Category Archives: News

March 2024 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of March for writers and readers

National March into Literacy Month

National Reading Month

Small Press Month

Famous March Birthdays

Other March Events

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February 2024 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of February for writers and readers

African-American History Month (U.S.)

Library Lovers’ Month

Famous February Birthdays

Other February Events

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Happy New Year 2024!

“May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.”

Joey Adams

“New Year’s resolution: to tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.”

James Agate

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on.”

Hal Borland

“‘Out with the old, in with the new’ is a fitting expression for a holiday that is based on vomiting.”

Andy Borowitz

“Happiness is too many things these days for anyone to wish it on anyone lightly. So let’s just wish each other a bile-less new year and leave it at that.”

Judith Christ

“I would say, ‘Happy New Year,’ but it’s not happy; it’s exactly the same as last year except colder.”

Robert Clark

“If you want an interesting party, combine cocktails and a fresh box of crayons for everyone.”

Robert Fulghum

“He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; he who makes one is a fool.”

Farquhar McGillivray Knowles

“I made no resolutions for the new year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.”

Anaïs Nin

“The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year’s Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you’re married to.”

P.J. O’Rourke

“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.”

Brad Paisley

“Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.”

William Shakespeare

“It wouldn’t be New Year’s if I didn’t have regrets.”

William Thomas

“New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.”

Mark Twain

“My New Year’s resolution list usually starts with the desire to lose between 10 and 3,000 pounds.”

Nia Vardalos

“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.”

Bill Vaughan

“Deep breaths are very helpful at shallow parties.”

Barbara Walters

“This New Year’s, I was going to make a resolution never to be late again, but I didn’t wake up until January 2.”

Melanie White

“Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”

Oscar Wilde

“Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self-assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle.”

Eric Zorn

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January 2024 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of January for writers and readers

National Braille Literacy Month

Famous January Birthdays

Other January Events

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Merry Christmas 2023!

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

Maya Angelou

“Christmas: It’s the only religious holiday that’s also a federal holiday.  That way, Christians can go to their services, and everyone else can sit at home and reflect on the true meaning of the separation of church and state.”

Samantha Bee

“It’s always consoling to know that today’s Christmas gifts are tomorrow’s garage sales.”

Milton Berle

“Santa Claus has the right idea.  Visit people only once a year.”

Victor Borge

“Christmas is a baby shower that went totally overboard.”

Andy Borowitz

“The main reason Santa is so jolly because he knows where all the bad girls live.”

George Carlin

“What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.”

Phyllis Diller

“It’s easier to feel a little more spiritual with a couple of bucks in your pocket.”

Craig Ferguson

“It’s Christmas Eve! It’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer; we smile a little easier; we cheer a little more.  For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be.”

Bill Murray

 “There are three stages of man: he believes in Santa Claus; he does not believe in Santa Claus; he is Santa Claus.”

Bob Phillips

“I love Christmas. I receive a lot of wonderful presents I can’t wait to exchange.”

Henny Youngman

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December 2023 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of December for writers and readers

Read a New Book Month

Famous December Birthdays

Other December Events

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Happy Thanksgiving 2023!

“If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad at turkeys.  There’s turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastrami.  Someone needs to tell the turkey, man, just be yourself.”

Mitch Hedberg

Feeding America

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Moving Forward

Today marks 60 years since one of the most fateful days of the 20th century – the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  I wanted to republish this essay from a decade ago.  A good deal has changed – for me and this nation – in the decade since I first posted it.  But one thing remains certain: time always moves forward and our hope for a better world never dies.

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In Memoriam – Rosalynn Carter, 1927-2023

“Do what you can to show you care about other people and you will make our world a better place.”

Rosalynn Carter

The Carter Center

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For Those Who Never Came Home

From fellow blogger Alastair with “A Mixed Bag”.

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