G.E. Nordell's
Topical & Holiday & Birthday Calendar
'Today In History' database at HistoryNet
Steve's 'Born Today' database
Steve's 'Died Today' database
Gone-Ta-Pott Directory of Holidays & Celebrations website
'On This Day - Birthdays' website [est. 2000]
January {just below} z February z March z April z May z June z
July
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August
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September
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October
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November
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December
- January is Volcano Awareness Month [est. 2010] in Hawai'i (Volcano Awareness Month in Washington State [est. 2023] is in May).
- January is Experimental Theatre Month.
- Sundance Film Festival [est. 1979, renamed 1984 - dates vary] in Park City, Utah
- World Economic Forum Conference [Jan 2018 = #48] in Davos, Switzerland
- First Sunday {1st to 7th} = Dating Sunday, the busiest day of the year for online dating sites.
- 1st
- Happy New Year's Day!
- Birthday of Elizabeth 'Betsy' Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole [1752-1836] who is said by American myth to have sewed the first U.S. flag, in 1776.
- Birthday of Mexican author Mariano Azuela González [1873-1952] in Jalisco, Mexico.
- Birthday of movie producer William Fox [1879-1952], founder of 20th Century-Fox Studios [est. 1915].
- Birthday of British author E.M. Forster [1879-1970] in Marylebone, Middlesex, England.
- The Tournament of Roses Parade [est. 1890] in Pasadena, California; the same-day Rose Bowl football game was added in 1902 to provide funding for the parade.
- Birthday of reclusive author J.D. Salinger [1919-2010] in New York City.
- Birthday of African author & filmmaker Ousmane Sembène [1923-2007] in Senegal.
- Birth of the Internet, when ARPANET switched to the TCP/IP protocol [1983].
- 2nd
- Birthday of political writer Philip Morin Freneau [1752-1832] in New York City; he was sometimes called the 'Poet of the American Revolution'.
- Birthday of railroad & hotel tycoon Henry Morrison Flagler [1830-1913] in Hopewell, New York.
- Birthday of pioneer filmmaker Oscar Micheaux [1884-1951] in Metropolis, Illinois.
- Birthday of Afro-American historian John Hope Franklin [1915-2009] in Rentiesville, Oklahoma.
- Birthday of author Isaac Asimov [1920-92] in Petrovichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russia.
- National Science Fiction Day [origins unknown], date said to be chosen based on Isaac Asimov's birthday.
- 3rd
- Birthday of Roman philosopher & politician Marcus Tullius Cicero [106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.] in Italy.
- Birthday of Father Joseph Damien de Veuster [1840-89] in Belgium - helped lepers in Hawaii.
- Birthday of philologist J.R.R. Tolkien [1892–1973] in Orange Free State, South Africa; he is famous for writing "Lord of The Rings" and "The Hobbit".
- Birthday of actress ZaSu Pitts [1894-1963] in Parsons, Kansas.
- Birthday of Polish-American actress Pola Negri [1897-1987] (nee Barbara A. Chalupiec) in Lipno, Kingdom of Poland.
- Birthday of actress Marion Davies [1897-1961] in Brooklyn, New York City.
- Birthday of movie director Dorothy Arzner [1900-79].
- Birthday of Asian-American actress Anna May Wong [1905-61] in Los Angeles, California; she died in her sleep at home in Santa Monica, California at age 56.
- Birthday of Danish pianist & comedian Victor Borge [1909-2000].
- Birthday of movie director John Sturges [1910-92].
- Birthday of actor John Russell [1921-91] in Los Angeles, California.
- Birthday of Italian movie director Sergio Leone [1929-1989] in Rome, Italy.
- Birthday of songwriter Van Dyke Parks in Hattiesburg, Mississippi [1943]
- Birthday of singer-songwriter Stephen Stills in Dallas, Texas [1945] - member of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash
- Birthday of actor & filmmaker Mel Gibson in Peekskill, New York [1956]
- Birthday of teenage eco-activist Greta Thunberg in Stockholm, Sweden [2003].
- 4th
- National Spaghetti Day in U.S.A. (observed on January 17th in U.K.).
- National Trivia Day was founded in 1980 by Pun Corps, the company that produced the Trivial Pursuit board game that debuted in 1981.
- World Braille Day is celebrated to raise awareness about the importance of the braille alphabet system as a means of communication for blind and visually-impaired people.
- 5th
- Date of death of the remarkable agricultural scientist & inventor George Washington Carver [1864?-1943] in Tuskegee, Alabama; he was born a slave in Diamond, Missouri probably in 1864 (no record of his birth exists).
- Birthday of poet W.D. Snodgrass [1926-2009] in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; he won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
- Birthday of bestselling Italian author Umberto Eco [1930].
- Birthday of African expatriate author Ngügï wa Thiong'o in Kenya [1930]; he currently teaches at New York University and at the University of California, Irvine.
- Birthday of master animator Hayao Miyazaki in Tokyo, Japan [1941].
- 6th
- 1412: Birthday of Joan of Arc; she obeyed visions of angels and led troops for uncrowned King Charles VII of France against the British; she was captured and put on trial and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431 at Rouen, Normandy – at the age of 19.
- Birthday of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes [years vary].
- Birthday of silent movie cowboy star Tom Mix [1880-1940] in Mix Run, Pennsylvania.
- Birthday of author / lecturer Alan W. Watts [1915-73] in Chislehurst, Kent, England.
- Birthday of author E.L. Doctorow [1931-2015] in The Bronx, New York.
- Declaration of 'The Four Freedoms' by President Roosevelt in his State of The Union Address [1941].
- 7th = Birthday of movie producer Adolph Zukor [1873-1976], co-founder of Paramount Pictures [est. 1912].
- 7th = Birthday of Afro-American author Zora Neale Hurston [1891-1960] in Notasulga, Alabama.
- Second Monday {8th to 14th} = The Coming of Age Day public holiday in Japan, celebrating those who reached the age of maturity (that is, 18 years) between April 2nd of the previous year and April 1st of the current one; coming of age ceremonies are a tradition dating back to at least the 8th Century.
- 8th
- Founding of Boy Scouts of America [1910].
- Birthday of South Korean activist & poet Ko Un in [1933].
- Birthday of rock'n'roll legend Elvis Presley [1935-77] in Tupelo, Mississippi; he died at age 42 at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.
- Birthday of quantum physicist Stephen W. Hawking [1942-2018] in Oxford, England.
- Birthday of fantasy author Terry Brooks in Sterling, Illinois [1944]; he is most famous for his bestselling "Shannara" series.
- Birthday of rock'n'roll legend David Bowie [1947-2016] in London, England.
- Birthday of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, North Korea in 1982; he has been supreme leader of North Korea since 2011.
- National Bubble Bath Day {origin unknown}
- 9th = Birthday of French intellectual & feminist Simone de Beauvoir [1908-86] in Paris, France.
- 9th = Birthday of Richard M. Nixon [1913-94] in Yorba Linda, California; he was the 37th President of the United States.
- 10th
- Birthday of poet Robinson Jeffers [1887-1962] in Allegheny, Pennsylvania.
- Birthday of poet Philip Levine in Detroit, Michigan [1938]; he won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1995 and was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate in 2011.
- National Bittersweet Chocolate Day
- National Houseplant Appreciation Day
- 11th
- Birthday of founding father Alexander Hamilton [1757-1804] in the West Indies; he died at age 47 of wounds from a famous duel with U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr.
- Birthday of psychologist & philosopher William James [1842-1910] in New York City.
- National Milk Day commemorates the start of milk delivery in sterilized glass bottles in 1878.
- Birthday of Western historian Bernard DeVoto [1897-1955] in Ogden, Utah.
- Birthday of South African author & activist Alan Paton [1903-88] in Natal Province.
- 12th
- Birthday of French author Charles Perrault [1628-1703] in Paris, France; he rewrote old folk tales and more-or-less invented the genre of fairy tales for children.
- Birthday of adventure writer Jack London [1876-1916] in San Francisco, California.
- Birthday of writer Haruki Murakami in Kyoto, Japan [1949].
- Birthday of mystery & science fiction author Walter Mosley in Los Angeles, California [1952].
- 13th = Birthday of Horatio Alger, Jr. [1832-99] in Chelsea, Massachusetts; he wrote around 100 books, mostly geared toward young
boys,
on the themes of hard work, perseverance, and honesty; the plots were often repetitions of a popular cliché 'rags-to-riches' arc. - 13th = Birthday of English author (Thomas) Michael Bond, CBE [1926-2017], best known for his 'Paddington Bear' series of children's books.
- 14th
- Birthday of movie producer Hal Roach [1892-1992] in Elmira, New York.
- Birthday of author John Dos Passos [1896-1970] in Chicago, Illinois.
- Birthday of early feminist writer Tillie Olsen [1912-2007] in Wahoo, Nebraska.
- Birthday of Afro-American poet & publisher Dudley F. Randall [1914-2000] in Washington, DC.
- Birthday of Japanese author & nihilist Yukio Mishima [1925-70] in Tokyo, Japan.
- 15th
- Opening of the British Museum at Montagu House in Bloomsbury, London [1759].
- Birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929-68] in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Birthday of Afro-American author Ernest J. Gaines in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana [1933].
- Birthday of writer Frank Conroy [1936-2005] in New York City.
- Wikipedia Day, celebrating the launch of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia in 2001 by Jimmy Wales & Larry Sanger.
- Third Sunday (15th to 21st): World Religion Day.
- Third Monday (15th to 21st): Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday [U.S.A. est 1986]
- also Third Monday (15th to 21st): National Day of Service [est. 1994] on the same day as M.L.K. holiday, sponsored by the Americorps federal agency.
- 16th = Birthday of writer-filmmaker-critic Susan Sontag [1933-2004] in New York City.
- 17th
- Birthday of Benjamin Franklin [1706-90] in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Birthday of Anne Brontë [1820-49] in Yorkshire, England.
- Birthday of Russian short story master Anton Pavlovich Chekhov [1860-1904] in Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, Russia.
- Birthday of movie mogul Carl Laemmle [1867-1939], founder of Universal Studios [est. 1912].
- Birthday of silent movie producer-director Mack Sennett [1880-1960] in Danville, Quebec, Canada.
- 18th
- Birthday of British scientist & lexicographer Peter Mark Roget, FRS [1779-1869]; he published the "Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases" in 1852.
- Birthday of American statesman Daniel Webster [1782-1852] in Salisbury, New Hampshire.
- Birthday of Latin-American poet Rubén Darío [1867-1916] in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.
- Birthday of movie comedian Oliver Norvell Hardy [1892-1957] in Harlem, Georgia.
- Birthday of performer Danny Kaye [1913-87] in Brooklyn, New York.
- National Thesaurus Day honoring Peter Mark Roget [1779-1869], the author of "Roget's Thesaurus" in 1852.
- National Winnie The Pooh Day commemorates author A.A. Milne's birthday in 1882 - commonly celebrated with free readings, cake, and-or movie showing events at children's libraries on the closest Saturday.
- 19th
- Birthday of Gen. Robert E. Lee [1807-70] in rural Virginia.
- Birthday of author Edgar Allan Poe [1809-49] in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Birthday of Western author Eugene Manlove Rhodes [1869-1934] in Tecumseh, Nebraska.
- Birthday of American critic Alexander Woollcott [1887-1943] in Phalanx, New Jersey.
- Birthday of Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, the real-life 'Gidget' in Los Angeles, California [1941].
- Birthday of award-winning British writer Julian Barnes in Leicester, U.K. [1946].
- National Popcorn Day [origins unknown]
- National Run for Office Day [est. 11/2017], sponsored by Run for Something [est. 1/2017] • watch 11/2018 video [2:28] free at YouTube
- 20th = Birthday of cinema master Federico Fellini [1920-93] in Rimini, Italy.
- 20th = National Fascism Day, when all three branches of the U.S. federal government came under the control of fascist factions of the Republican Party [2017].
- 21st = National Hugging Day [est. 1986]: begun in Clio, Michigan and since spread to Australia, Canada, England, Germany & Poland.
- 21st = Squirrel Appreciation Day [est. 2001] based in North Carolina.
- 22nd
- Birthday of British philosopher & statesman Sir Francis Bacon [1561-1626] in London, England.
- Birthday of poet George Gordon, Lord Byron [1788-1824] in London, England.
- Birthday of cinema pioneer D.W. Griffith [1875-1948] in La Grange, Kentucky.
- Birthday of author Robert E. Howard [1906-36], creator of 'Conan The Cimmerian'.
- Birthday of poet & editor Howard Moss [1922-87] in New York City.
- Anniversary of the critical Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 by the
U.S. Supreme Court that protects a woman's right to choose her own medical procedures;
the decision has been attacked by fascist & misogynist forces ever since.
- Fourth Week (22nd to 28th) = National 'No Name-Calling' Week
- 23rd
- Birthday of founding father John Hancock [1737-93] in Quincy, Massachusetts.
- Birthday of Russian cinema master Sergei M. Eisenstein [1898-1948] in Riga, Latvia.
- Birthday of actor Randolph Scott [1898-1987] in Orange County, Virginia.
- Birthday of Nobel Prize-winning poet & playwright Derek Walcott on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia [1930].
- National Handwriting Day was established in 1997 by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association [est. 1943].
- National Pie Day (sponsored by the American Pie Council).
- 24th
- Gold discovered in Northern California in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in Coloma {near Sacramento}, beginning the California Gold Rush
- Birthday of Pulitzer Prize-winner Edith Wharton [1862-1937] in New York City.
- Birthday of painter Maynard Dixon [1875-1946] in Fresno, California.
- Patent issued to Christian Kent Nelson in Onawa, Iowa for the Eskimo Pie™ chocolate-dipped ice cream bar [1922].
- Birthday of popular zoologist & author Desmond J. Morris in Wiltshire, England [1928].
- Birthday of popular theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku in San Jose, California [1947]; he is based at The City College of New York.
- National Peanut Butter Day
- 25th = Birthday of English writer Virginia Woolf [1882-1941] in Kensington, Middlesex, U.K.
- 26th
- Birthday of muckraker & novelist Samuel Hopkins Adams [1871-1958] in Dunkirk, New York.
- Birthday of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer in The Bronx, New York [1929].
- Birthday of American civil rights activist Angela Davis in Birmingham, Alabama [1944]
- Birthday of British writer & filmmaker Christopher Hampton in Azores, Portugal [1946].
- Birthday of Eddie Van Halen [1955-2020], one of the all-time great guitar players in rock music history, in Amsterdam, Netherlands;
he died at the age of 65 after longtime battles with cancer. - National Peanut Brittle Day { excellent deal from Yankee Traders at Amazon: 53¢ per ounce / 2-pound bag for $17.09 }
- 27th
- Birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [1756-91] in Salzburg, Austria.
- Birthday of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson [1832-98] in Daresbury, Cheshire, U.K.; he became famous as Lewis Carroll, author of the 'Alice In Wonderland' tales.
- Birthday of Afro-American children's author Julius Lester in St. Louis, Missouri [1939].
- International Holocaust Remembrance Day,
sponsored by the European Union [since 1950] and by the United Nations [since 2005]; marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau
concentration camp, and is an opportunity to remember the 6 million Jews and millions of other victims who were killed under Nazi rule.
- 28th
- Birthday of French novelist {Sidonie-Gabrielle} Colette [1873-1954] in Yonne, France.
- Birthday of movie director Ernst Lubitsch [1892-1947] in Berlin, Germany.
- Birthday of Ernie the Muppet; first appearance on "Sesame Street" (with Bert) was the pilot in July 1969.
- "Welcome Home VietNam Veterans Day" established in 2004 on the 31st anniversary of the signing of the Paris Peace Accord.
- International Data Privacy Day [est. 2007] is currently observed in the United States, Canada, Israel, and 47 European countries.
- 29th
- Birthday of British-American philosopher & revolutionary Thomas Paine [1737-1809] in Norfolk, England.
- Birthday of vaudeville & movie comedian W.C. Fields [1880-1946] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Birthday of eco-activist / author Edward Abbey [1927-89] in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
- 30th
- Birthday of Franklin Delano Roosevelt [1882-1945] in Hyde Park, New York; he was the 32nd President of the United States, 1933-1945.
- Birthday of writer & activist Saul Alinsky [1909-1972] in Chicago, Illinois.
- Debut of 'The Lone Ranger' on WXYZ radio in Detroit, Michigan [1930].
- Birthday of poet Richard Brautigan [1935-84] in Tacoma, Washington.
- National Croissant Day [est. 2006]
- 31st
- Birthday of Western author Zane Grey [1872-1939] in Zanesville, Ohio.
- Birthday of American theologian Thomas Merton [1915-1968] in France.
- Birthday of baseball great Jack Roosevelt 'Jackie' Robinson [1919-72].
- Birthday of 'tough-guy' author Norman Mailer [1923-2007] in Long Branch, New Jersey.
- 31st to Feb 4th = Identity Theft Awareness Week sponsored by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, 2022.
- February is Black History Month U.S.A. [est. 1970]
- February is Black Future Month [est. 2015]
- February is National Heart Awareness Month, as well as American Heart Month, which is sponsored by the C.D.C. and N.I.H.
- February is National Canned Food Month
- February is Mahina 'Olelo Hawai'i (Hawaiian Language Month), recognized by Congress in 2023.
- Chinese Lunar New Year / Vietnamese Tet Holiday
- Bob Marley Day Festivals [Feb 2010 = #29]
- Friday before Ash Wednesday: The Rio Carnival [est. 1723] held annually in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; about 80,000 tourists join two million locals in the festivities, which run until Noon on the Tuesday before Lent begins.
- First week of February is National Gun Violence Survivors Week, which is sponsored by Everytown Gun Safety Support Fund®.
- 1st
- Birthday of film director John Ford [1894-1973] in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
- Birthday of actor Clark Gable [1901-60] in Cadiz, Ohio.
- Birthday of author Langston Hughes [1902-67] in Joplin, Missouri.
- 2nd
- Groundhog Day in U.S.A. (an ancient tradition based on the relationship of Candlemas to the Vernal Equinox).
- Birthday of author James Joyce [1882-1941] in Dublin, Ireland.
- Birthday of author Johnston McCulley [1883-1958], creator of El Zorro (in 1919).
- Birthday of Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand [1905-82] in Petrograd, Russia.
- Amazon, Inc. launched the Prime subscription service in 2005, offering
'all-you-can-eat' shipping in 48 hours for a monthly fee;
in April 2021, Amazon reported that Prime had more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.
- 3rd
- Birthday of author-feminist Gertrude Stein [1874-1946] in Allegheny {now Pittsburgh}, Pennsylvania.
- Birthday of author Clarence E. Mulford [1883-1956], creator of Western hero Hopalong Cassidy.
- Birthday of illustrator Norman Rockwell [1894-1978] in New York City.
- Birthday of author James A. Michener [1907-97] in New York City.
- Birthday of Elmo the Muppet.
- National Women Physicians Day is sponsored by American College of Gastroenterology [est. 1932]
- National Missing Persons Day [est. 2010] - the National Crime Information Center’s statistics for 2016 showed 88,040 active missing person records.
- 4th
- Birthday of California's Emperor Norton I [1818-80] in England.
- Birthday of aviator Charles Lindbergh [1902-74] in Detroit, Michigan.
- Birthday of civil rights activist Rosa Parks [1913-2005] in Tuskegee, Alabama.
- Birthday of feminist Betty Friedan [1921-2006] in Peoria, Illinois.
- World Cancer Day [est. 2000].
- National Thank A Mail Carrier Day {origin unclear}
- 5th
- Birthday of Beat writer Wm. S. Burroughs [1914-97] in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Founding of United Artists Pictures by actor-director Charles Chaplin, actor Douglas Fairbanks, director D. W. Griffith, and actress Mary Pickford [1919]
- Birthday of baseball legend Henry Louis 'Hammerin' Hank' Aaron in Mobile, Alabama. [1934]
- Birthday of musician-playwright-artist Elizabeth 'Liz' Swados in Buffalo, New York. [1951]
- First Friday (1st to 7th) = National Wear Red
Day® to increase awareness of heart disease in women,
sponsored by N.I.H and
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and their Heart Truth® program. - 6th
- Birthday of baseball legend George Herman 'Babe' Ruth, Jr. [1895-1948] in Baltimore, Maryland.
- Birthday of Afro-American poet Melvin B. Tolson [1898-1966] in Moberly, Missouri.
- Birthday of Ronald Reagan [1911-2004] in Tampico, Illinois; he died in Los Angeles, California at age 93.
- Birthday of cinema auteur François Truffaut [1932-84] in Paris, France.
- 7th
- Birthday of British author Charles Dickens [1812-70] in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.
- Birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder [1867-1957] in Pepin County, Wisconsin; she wrote the beloved "Little House On The Prairie" books.
- Birthday of Sinclair Lewis [1885-1951] in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
- Second Week: Negro History Week, created in February 1926 in Washington, DC by historian
Carter G. Woodson [1875-1950];
this later expanded to become Black History Month [nationwide 1976]. - 8th
- Birthday of French author Jules Verne [1828-1905] in Nantes, France.
- Birthday of Southern writer Katherine 'Kate' O'Flaherty Chopin [1850-1904] in St. Louis, Missouri.
- The Confederate States of America declared itself into existence. [1861]
- Birthday of movie director King Vidor [1894-1982] in Galveston, Texas.
- Birthday of mystery author John Grisham in Jonesboro, Arkansas [1955].
- 9th = Birthday of Alice Walker [1944]
- 9th = National Bagel Day
- 10th = Birthday of poet & essayist Charles Lamb [1775-1834] in London, England.
- 10th = Birthday of New Mexico lawman Elfego Baca [1865-1945] in Socorro, New Mexico Territory.
- 11th
- The Imperial Dynasty of Japan was established in 660 B.C.E. - almost 2,700 years ago; the dynasty continues today alongside the Meiji Constitution of 1890 and the modern constitution of 1947.
- Birthday of inventor Thomas Alva Edison [1847-1931] in Milan, Ohio.
- Birthday of best-selling author Sidney Sheldon [1917-2007] in Chicago, Illinois.
- National Inventor's Day in U.S.A. (on Edison's birthday), designated by Act of Congress in January 1982.
{See Inventors of America Pages at Spirit of America Bookstore} - International Women and Girls in Science Day, by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on 22 December 2015.
- 12th
- Birthday of Abraham Lincoln [1809-65] in Illinois; he was the 16th President of the United States; the date was declared a national holiday 12 February 1892.
- Birthday of scientist Charles Darwin [1809-82] in England.
![Intl. Darwin Day [est. 1995]
is on February 12th](images/InternationalDarwinDay.jpg "Intl. Darwin Day [est. 1995] is on February 12th")
- Birthday of best-selling YA author Judy Blume in Elizabeth, New Jersey [1938].
- 13th = Birthday of French author Georges Simenon [1903-89] in Liège, Belgium.
- 14th
- Valentine's Day
- Publication by Alfred A. Knopf in 1930 of the hardcover first edition of "The Maltese Falcon" novel by Dashiell Hammett [1894-1961].
- Birthday of journalist Carl Bernstein in Washington, DC [1944].
- 15th
- Birthday of civil rights & women's rights leader Susan B. Anthony [1820-1906] in Adams, Massachusetts; the 'Susan B.' U.S. dollar coin was first struck in 1979.
- Birthday of author Sax Rohmer [1883-1959], creator of the Fu Manchu mysteries.
- The battleship U.S.S. Maine mysteriously blew up in the harbor at Havana, Cuba [1898].
- Birthday of cartoonist Matt Groening in Portland, Oregon [1954]; he is most famous for the super-successful TV series "The Simpsons".
- Third Monday {15th to 21st}: Presidents Day holiday [U.S.A.]
- Third Monday {15th to 21st}: A Day of Resistance [est. 2017] - Register to vote against hate in 2018 and 2020.
- Third Thursday {15th to 21st}: World Anthropology Day [est. 2015]
- 16th = Founding of the Studebaker Corporation in South Bend, Indiana in 1852 (the company folded in March 1966).
- 16th = Birthday of author Richard Ford in Jackson, Mississippi [1944].
- 17th
- Birthday of muckraking American publisher S.S. (Samuel Sidney) McClure [1857-1949] in County Antrim, Ireland.
- National Random Acts of Kindness Day.
- National Cabbage Day {origins unknown}.
- 18th
- Birthday of Wallace Stegner [1909-93] in Lake Mills, Iowa.
- Birthday of editor & author Helen Gurley Brown [1922-2012] in Green Forest, Arkansas.
- Birthday of author Toni Morrison [1931-2019] in Lorain, Ohio; she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.
- National Drink Wine Day {origins unknown}.
- Humanity Day 2022 was moved to March 24th - one month after the day that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 - in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
- 19th
- Birthday of surrealist/anarchist author André Breton [1896-1966] in Normandy, France.
- Birthday of blacklisted activist & author Kay Boyle [1902-92] in St. Paul, Minnesota.
- Birthday of movie director Robert Altman [1925-2006] in Kansas City, Missouri.
- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the roundup of 120,000 Americans of Japanese heritage for relocation to remote and uniformly bleak internment camps [1942].
- Birthday of Chinese-American author Amy Tan in Oakland, California [1952].
- Debut of "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" children's TV program on the N.E.T. national network [1966].
- 20th = Birthday of South African novelist & activist Alex La Guma [1925-85] in Capetown.
- 20th = National Cherry Pie Day in U.S.A.
- 21st
- Birthday of writer Anaïs Nin [1903-77] in Paris, France; she died at age 73 in Los Angeles, California.
- Birthday of Anglo-American poet W.H. Auden [1907-73] in York, England.
- Birthday of film director Sam Peckinpah [1925-84] in Fresno, California.
- Birthday of humorist Erma Bombeck [1927-96] in Bellbrook, Ohio.
- 22nd
- Birthday of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet & playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay [1892-1950] in Rockland, Maine.
- Birthday of master filmmaker Luis Buñuel [1900-83] in Spain.
- Birthday of author Jane Sydney Auer Bowles [1917-73] in New York City.
- Fourth Week (22nd-28th-ish) = Freedom To Read Week in Canada.
- Fourth Thursday (22nd-28th) = National Chili Day in USA.
- Last Friday (22nd to 29th) = Go Texan! Day began in 1999 and has since been expanded to various programs year-round, including at schools and at the State Fair in the Fall.
- Last Saturday (22nd to 29th) = Neo-Nazi antisemitic National Day of Hate [2023 = #1].
- 23rd = Birthday of Baroque composer George Frideric Handel [1685-1759] in Duchy of Magdeburg, Brandenburg-Prussia (modern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany); he became a naturalised British subject in 1727, and died in London at age 74.
- 23rd = Birthday of Afro-American author William Edward Burghardt 'W.E.B.' Du Bois [1868-1963] in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
- 24th
- Birthday of actor-director-activist Edward James Olmos in East Los Angeles, California [1947].
- National Pancake Day, a children's charity fundraiser sponsored by I.H.O.P.
- Russia invaded Ukraine, starting a war that created European political & worldwide economic havoc and lasted more than a year [2022-2023].
- 25th
- Birthday of Afro-American journalist George Samuel Schuyler [1895-1977] in Providence, Rhode Island.
- Birthday of Herbert Manfred 'Zeppo' Marx [1901-79], member of 'The Marx Brothers' comedy team.
- Birthday of novelist Frank G. Slaughter, MD [1908-2001] in Washington, DC.
- Birthday of John Anthony Burgess Wilson [1917-93] in Harpurhey, Manchester, England; as British author Anthony Burgess, he is most famous for the novel "A Clockwork Orange" [1962], which was filmed by Stanley Kubrick in 1971.
- Birthday of Trinidadian-British author Shiva Srinivasa Naipaul [1945-85] in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; he was the younger brother of author V.S. Naipaul [1932-2018].
- 26th
- Baptism (birthdate not recorded) of Elizabethan poet & playwright Christopher Marlowe [1564-93] in Canterbury, Kent, England; his death at age 29 in London is still a mystery (theories abound).
- Birthday of French author Victor Hugo [1802-85] in Besançon, France.
- Birthday of Levi Strauss [1829-1902] in Bavaria, Germany; he began manufacture of Levi's denim work pants in San Francisco, California in 1873.
- Birthday of Wm. F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody [1846-1917] in Iowa; he died in Denver, Colorado at age 70.
- Birthday of arts patron Mabel Dodge Luhan [1879-1962] in Buffalo, New York; she died in Taos, New Mexico.
- Birthday of silent movie cowboy star Fred Thomson [1890-1928] in Pasadena, California.
- Birthday of science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon [1918-85] in Staten Island, New York.
- National Pistachio Day in U.S.A.
- N.Y. World Trade Center bombing: six dead & 1,000 injured [1993].
- 27th
- Birthday of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [1807-82] in Portland, Maine.
- Birthday of author John Steinbeck [1902-68] in Salinas, California.
- Birthday of satirist author Peter De Vries [1910-93] in Chicago, Illinois.
- Birthday of actress Elizabeth Taylor [1932-2011] in London, England.
- Birthday of American consumer advocate Ralph Nader in Winsted, Connecticut [1934].
- National Pokémon Day, which celebrates the Japanese release of Pokémon Red and Green in 1996.
- International Polar Bear Day.
- 28th = Birthday of Western author Don Coldsmith, MD [1926-2009] in Iola, Kansas.
- 28th = Birthday of Smokey Bear.
- 29th = Leap Year Day, a function of the Gregorian Calendar established in 1582.
- Feb-March: World Sustainable Energy Days [est. 1992]: annual event to promote the use of sustainable energy sources
and to showcase innovative
sustainable energy technologies; sponsored by OÖ Energiesparverband of Upper Austria [est. 1991].
- March is American Red Cross [est. 1881] Month
- March is National Nutrition Month [est. 1973]
- March is Women's History Month [est. 1978, national U.S. 1987]: U.S.A. website • N.W.H.P. website • U.K. website
- March is National Reading Month / Read Across America [March 2013 = #16], sponsored & funded by the N.E.A.
- March is Frozen Food Month [2017 = #34]
- March is National Peanut Butter Month
- March is National Caffeine Awareness Month [est. 2003]
- March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month.
- Eve of the March Full Moon: multi-day Holi (Festival of Colors) events celebrating Spring in India and South Asia.
- Varying Saturday in early March: National Corn Dog Day celebrates the start of the N.C.A.A. Basketball 'March Madness' tournament; Brady Sahnow & Henry Otley of Corvallis, Oregon created the observance in 1992 to honor the corn dog, Ore-Ida brand Tater Tots™ [invented 1950s], American beer, and the sport of basketball; technically, the date is the first Saturday of the N.C.A.A. Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
- Varying days in March: MisinfoDay [est. 2019] is an annual media literacy educational event on three college campuses in Washington State.
- March thru May is 'burrito season', when the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain [est. 1993] sees its highest sales volume, requiring them to hire thousands of new workers.
- First Thursday {1st to 7th} = World Book Day [est. 1995] was created by UNESCO.
- 1st
- Birthday of author / activist Charles Fletcher Lummis [1859-1928] in Lynn, Massachusetts.
- Birthday of author Ralph Ellison [1913-94] in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- Birthday of singer & activist Harry Belafonte in Harlem, New York City [1927].
- President Kennedy established the Peace Corps by Executive Order in 1961.
- National Pig Day recognizes the domesticated pig and is celebrated in most parts of the Midwest in the United States; it was originally started in 1972
in Lubbock, Texas by Ellen Stanley & Mary Lynne Rave to encourage people to treat pigs better. - National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day
- 1st-2nd = Global Day of Unplugging [2024 = #15] runs sundown to sundown; annual event that
encourages people to put down their screens and take part
in real-life gatherings or a 'meaningful conversation'. - 1st-19th = Fallas Festival in Valencia, Spain - Celebrates the arrival of spring and pays tribute to San José, the patron saint of the carpenters’ guild; citizens build and then ceremonially burn huge monuments made of wood, cardboard, and paper; the monuments, or fallas, consist of ninots (figures), many of which are caricatures that portray current events and celebrities. The two-week-long festival features parades, fireworks, and fiestas, and ends with the burning of hundreds of fallas, signifying cleansing and renewal.
- 2nd = Birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel [1904-1991] in Springfield, Massachusetts; he was famous as children's author Dr. Seuss.
- 2nd = Birthday of author John Irving in Exeter, New Hampshire [1942].
- 3rd
- Birthday of railroad tycoon George M. Pullman [1831-97] in Brocton, New York.
- Birthday of Alexander Graham Bell [1847-1922], inventor of the telephone, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Birthday of 'Blonde Bombshell' actress Jean Harlow [1911-37] in Kansas City, Missouri; she died at age 26 of kidney failure.
- 4th = Official beginning of the government of the United States under the new Constitution, in 1789 in New York City.
- 4th = National Grammar Day [est. 2008] which is promoted by The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar.
- 5th = Boston Massacre of 1770: five civilians were killed by British redcoats firing into the crowd.
- 5th = Birthday of illustrator Howard Pyle [1853-1911] in Wilmington, Delaware.
- 6th
- Birthday of English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning [1806-61] in Kelloe, Durham, England.
- Birthday of fiddler & bandleader James Robert 'Bob' Wills [1905-75] near Kosse, in East Texas; the 'King of Western Swing' and
his Texas Playboys band still influence the music business. - Birthday of Alan Greenspan [1926], former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, 1987-2006.
- Birthday of Latino novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez [1927-2014] in Aracataca, Colombia; he won the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 8th = International Women’s Day [est. 1909] (Some countries also celebrate March as
International Women's Month or Women's History Month.)
The United Nations began official support for International Women’s Day in 1975. - 9th = Birthday of tough-guy author Mickey Spillane [1918-2006] in Brooklyn, New York.
- 9th = Birthday/launch of the Barbie™ fashion doll in 1959.
- Second Friday {8th to 15th} = biannual Comic Relief Red Nose Day charity events in U.K. {USA events are in May}
- Second Weekend = Clocks in USA changed one hour forward for Daylight Savings Time (except Arizona, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico); official time of the change is 2am Sunday, so most folks change the clocks on Saturday evening. The following Monday is National Napping Day [est. 1999] to recover from the lost hour of sleep.
- 10th = Harriet Tubman Day [est. 1990]
- 11th
- Birthday of movie director Raoul Walsh [1887-1980] in New York City.
- Birthday of visionary engineer Vannevar Bush [1890-1974] in Everett, Massachusetts.
- Birthday of British author Douglas Adams [1952-2001] in Cambridge, England.
- 12th = Birthday of Beat writer Jack Kerouac [1922-69] in Lowell, Massachusetts.
- 12th = Birthday of playwright Edward Albee [1928-2016] in Virginia.
- 14th
- Birthday of physicist Albert Einstein [1879-1955] in Ulm, Germany.
- Birthday of playwright & novelist Horton Foote [1916-2009] in Wharton, Texas.
- Pi Day [est. 2001] – because the base value of π is 3.14
- Third Sunday = American Chocolate Week.
- 15th
- Buzzard Day in Hinckley, Ohio: A mass of turkey vultures has been
returning to Hinckley Ridge every year
since before the White Man, with the modern celebration usually on the following Sunday. - Birthday of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg [1933-2020] in Brooklyn, New York; she served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1993 to 2020 (27 years).
- Buzzard Day in Hinckley, Ohio: A mass of turkey vultures has been
returning to Hinckley Ridge every year
- 16th = Birthday of comedian Jerry Lewis [1926-2017] in Newark, New Jersey.
- 17th = St. Patrick's Day: Sláinte!
- 17th = Birthday of Shemp Howard [1895-1955], member of 'The Three Stooges' comedy team.
- 18th
- Birthday of author John Updike [1932-2009] in Reading, Pennsylvania.
- Birthday of the Pillsbury Doughboy [1965].
- Global Recycling Day, recognized by United Nations in 2018.
- 19th
- Birthday of Western lawman Wyatt Earp [1848-1929] in Monmouth, Illinois.
- Birthday of Western artist Charles M. Russell [1864-1926] in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Birthday of jazz musician Ornette Coleman [1930-2015] in Fort Worth, Texas.
- Birthday of author Philip Roth [1933-2018] in Newark, New Jersey.
- Islamic calendar month of Ramadan {Gregorian calendar dates vary}: 9th month of Islamic calendar, between two crescent moons in the Spring; important month-long religious celebration that includes prayer, reflection, charity, community, daytime fasting, and nighttime feasts.
- March equinox = Nowruz {meaning 'new day' in Farsi} is the Persian New Year; celebration lasts for two weeks.
- March equinox (on or near) = World Storytelling Day [est. 1991].
- March equinox (on or near) = Amazon's “Big Spring Sale” [est. 2024] Wed thru Mon.
- 20th
- Vernal Equinox / First Day of Spring
- Nowruz is the Persian New Year, which has been held on the first day of spring for more than 3,000 years.
- Birthday of children's TV host Fred Rogers [1928-2003], which is celebrated as "Won't You Wear A Sweater? Day" since 2008.
- Birthday of children's author Lois Lowry in Honolulu, Hawaii [1937]; she is most famous for "The Giver" (book 1993, movie 2014).
- National Ravioli Day {origin unknown}.
- Birthday of the Afro-American filmmaker Shelton Jackson 'Spike' Lee in Atlanta, Georgia [1957].
- Birthday of Big Bird, a Muppet and a star of "Sesame Street".
- 21st
- Birthday of Maxwell Henry Aronson [1880-1971] in Little Rock, Arkansas; he later became famous as silent movie cowboy star 'Broncho Billy' Anderson.
- World Poetry Day was declared by UNESCO in 1999. (Local celebrations are often shifted to the weekend.)
- World Puppetry Day [est. 2003] is sponsored by UNIMA - the International Association of Puppeteers [est. 1929].
- Jack Dorsey sent out the first-ever tweet: “just setting up my twttr” in 2006.
- United Nations International Day of Forests [est. 2013].
- post-equinox {dates vary, March 21st thru April} = The Xian celebration of Easter, commemorating the reported rise from the dead of Jesus of Nazareth, circa A.D. 29.
- 22nd
- Birthday of Leonard 'Chico' Marx [1887-1961], member of 'The Marx Brothers' comedy team.
- Birthday of Western author Louis L'Amour [1908-88] in Jamestown, North Dakota.
- Birthday of movie mogul Lew Wasserman [1913-2002], longtime head of Universal Studios [est. 1912].
- World Water Day [est. 1992]
- 23rd
- Birthday of cinema master Akira Kurosawa [1910-98] in Tokyo, Japan.
- National Tamale Day, so check out the XLNT Foods [est. 1874] National Tamale Day Giveaway! on Instagram
- World Bear Day celebrates all bears, regardless of species.
- 24th
- Birthday of Erik Weisz [1874-1926] in Budapest, Austria-Hungary; he later became famous as magician & escape artist Harry Houdini.
- Birthday of silent movie comedy star Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle [1887-1933] in Smith Center, Kansas.
- Birthday of economist Robert L. Heilbroner [1919-2005] in New York City.
- Birthday of San Francisco poet & bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti [1919-2021] in Yonkers, New York.
- National Peanut Butter Day in USA.
- Humanity Day 2022 was moved to March 24th - one month after the day that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 - in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
- 25th
- Birthday of pulp writer Jack Woodford [1894-1971] in Chicago, Illinois.
- Birthday of author Flannery O'Connor [1925-64] in Savannah, Georgia.
- Birthday of music legend Aretha Louise Franklin [1942-2018] in Memphis, Tennessee; she was known as 'The Queen of Soul'.
- Medal of Honor Day in USA [est. 1991].
- Worldwide Tolkien Reading Day [est. 2003] is celebrated on the date that
the One Ring was destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, to celebrate & promote
the life & works of J.R.R. Tolkien [1892-1973].
- Last Saturday {25th to 31st} = Three-week-long National Cherry Blossom Festival [est. 1934] in Washington, DC.
- 26th
- Birthday of four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost [1874-1963] in San Francisco, California.
- Birthday of mythologist Joseph Campbell [1904-87] in White Plains, New York.
- Birthday of playwright Thomas Lanier 'Tennessee' Williams [1911-83] in Columbus, Mississippi.
- Birthday of jazz musician James Moody [1925-2020] in Savannah, Georgia.
- Birthday of Beat poet Gregory Corso [1930-2001] in New York City.
- Birthday of actor-director-producer Warren Beatty in Richmond, Virginia [1937].
- 28th = Birthday of Latino novelist Mario Vargas Llosa in Arequipa, Peru [1936]; he won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 29th:
National Vietnam War Veterans Day, formalized by
President Obama in 2012. 
- 30th
- Birthday of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh [1853-90]. J.R.R. Tolkien [1892-1973]
- Annual remembrance by the city of Bainbridge Island, Washington of the evacuation of its Japanese citizens in 1942, the first group shipped to the American internment camps per Executive Order #9066. The city's memorial is a wall 276 feet long – one foot for every Japanese person who lived there in 1942 – and is now a satellite of the National Parks Service Minidoka National Historic Site.
- National Walk In A Park Day
- National Pencil Day
- 31st
- Birthday of French philosopher René Descartes [1596-1650] in France; he died under mysterious circumstances in Stockholm, Sweden at age 53.
- Birthday of Latino novelist Octavio Paz [1914-98] in Mexico City, Mexico; he won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- Birthday of English novelist John Fowles [1926-2005] at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England.
- Birthday of labor activist Cesar E. Chavez [1927-93] outside Yuma, Arizona.
- Birthday of Western & sci-fi author John Jakes in Chicago, Illinois [1932].
- Birthday of politician & eco-activist Al Gore, Jr. in Washington, DC [1948].
International Transgender Day of Visibility
[est. 2009]
- World Backup Day [est. 2011].
- Last Wednesday in March (25th-31st) = National Little Red Wagon Day, sponsored by Radio Flyer wagons [est. 1917].
- April: The birthday of English writer Daniel Defoe [c1660-1731] is unknown, but he is often
listed among April births; he is most known
for the novels "Robinson Crusoe" [1719] and "Moll Flanders" [1722]. - Holocaust Remembrance Day aka Yom HaShoah [est. 1951] starts on the evening of Hebrew calendar 27th day of Nisan {might be in April or May}.
- April is National Poetry Month, USA [est. 1996] { see also American Poets Pages at Spirit of America Bookstore }
- April {date varies} is when women in the U.S.A. have worked to earn the same pay that men received at the prior year-end.
Equal Pay Day [est. 1996] is sponsored by the National Committee on Pay Equity [est. 1979]. - April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month [est. 2001], sponsored by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center [est. 7/2000].
- April is Jazz Appreciation Month [est. 2002] sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.
- April is Arab-American Heritage Month [began 2017].
- 1st
- Traditional April Fools Day
- Census Day: The U.S. Constitution mandates taking of a census every ten years; the data is based on each person's residency & circumstances on this date.
- Birthday of Irish-American fantasy author Anne McCaffrey [1926-2011] in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Birthday of sci-fi author Samuel Delaney in Harlem, New York City [1942].
- Birthday of progressive TV news anchor Rachel Maddow in Castro Valley, California [1973].
- Founding of megacorporation Apple, Computer, Inc. in 1975 in Cupertino, California by Steve Jobs [1955-2011] and Steve Wozniak.
- First Thursday {1st-7th}: National Burrito Day: The modern burrito began appearing on restaurant menus in the 1930s, starting at the El Cholo Spanish Café in Los Angeles, California.
- 2nd = Birthday of Danish children's author Hans Christian Andersen [1805-75].
- 2nd = National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day {origins unknown}, timed to mark the day of the year when women are able to stop bringing cheap lunches to work
because they make so much less than men. - 3rd = Birthday of British primatologist Dame Jane Morris Goodall in London, U.K. [1934].
- 4th
- Birthday of Afro-American author Maya Angelou [1928-2014] in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Birthday of actor Robert Downey, Jr. in New York City [1965].
- Assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968.
- Founding of megacorporation Microsoft, Inc. in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Bill Gates and Paul G. Allen.
- Annual "We Are One Day" [est. 2011] confirming the stand
of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
for solidarity with all labor unions
(on the anniversary of his assassination during the sanitation workers' strike in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968). - International Ramen Noodle Day: the dish first appeared in Japan in the early XXth Century and is extremely popular also in Korea {origins unknown}.
- International Carrot Day [est. 2003]
- 5th = Birthday of Afro-American educator Booker T. Washington [1856-1915] at Hale's Ford, Virginia.
- 6th = Birthday of country music legend Merle Haggard [1937-2016] in Oildale, California.
- 7th
- Birthday of British poet William Wordsworth [1770-1850] in Cumberland, England.
- Birthday of 'Pentagon Papers' whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg [1931-2023] in Chicago, Illinois; he died of pancreatic cancer at age 92.
- National Beer Day [est. 2009], celebrating the repeal of U.S. Prohibition on low-alcohol beer & wine in 1933, per the Cullen-Harrison Act.
- Birthday of movie director Francis Ford Coppola in Detroit, Michigan [1939].
- 8th
- Birthday of actress Mary Pickford [1892-1979] in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Birthday of author John Fante [1909-83] in Denver, Colorado.
- Birthday of author Barbara Kingsolver in Annapolis, Maryland [1955].
- 9th
- Birthday of pioneer photographer Eadweard Muybridge [1830-1904] in Kingston-upon-Thames, London, England; he died there at age 74.
- Happy Confederate Surrender Day: The conclusion of the American Civil War commenced when General Robert E. Lee signed the articles of surrender agreement for
the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia [1865].
- Birthday of singer & activist Paul Robeson [1898-1976] in Princeton, New Jersey.
- Birthday of author Leonard Wibberley [1915-83] in Dublin, Ireland.
- 10th
- Birthday of cowboy movie & circus star Tim McCoy [1891-1978] in Saginaw, Michigan.
- Publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel "The Great Gatsby" [1925].
- Birthday of Xicana labor & civil rights leader Dolores Huerta in Dawson, New Mexico. [1930]
- Birthday of travel writer & novelist Paul Theroux in Medford, Massachusetts [1941].
- National Siblings Day in U.S.A. [est. 1995].
- 11th = Birthday of Edward S. Ellis [1840-1916] in Geneva, Ohio; he wrote over 200 Western novels and many short stories.
- Second Week = National Library Week [USA; est 1958] sponsored by The American Library Assn. and The Campaign for America's Libraries
- Tuesday of National Library Week = National Library Workers Day.
- Wednesday of National Library Week = National Bookmobile Day.
- 12th
- Birthday of children's author Beverly Cleary [1916-2021] in McMinnville, Oregon; she moved to Carmel, California in the 1940s.
- Birthday of author Tom Clancy [1947-2013] in Baltimore County, Maryland.
- Birthday of mystery author Scott Turow in Chicago, Illinois [1949].
- National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day {origin unknown}.
- National Licorice Day [est. 2004] in U.S.A. which celebrates liquorice-flavored black licorice candy and-or fruit-flavored red licorice candy.
- 13th
- Songkran Festival in Thailand, which marks the Thai (astrological) New Year, is famous as the world’s greatest water fight.
- Birthday of revolutionary Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826] at Shadwell Plantation, Virginia; he was the third President of the United States.
- Birthday of painter & muralist Thomas Hart Benton [1889-1975] in Missouri.
- Birthday of Nobel Prize-winning Irish playwright Samuel Beckett [1906-89] in Dublin, Ireland.
- Birthday of Southern author Eudora Welty [1909-2001] in Jackson, Mississippi.
- National Scrabble Day commemorates the birth of Alfred Mosher Butts [1899-1993], who created the popular word game in 1938.
- 15th = Birthday of American-British author Henry James [1843-1916] in New York City.
- 16th = Birthday of silent movie comedy star Charles Chaplin [1889-1977] in London, England.
- 16th = Birthday of Gertrude Chandler Warner [1890-1979] in Putnam, Connecticut; after a career as a schoolteacher, she retired at age 52 and revitalized her 1924 children's novel "The Boxcar Children" and wrote 18 more books from 1949 to 1976; she died in Putnam at age 89.
- Third Week: Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising; in Hebrew, it is called Yom Hashoah,
and falls on the 27th day of Nisan of the Hebrew calendar. - Third Saturday (15th to 21st): World Circus Day [est. 2010] occurs on various days in April.
- Third Week (16th to 22nd): National Volunteer Week which includes a National Day of Service - depending on the weekend, some celebrations are combined with Earth Day.
- Third Week (16th to 22nd): World Cannabis Week [April 2018 = #3] in Denver, Colorado.
- 17th = Birthday of Karen Blixen [1885-1962], who wrote novels under the name Isak Dinesen.
- 17th = National Haiku Poetry Day [est. 2007] is sponsored by The Haiku Foundation [est. 2006] since 2012.
- 18th = National Lineman Appreciation Day - sponsored by Northwest Lineman College [est. 1993] and-or your local electric company.
- 19th = Birthday of covert C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame Wilson [1963], principal figure in the TreasonGate Scandal of 2003.
- 19th = Oklahoma City bombing: 168 dead [1995].
- 20th
- Birthday of Adolf Hitler [1889-1945] in Austria-Hungary; he was dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945.
- Birthday of silent movie comedy star Harold Lloyd [1893-1971] in Burchard, Nebraska.
- 4/20 or 4:20 or 420: Code chosen during the 1970s for lighting up marijuana/cannabis (i.e. 4:20 in the afternoon) which evolved into annual counter-culture celebrations on April 20th in America and around the world {420 holiday entry at Wikipedia}.
- G.O.P. / B.P. Megaspill Disaster [2010] along the Gulf Coast.
- 21st
- Birthday of British author Charlotte Brontë [1816-55] in Yorkshire, England.
- Birthday of naturalist John Muir [1838-1914] in Scotland.
- Birthday of children's author Barbara Park [1947-2013] in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
- National Tea Day: declared by a U.K. tea-connoisseur named Marco in 2016.
- last double weekend {21st-30th}: U.S. National Park Week [est. 2009].
- 22nd
- Birthday of philosopher Immanuel Kant [1724-1804] in Königsberg, Prussia.
- Birthday of author & lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov [1899-1977] in Petrograd, Russia.
- Birthday of atomic physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer [1904-67] in New York City.
![website symbol for Earth Day [est. 1970]](images/EarthDay.jpg "website symbol for Earth Day [est. 1970]")
![official flag for Earth Day [est. 1970]](images/earthdayflag.jpg "official flag for Earth Day [est. 1970]")
- Fourth Thursday {22nd-28th}: National Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work® Day [est. 1993] - which since the COVID epidemic might entail walking your kids from the living room to your office on the dining room table and letting them stare at your co-workers in a Zoom meeting!
- Fourth Saturday {22nd-28th}: Record Store Day [est. 2008].
- 23rd
- International Shakespeare Day on the birthday of poet & playwright William Shakespeare [1564-1616] in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
- Birthday of gadfly filmmaker Michael Moore in Flint, Michigan [1954].
- Anniversary of the 1982 tongue-in-cheek secession of the Florida Keys as the Conch Republic, which continues as a tourism gimmick.
- UNESCO's World Book & Copyright Day [est. 1995]
- World Book Night: [U.K. est. 2011] • [USA est. 2012]
- 24th = Birthday of mystery author Sue Grafton [1940-2017] in Louisville, Kentucky.
- 25th
- Birthday of broadcaster Edward R. Murrow [1908-65] near Greensboro, North Carolina.
- ANZAC Day [est. 1916] in Australia & New Zealand began commemorating the
Australia New Zealand Army Corps and their entry into World War I at Gallipoli
and since then has been expanded to honor all members and veterans; events usually include somber early morning church services. - Birthday of actor Al Pacino in New York City [1940].
- National D.N.A. Day [est. by Congress in 2003] is a global celebration of both the 1953 discovery of
the D.N.A. double helix structure and
the 2003 completion of the Human Genome Project; sponsored by The National Human Genome Research Institute [est. 1989]. - National Lingerie Day
- 26th
- Birthday of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein [1889–1951] in Vienna, Austria.
- Birthday of comic actor Edgar Kennedy [1890-1948] in Monterey County,
California; after a career spanning 500 films,
he died at the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills, California at age 58. - National Pretzel Day - established in 2003 by the Governor of Pennsylvania.
- 27th
- National Babe Ruth Day, honoring sports legend George Herman Ruth [1895-1948], was first celebrated by the New York Yankees baseball team in 1947.
- Birthday of Eeyore, a character in A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories; it is celebrated as Eeyore’s Birthday Party in Austin, Texas [4th Saturday in April - 2024 = #59] and since 2008 in Seattle, Washington in May.
- National Prime Rib Day {origin unknown}.
- 28th
- Birthday of (Nelle) Harper Lee [1926-2016] in Monroeville, Alabama; she is the author of
"To Kill A Mockingbird" [bestseller novel 1960,
Pulitzer Prize 1961, Oscar-winning movie 1962]. - Birthday of British fantasy author Sir Terence David John 'Terry' Pratchett, OBE [1948-2015] in Buckinghamshire, England.
- International Workers' Memorial Day [est. 1970]
which is also celebrated as World Day For Safety & Health At Work,
sponsored by the International Labour Organization [est. 1919]. - National Superheroes Day [est. 1995] was created by Marvel Comics [est. 1933] employees to celebrate everyone’s favorite superhero.
- Birthday of (Nelle) Harper Lee [1926-2016] in Monroeville, Alabama; she is the author of
"To Kill A Mockingbird" [bestseller novel 1960,
- 29th = Birthday of media mogul William Randolph Hearst [1863-1951] in San Francisco, California.
- Last Friday: Arbor Day [U.S.A,; est. 1872]
- Last Saturday: Independent Bookstore Day [est. 2014] - 2020 event was postponed to August 29th.
- 30th = Birthday of performer Willie Nelson in Abbott, Texas [1933].
- 30th = International Jazz Day [est. 2011]
- April-May: Children's Book Week national literacy initiative [est. 1919!]
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