans Christian Anderson’s birthday
3-9 – National Library Week
4 – National School Librarian Day
4 – Maya Angelou’s birthday
5 – National Library Worker’s Day
6 – National Library Outreach Day (formerly National Bookmobile Day)
7 – Take Action for Libraries Day
9 – National Unicorn Day
12 – Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) Day
12 – Beverly Cleary’s birthday
13 – Scrabble Day
14 – Celebrate Teen Literature Day
15 – Rubber Eraser Day
15 – World Art Day
16 – National Librarian Day
17 – International Haiku Poetry Day
18 – Newspaper Columnists Day
23 – Shakespeare’s birthday
23 – World Book and Copyright Day
23 – World Book Night
24 – Congress approved the Library of Congress
27 – National Tell A Story Day
28 – Harper Lee’s birthday
28 – Great Poetry Reading Day
30 – Independent Bookstore Day
May
Get Caught Reading Month
Short Story Month
1 – Mother Goose Day
2 – International Harry Potter Day
2-8 – Children’s Book Week
3 – World Press Freedom Day
5 – National Cartoonists Day
7 – Free Comic Book Day
9 – Peter Pan Day
12 – Limerick Day
16 – Love a Tree Day
20 – Eliza Doolittle Day
22 – Sherlock Holmes Day
31 – Walt Whitman’s birthday
June
Audiobook Appreciation Month
GLBT Book Month
10 – Ball Point Pen Day
12 – Anne Frank’s birthday
16 – Bloomsday (celebration of Irish writer James Joyce’s life)
22 – Octavia Butler’s birthday
23 – Typewriter patent awarded
25 – Eric Carle’s birthday
July
National Anti-Boredom Month
Read an Almanac Month
11 – E.B. White’s birthday
17 – World Emoji Day
21 – Ernest Hemingway’s birthday
30 – Paperback Book Day
31 – J.K. Rowling’s birthday
August
Romance Awareness Month
2 – National Coloring Book Day
9 – Book Lover’s Day (also November 6)
18 – Bad Poetry Day
21 – Poet’s Day
31 – We Love Memoirs Day
September
Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month
Library Card Sign Up Month
National Literacy Month
Read a New Book Month (also December)
4 – Richard Wright’s birthday
4 – Newspaper Carrier Day
6 – Read a Book Day
8 – International Literacy Day
18 – Read an E-book Day
18-24 – National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week
22 – Hobbit Day
22 – Dear Diary Day
24 – National Punctuation Day
24 – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthday
25 – National Comic Book Day
25-October 1 – Banned Books Week
29 – National Coffee Day in the U.S.
October
National Book Month
National Reading Group Month
1 – International Coffee Day
6 – Mad Hatter Day
11 – Myth and Legends Day
16 – Dictionary Day
16-22 – National Friends of Libraries Week
20 – National Day on Writing
27 – National Tell a Story Day in Scotland and the U.K.
November
National Family Literacy Month
National Memoir Writing Month
National Novel Writing Month
Picture Book Month
1 – National Family Literacy Day
1 – Author’s Day
3 – National Non-Fiction Day in the UK
6 – Book Lovers Day (also August 9)
8 – Young Readers Day
15 – I Love to Write Day
18 – High-Five a Librarian Day
29 – Louisa May Alcott’s birthday
December
Read a New Book Month (also September)
7 – Letter Writing Day
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
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!
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Thank you so much for your generosity of compiling and sharing this fabulous list.
I look forward to it every year!
Thank you, Phoebe! It’s a lot of work, but comments like yours make it worthwhile.
Sandy
looking ahead to the months each with two or three zingers for me, thank you so much. You’ve put our thinking caps on for us, now it’s up to us to use the creativity we claim to have, to continue to do the work!
Exactly, Margaret! I’ve given you some ideas, now it’s up to you to take action. I love that you’re on top of this!
Sandy
Thanks for a year full of inspiring ideas. I appreciate the time you gave to this calendar and for sharing it with all of us.
You’re welcome, Barbara. I’m glad it’s helpful, and you’re kind to take the time to say so.
Sandy
NATIONAL STORYTELLING WEEK 2022 – YOUR STORY~MY STORY
Here comes a wonderful National Storytelling week 2022:
29th Jan – 5th February
YOUR STORY~MY STORY
Thanks, Trish!
Sandy
Hello! This is great! Is there one for 2023?
It’s coming, Sade! If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, you’ll be notified when it’s published.
Sandy
I never got a notification for the calendar for this year and I cannot find it. I’m wondering if you made one?
Sade, you’ll only be notified if you subscribe to the Build Book Buzz newsletter. You can do that and download the 2023 literary calendar here: https://buildbookbuzz.com/2023-literary-calendar/
Also, the search box on the site (side on desktop, bottom on mobile) will help you find anything else you need to learn about here, from how to find beta readers to how to get reviews to what you need to know about BookTok.
Sandy