3 Authors to Celebrate this January

Winnie-the-Pooh is a beloved character created by A.A. Milne in 1926. This depiction was illustrated by Ernest Howard Shepard. Public Domain

For those who resolved to read more this new year but don’t yet know where to start, January provides ample opportunities to spark one’s literary imagination. The first month of the year brings several anniversaries of beloved authors. The traditional celebrations of these dates can provide motivation to visit (or revisit) these well-known works as we resolve to strengthen our minds in 2025.

‘Lord of The Rings’

Jan. 3 is the birthday of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. According to the Tolkien Society, Tolkien fans worldwide celebrate the his birthday by raising a glass in his honor and toasting “the professor.”

This year marked Tolkien’s 133rd birthday. The custom of the toast arises from Frodo having celebrated his uncle Bilbo’s birthday each year following his departure from the Shire on his eleventy-first birthday by raising a glass to him:

“When they had sung many songs, and talked of many things they had done together, they toasted Bilbo’s birthday, and they drank his health and Frodo’s together according to Frodo’s custom.”

Whether you’re pleasantly reminiscing with friends or you decide like Bilbo to “Sit beside the fire and think/ Of all that I have seen,” raise a glass at 9:00 p.m. your local time in honor of the professor.

A map of Rohan and Gondor, countries in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, from “The Lord of the Rings.” Petr Kahanek/Shutterstock

A Bear-y Sweet Birthday

Jan. 18 is national Winnie-the-Pooh day as it’s the birthday of A.A. Milne. To wish Milne a happy birthday (or a “HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY,” as Owl would write), fans of the Bear of Very Little Brain take to reading poetry from “When We Were Very Young” and “Now We Are Six,” or revisit the Hundred Acre Wood with excerpts from Milne’s other works.

If you’re taking a leaf out of Christopher Robin’s book when he threw a party for Pooh, you can throw a party that includes “ those little cake things with pink sugar icing,” include treats with honey in them, and gather friends in Pooh’s honor. This January will mark Milne’s 142nd birthday and 98 years since the publication of “Winnie the Pooh.”

The character was based off of Christopher Robin’s teddy bear, whom he had named after a bear in a zoo named Winnie and a swan named Pooh. The real toys are housed at the New York Public Library to this day.

A Classic Scottish Poet

Jan. 25 is celebrated as Burns Day in honor of Scottish poet Robert Burns. Not only did he greatly influence many famous writers—William Wordsworth, John Keats and other Romantic poets—but he’s also well-known for such works as “Auld Lang Syne” (based on an older Scottish folk song) and “A Red, Red Rose.”

The portrait of Robert Burns, 1787, by Alexander Nasmyth has become the most well-known and widely reproduced image of the Scottish poet. He is shown fashionably dressed against a landscape, evoking his rural background in Alloway, Ayrshire. Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. PD-Art

Born in 1759, Burns rose to fame and became known as the national poet of Scotland, writing songs and poems in both Scots and English. Burns Day is traditionally celebrated by attending a Burns Supper with traditional Scottish fare (or as close as you can get to it, haggis being illegal in the United States ) and to recite Burns’s poetry.

The tradition of the Burns Supper was started when nine of Burns’s close friends gathered together in 1801 to mark the 5th anniversary of their friend’s death. Burns was only 37 when he died in 1796, yet his work continues to be celebrated worldwide today.

Other honorable mentions of literary birthdays in January include Anne Bronte and Benjamin Franklin (both on Jan. 17), Edgar Allan Poe (Jan. 19), and Sir Francis Bacon (Jan. 22). Though there isn’t the same tradition surrounding these dates, they’re a convenient excuse to revisit these authors’ works. Like the aforementioned celebrations, these occasions prompt us to reflect on the legacy and lasting impact of these authors on today’s culture.

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