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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.)

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How 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.

literary calendar 2

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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20 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for your generosity of compiling and sharing this fabulous list.

    I look forward to it every year!

  2. 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!

    1. 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

  3. NATIONAL STORYTELLING WEEK 2022 – YOUR STORY~MY STORY
    Here comes a wonderful National Storytelling week 2022:

    29th Jan – 5th February

    YOUR STORY~MY STORY

    1. It’s coming, Sade! If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, you’ll be notified when it’s published.

      Sandy

        1. 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

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