On This Day

What happened on this day in literary history?

Not a day goes by without something interesting happening in the world of books and writers. Here are some of the events that Susannah thinks are important.

Yesterday
Cannon Hall where du Maurier spent much of her childhood 13 May 1907: Daphne du Maurier is born. read more ...
Today
The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse 14 May 1842: The Lady of Shalott is published. read more ...
Tomorrow
Front cover of the first issue of The Dawn published by Louisa Lawson 15 May 1888: Louisa Lawson publishes The Dawn. read more ...
What happened this month?
List View
< June 2026 >
SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
  118781878John Masefield is born 218401840Thomas Hardy is born 319691969The Very Hungry Caterpillar is published 419131913A.A. Milne marries 518511851First instalment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is serialised 19491949Noddy first appears 18331833Ada, Countess of Lovelace, meets Charles Babbage 619241924A Passage to India is published
718621862Les Miserables is published in English 18671867Henry Lawson is born 818761876George Sand dies 18981898George Bernard Shaw marries 19491949Nineteen Eighty-Four is published 918701870Charles Dickens dies 1019281928Maurice Sendak is born 1118441844Anthony Trollope marries 1219421942Anne Frank receives a birthday present 18271827Johanna Spyri is born 1319081908Anne of Green Gables is published 18501850Alfred, Lord Tennyson marries
1419361936Gilbert Keith Chesterton dies 18111811Harriet Beecher Stowe is born 1519141914Dubliners is published 1619041904The First Bloomsday 18161816Lord Byron proposes a literary challenge 1719101910Diana Mitford is born 1817461746Samuel Johnson agrees to compile a dictionary 1919471947Salman Rushdie is born 2019491949Vikram Seth is born
2119051905Jean-Paul Sartre is born 2218561856Henry Rider Haggard is born 2318191819Rip van Winkle is published 2418421842Ambrose Bierce is born 2519031903George Orwell is born 2619971997Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is first published 2718931893Happy Birthday to You is published
2817121712Jean-Jacques Rousseau is born 2916131613The Globe Theatre is destroyed 3019731973Nancy Mitford dies 19361936Gone With the Wind is first published