Whether you want to thank your favorite librarian, encourage teen reading, or promote poetry, there’s an occasion you can leverage.

We need books and reading more than ever. Use this calendar to help support both in the coming year.

How to use the 2021 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, if you (like me) love your library and its librarians, you’ve got plenty of opportunities in April to show that love. Do you enjoy celebrating birthdays? Several literary luminaries were born in February. Throw one of them a virtual birthday party!

Step 2. Add the dates you like 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:

• Create a short video to share on social media. Instagram’s Stories function is perfect for this, but don’t overlook your Facebook page.
• Write an article about why the special day is important to you for your blog or newsletter.
• Collaborate with a large 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.
• Create an event-related image to share on social media. Here’s one for National Bookmobile Day in 2020 to get you thinking.

Step 4: Don’t let all of these amazing ways to honor books and reading go to waste. Take action!

Your 2021 literary calendar

Now you’re ready to make things happen. Here’s your month-by-month calendar.

January

National Braille Literacy Month

1 – Copyright Law Day

2 – National Science Fiction 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)

27 – Family Literacy Day in Canada

February

Library Lovers’ Month

1-7 Children’s Authors and Illustrators Week

3 – World Read Aloud Day

6 – 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

21-27 Freedom to Read Week in Canada

27 – John Steinbeck’s birthday

26 – Tell a Fairy Tale Day

March

2 – Read Across America Day

2 – Dr. Seuss’s birthday

2-8 Read an E-book Week

4 – National Grammar Day

4 – 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

D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) Month

1 – Reading is Funny Day

1 – Poetry and the Creative Mind Day

2 – International Children’s Book Day

2 – Hans Christian Anderson’s birthday

4 – National School Librarian Day

4 – Maya Angelou’s birthday

4-10 National Library Week

6 – National Library Worker’s Day

7 – National Bookmobile Day

9 – National Unicorn Day

12 – Beverly Cleary’s birthday

13 – Scrabble Day

15 – Rubber Eraser Day

15 – World Art Day

16 –  National Librarian Day

15 – Celebrate Teen Literature Day

18 – National Columnists Day

23 – Take Action for Libraries Day

23 – Shakespeare’s birthday

23 – World Book and Copyright Day

23 – English Language Day

24 – Congress approved the Library of Congress

24 – Independent Bookstore Day

27 – National Tell A Story Day

28 – Harper Lee’s birthday

28 – Great Poetry Reading Day

May

Short Story Month

Get Caught Reading Month

1 – Mother Goose Day

3-9 Children’s Book Week

2 – Harry Potter Day

4 – Free Comic Book Day

5 – National Cartoonists Day

9 – Peter Pan Day

10-14 – Reading is Fun Week

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

July

Read an Almanac Month

11 – E.B. White’s birthday

17 – World Emoji Day

21 – Ernest Hemingway’s birthday

22-24 Hemingway Days

30 – Paperback Book Day

31 – J.K. Rowling’s birthday

August

2 – National Coloring Book Day

9 – Book Lover’s 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

National Literacy Month

Read a New Book Month

4 – Richard Wright’s birthday

4 – Newspaper Carrier Day

6 – Read a Book Day

8 – International Literacy Day

19-25 – National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week

19-25 – Banned Books Week

22 – Hobbit Day

22 – Dear Diary Day

24 – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthday

25 – National Comic Book Day

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

18-22 – National Friends of Libraries Week

20 – National Day of Writing

27 – National Tell a Story Day in Scotland and the U.K.

November

National Novel Writing Month

Picture Book Month

National Family Literacy Month

National Memoir Writing Month

1 – National Family Literacy Day

1 – Author’s Day

2 – Book Lovers Day

4 – National Non-Fiction Day in the UK

10 – 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

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! 

Editor’s note 12-9-20: Thanks to alert reader L.R., we’ve added #134: October is National Reading Group Month.