Tag Archives: Mary Shelley

August 2025 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of August for writers and readers

Family Fun Month

Happiness Happens Month

Romance Awareness Month

  • August 1 – Herman Melville’s Birthday; World Wide Web Day
  • August 1-7 – International Clown Week
  • August 2 – International Beer Day
  • August 3 – International Friendship Day; Psychic Day (U.S.)
  • August 3-9 – International Dog Assistance Week
  • August 4 – Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Birthday
  • August 4-10 – National Simplify Your Life Week (U.S.)
  • August 5 – Blogger Day
  • August 6 – Farmworker Appreciation Day
  • August 7 – Purple Heart Day (U.S.)
  • August 9 – Book Lovers Day
  • August 10 – Vlogging Day; World Lion Day
  • August 12 – International Youth Day; Mountain Day (Japan); World Elephant Day
  • August 13 – International Lefthanders Day; Women’s and Family Day; World Calligraphy Day
  • August 14 – Danielle Steele’s Birthday; Love Your Bookshop Day; World Lizard Day
  • August 15 – Chant at the Moon Day
  • August 16 – International Homeless Animals Day; World Honey Bee Day
  • August 18 – National Bad Poetry Day; World Breast Cancer Research Day
  • August 19 – World Humanitarian Day; World Photo Day
  • August 22 – International Day Commemorating Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief
  • August 23 – European Day for Remembrance of Victims of Stalinism and Nazism; International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition
  • August 24 – Paulo Coelho’s Birthday; International Strange Music Day
  • August 24-28 – World Water Week
  • August 26 – International Dog Day
  • August 28 – Leo Tolstoy’s Birthday
  • August 30 – Mary Shelley’s Birthday; International Day for Victims of Enforced Disappearances
  • August 30-31 – International Bat Night
  • August 31 – International Day for People of African Descent; International Overdose Awareness Day; We Love Memoirs Day; World Distance Learning Day

Famous August Birthdays

Other August Events

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August 2023 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of August for writers and readers

Family Fun Month

Happiness Happens Month

Romance Awareness Month

  • August 1 – Herman Melville’s Birthday; World Wide Web Day
  • August 1-7 – International Clown Week;
  • August 2 – National Coloring Book Day (U.S.)       
  • August 4 – Percy Blythe Shelley’s Birthday; International Beer Day
  • August 5 – Blogger Day
  • August 6 – Farmworker Appreciation Day; Psychic Day (U.S.)
  • August 6-12 – International Dog Assistance Week
  • August 7 – Professional Speakers Day (U.S.); Purple Heart Day (U.S.)
  • August 7-13 – National Simplify Your Life Week (U.S.)
  • August 9 – Book Lover’s Day (also November 4)
  • August 10 – Vlogging Day; World Lion Day
  • August 11 – Mountain Day
  • August 12 – International Youth Day; World Elephant Day
  • August 13 – International Lefthanders Day; Women’s and Family Day
  • August 14 – Danielle Steele’s Birthday; Love Your Bookshop Day; World Lizard Day
  • August 15 – Chant at the Moon Day
  • August 16 – World Calligraphy Day
  • August 18 – National Bad Poetry Day; World Breast Cancer Research Day
  • August 19 – International Homeless Animals Day; World Honey Bee Day; World Humanitarian Day; World Photo Day
  • August 21 – Poet’s Day
  • August 22 – International Day Commemorating Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief
  • August 23 – European Day for Remembrance of Victims of Stalinism and Nazism; International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition
  • August 23-September 1 – World Water Week
  • August 24 – Paulo Coelho’s Birthday; International Strange Music Day
  • August 26 – International Bat Night
  • August 28 – Leo Tolstoy’s Birthday
  • August 30 – Mary Shelley’s Birthday; International Day for Victims of Enforced Disappearances
  • August 31 – International Day for People of African Descent; International Overdose Awareness Day; We Love Memoirs Day; World Distance Learning Day

Famous August Birthdays

Other August Events

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A Frankenstein Million

Who would have thought a mirthful challenge would last two centuries and spark a horrific enterprise?

Last month a first-edition copy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein sold for USD 1.17 million at auction at Christie’s Auction House; much more than its estimated value of USD 300,000.  Only one of 500 known existing first-print copies, the book is the most expensive tome by a woman ever sold.  Published in 1818, Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus is now considered to be the first science fiction novel.  At the time, however, it was met with lackluster reviews – many of which bore an obviously sexist bent.  “The writer of it is, we understand, a female; this is an aggravation of that which is the prevailing fault of the novel,” noted one reviewer in the “British Critic”.

Looks like Mary Shelley has had the last laugh.

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