November is All About Reading, Writing, and Books!

November is All About Reading, Writing, and Books!

When I published the annual 2024 Literary Holidays calendar last December, I noticed that November had the most full-month celebrations, along with a healthy list of specific days, that together covered both the reading and writing of books.

You Love to Write, Right?

Today, for example, is I Love to Write Day (ILTWD). Founder John Riddle shares the story of how he came up with the idea in 2002, with a goal to encourage people of all ages

“to write something: a poem, a letter, an essay, start a novel, finish a novel … the possibilities are endless!”

That first year, he says, “over 11,000 schools … bookstores, libraries, churches, community centers, and even a few malls” held special events and writing activities.

Given our tagline of “Good things come to those who write!” we feel especially festive about a holiday devoted to writing.

So Get Writing!

And of course, in November you don’t have to wait for the 15th to celebrate writing. The whole dang month is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. Going beyond the mere creation of a holiday, NaNoWriMo has been organized into a non-profit that provides substantial resources to writers for free.

But wait, lest we think November is solely for fiction writers, it has two more full-month celebrations of writing: National Life Writing Month and the similarly focused National Memoir Writing Month, as well as National Nonfiction Day on the 6th.

And to bring along the future writers and readers, it’s also Picture Book Month!

What’s Writing Without Reading?

Speaking of reading for all ages, the other month-long November celebration is National Family Literacy Month.

It happens that we’re traveling for business right now and as I write this post, we’re at a stop to visit family. We got to take the grandkids, ages 7 and 9, out for early Christmas shopping over the weekend and could not have been happier to see them turn into the book aisle at Target and each choose a book as one of their gifts.

Not only that, but the next morning while they were eating breakfast, both of them opened their new books and read the whole time. Real, printed books, instead of screens!

Makes you think you did something right in passing the love of books along.

November has Weeks and Days of Books, Too

Each of these month-long celebrations of reading and writing has a special week or day, like the I Love to Write Day that we started with. To drive home my point about the interdependence of readers and writers, November 1 was both National Family Literacy Day and National Authors Day.

And the rest of November carries us through with the connection between the two: BOOKS! On November 18 we celebrate those wonderful caretakers of, and conduits to, the joys of books on High-Five a Librarian Day. And then we wrap up November with National Book Week.

So don’t miss your chances to celebrate! Read. Write. And take some moments to luxuriate in knowing how many others are celebrating books along with you.