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
< March 2026 >
SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
118561856Lewis Carroll first appeared 219091909Katherine Mansfield marries (briefly) 317561756William Godwin is born 419221922The Beautiful and Damned is published 518391839Charlotte Brontë declines a marriage proposal 618881888Louisa May Alcott dies 719711971Stevie Smith dies
818501850Kenneth Grahame is born 918921892Vita Sackville-West is born 1019481948Zelda Fitzgerald dies 1117441744Sotheby’s holds its first auction of books 1219571957The Cat in the Hat is first published 1313951395John Barbour dies 1418361836Isabella Beeton is born
1518521852Lady Gregory is born 1618501850The Scarlet Letter is published 1717771777Patrick Brontë is born 1817681768Laurence Sterne dies 1919501950Edgar Rice Burroughs dies 2018521852Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published 2119991999First World Poetry Day
2218321832Johann Wolfgang von Goethe dies 2318391839First recorded use of “OK” 2418821882Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dies 2518111811Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from Oxford University 2619201920F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first book is published 2719311931Arnold Bennett dies 2817541754Henry Fielding leaves England to improve his health 17591759The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman begins serialisation 19411941Virginia Woolf dies by suicide
2917971797Mary Wollstonecraft & William Godwin marry 3018501850Household Words is launched 3118551855Charlotte Brontë dies