National Authors’ Day

I never ask a man what his business is, for it never interests me. What I ask him about are his thoughts and dreams.

H.P. Lovecraft

If you’ve known the pains of raising ‘Little Women’, or have ridden on a raft with ol’ Huck Finn, if you’ve read all the horrors of Stephen King and lost yourself with ‘things to terrible to describe’ with Lovecraft, you’ve enjoyed the classics that American Authors can spin. Authors’ Day commemorates all the wonders that have been spun into the world by the pen of these creative souls, but especially those works of the American Author.

History of Authors’ Day

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.

How to celebrate Authors’ Day

There are two ways to start your Authors’ Day celebration, either by picking up an American favorite or finding one you haven’t read yet and finally cracking it open. You can go to your local library and discuss the possibilities with the people there, no one knows American Authors like your local librarian. With titles like “The Scarlet Letter”, “The Grapes of Wrath”, and “The Great Gatsby” to choose from, how could you possibly go wrong? Don’t have time to take in a book? American literature struck the world so hard that many of them have been turned into cinema, with one such classic being “Gone With The Wind” Make Authors’ Day your day to feed another great book into your mind.