Events in the month of October for writers and readers
National Book Month
National Reading Group Month
- October 1 – International Coffee Day; International Day of Older Persons; International Music Day
- October 2 – Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday; International Day of Non-Violence; National Poetry Day (Ireland and U.K.); World Smile Day
- October 4 – World Animal Day
- October 4-10 – Banned Books Week; World Space Week
- October 5 – Robert Hutchings Goddard’s Birthday; World Teachers Day
- October 6 – Thor Heyerdahl’s Birthday; Mad Hatter Day
- October 7 – Desmond Tutu’s Birthday
- October 10 – World Against the Death Penalty; World Homeless Day; World Mental Health Day; World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
- October 11 – Myth and Legends Day; National Coming Out Day
- October 12 – Indigenous Peoples’ Day
- October 13 – International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction
- October 14 – E.E. Cummings’ Birthday
- October 15 – Mario Puzo’s Birthday
- October 15 – International Day of Rural Women
- October 16 – Noah Webster’s Birthday; Dictionary Day; World Food Day
- October 17 – International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Day; World Trauma Day
- October 18-24 – National Friends of Libraries Week
- October 20 – National Day on Writing
- October 21 – Alfred Nobel’s Birthday
- October 23 – Michael Crichton’s Birthday
- October 25 – Anne Tyler’s Birthday; International Artist Day; World Opera Day
- October 27 – Dylan Thomas’ Birthday
- October 28 – International Animation Day
- October 29 – First Internet Message (1969); World Stroke Day
- October 30 – Ezra Pound’s Birthday
- October 31 – John Keats’ Birthday; Halloween
