National Authors’ Day
Those creative minds behind your favorite books, spinning tales that transport you to new worlds and ignite your imagination.
Celebrate authors and drive book sales through author spotlights, signed editions, and reading promotions during National Authors' Day in November.
- Feature author interviews and behind-the-scenes stories on social media
- Promote signed copies and author-exclusive editions with special discounts
- Host virtual author meet-and-greets or book club events
- Create reading challenge campaigns encouraging followers to discover new authors
It was 1928, and the Illinois Women’s Club was meeting yet again to enjoy the writings of some of their favorite authors. Nellie Verne Burt McPherson decided to bring up the idea of having a day dedicated to American Authors and brought it up amongst her fellow club members. Nellie had spent her life as a teacher and an avid lover of literature, and one day had written a letter to Irving’s Bacheller while she was recovering in a hospital in WWI. She had thoroughly enjoyed Irving’s story “Eben Holden’s Last Day A’ Fishin”, and was overjoyed to receive an autographed copy of another story he had written.
So touched by this show of appreciation by her favorite author that she determined that the only way she could properly show her appreciation was by setting aside a day to honor all American Authors, and to do so she submitted her suggestion to the General Federation of Women’s Club. Her idea did not go unheeded, and 20 years later, in 1949, the United States Department of Commerce made it an official holiday, Authors’ Day, and it’s been celebrated every year ever since.