Happy author’s day
National Author’s Day is celebrated each year on November 1. Allegedly, the origin of this day is thanks to Nellie Verne Burt McPherson, who was president of the Illinois Women’s club. McPherson was a teacher and avid writer who, apparently, wrote a fan letter to fiction writer Irving Bacheller to express her love for his story “Eben Hoden’s Last Day A’Fishin”.
The author replied with a kind message and sent her an autographed copy of another story, which made her decide to show appreciation through a National Author’s Day to honor the men and women who created American literature.
In 1949, the United States Department of Commerce officially recognized the holiday to celebrate authors of both fiction and nonfiction books.
Up until today, the idea of this holiday is to show appreciation to authors. Nowadays, this would most likely mean sending a quick email, or reaching authors through Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms.
You have a favorite author? Make sure to reach them. Dropping a note of encouragement or gratitude is always a nice gesture. Besides, books help shape in numerous ways including:
- Internal reflection
Books give us a new world to immerse into, no matter the distractions that may surround us. Reading novels awakens our imagination and makes it work, helping us create a world inside our heads. Therefore, the time we spend with a book offers us the chance to discover a new story and a better understanding of ourselves at the same time.
- Broadened perspective
Books are merely an entrance to different worlds. They contain both knowledge and insights into different perspectives. For example, if you read a foreign novel, you are introduced to a new culture and get to learn from other’s traditions, interests, lifestyles and even different thinking styles from anywhere in the world.
- Improved vocabulary
It’s nothing new that avid readers are able to build stronger vocabularies. They can include the words or expressions they see in the pages to their lives and have a much richer vocabulary for multiple situations.
- Improved focus
When you dedicate your time and most importantly your mind to a book, you are exercising your brain to focus your attention on one story. Books take us away from our busy world and force us to concentrate in order to follow the storyline. In the same way, books boost our ability to focus and reject distractions.
See how good books are for you in general? Why not use this opportunity to thank your favorite authors, honor their careers and why not? Let them know how they have influenced your life with their stories. Happy Author’s day!
