reading month celebration 2022 essay

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National Reading Month – March 2025

National Reading Month is celebrated in March to honor Dr. Suess’s birthday. In this month people, especially children, read a lot more in celebration and although some people may find the increased emphasis on reading to be boring, the increase in reading during this month has significant benefits that will continue to pay off in the future. Reading is one of the best habits to develop; it strengthens the mental muscles, helps to improve comprehension and analytical abilities, and increases imagination and boosts memory.

History of National Reading Month

March was designated as National Reading Month to celebrate Dr. Suess. He was born on March 2, 1904. Interestingly enough, Dr. Suess was not a doctor at all, he was a writer and an illustrator of very popular children’s books including “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. He also wrote several books for beginner readers of which “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” (published in 1960) was the most notable one. He received a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for his contribution to the education of America’s children and their parents.

Today we might take reading for granted but it has a very long history and there was a time when only a few people knew how to read. The first written communication did not happen until 3500 B.C., and the first books did not appear until around 23 B.C. in Rome. Around this time, books were also developed in some Asian countries and the Middle East. Before the printing press was introduced in the 15th century, books were quite expensive and rare but as printed books gained popularity, Literacy rates began to rise. In 1892, the first book covers appeared and in the 19th century, publishers started printing books with hardbacks.

Nowadays, even though almost everyone can read, people hardly read and, unfortunately, we are losing our reading culture as a society. That is why we all need this National Reading Month which is a whole month to help us revive our reading habits.

National Reading Month timeline

The book titled “The Epic Gilgamesh” is the first book to ever be written.

Anne Hutchinson forms a women's book club to discuss weekly sermons

The first book covers appear and during this time, books with book covers cost a penny in America and Britain.

National Reading Month is celebrated for the first time in March.

National Reading Month FAQ s

What is the importance of national reading month.

National Reading Month is important in our society right now because it will help the youth to cultivate a habit of reading. It also reminds us of Dr. Suess.

What is the real importance of reading

Reading is a good mental exercise. It keeps the mind sharp, young, and healthy.

Why do we celebrate National Reading Month

National Reading Month is celebrated not just to promote the love for reading but also to develop communication and learning.

National Reading Month Activities

Read a book.

It is National Reading Month after all. So what better way to celebrate than to get out your favorite books to read?

Start a book club

The best way to make your love for reading permanent even after the National Reading Month is over is to start a book club. Your group will always be there to motivate you to read.

Create awareness

You would be surprised that not everyone knows about this special month. By spreading the word, you’re creating awareness, thereby, creating more readers.

5 Facts About Reading That Will Blow Your Mind

Reading often makes you kinder.

Studies have shown that people who read more fictional books are more likely to be kinder to others than people who don’t.

Reading fast helps your eyes

Reading a book fast will help to strengthen your vision.

It reduces stress

A good book can be a great stress reliever if you allow yourself to get lost in the book.

It improves your vocabulary

Reading good books often will help to improve your vocabulary as you would be coming across new words.

Your creativity is increased

Consistent reading will help to increase your imagination, which will stimulate your brain to develop new ideas and make you more creative.

Why We Love National Reading Month

It reminds us of dr. suess.

Dr. Suess was a famous author, illustrator, and animator of a lot of popular children’s books. He contributed greatly to the education of America’s children with the books he wrote and he even received an award for it.

We love reading

We love to read. Reading comes with a lot of numerous benefits so what better way to celebrate our favorite hobby than to dedicate a whole month to it.

It helps to cultivate a good reading habit throughout the year

Consistently reading for a whole month will help us to develop a habit that will last throughout the year. We can agree that reading is a good habit to develop.

National Reading Month dates

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The Importance Of Reading Month

Books , Education , teenagers | 0 comments

Throughout the month of March, kids all across America will be doing a lot more reading because March is National Reading Month! While students and some parents might view the extra emphasis on reading a bit tedious, the boost in reading during this month has huge rewards that continue to pay off in the near and distant future. So, what’s all the hype about and why is Reading Month so important?

Reading can be a wonderful outlet for students, particularly those that are going through some tough life situations. Literature allows students to take a break from their reality and transport themselves to a fantasy world. This break from reality is just what many of our students at My Virtual Academy need. Teens can find books that discuss similar issues they are facing, and many students find them to be great sources of strength and encouragement. It’s wonderful when students find a character in a book they can identify with or aspire to be. Encourage your child to do a little research to find a book that speaks to them instead of you choosing one for them. When students choose their own reading material, they tend to have a greater love for reading and show a greater interest.

When you have a confident reader, you have a confident student. National Reading Month is in place to boost the love of reading while improving literacy skills. Our staff comes up with fun ways to get students reading because it pays off exponentially when it comes to their academics. If you have a son or daughter that would excel as a virtual student, please visit our website to learn more. My Virtual Academy is a tuition-free program that allows students in grades 5-12 the chance to do their schooling in the comfort of their own home, at their own pace, at times of the day that are convenient for them. Click here for more information

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DepEd cites importance of reading at early age in Araw ng Pagbasa 2022 celebration

December 01, 2022 – The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday cited the significance of reading at an early age during the Araw ng Pagbasa 2022 celebration which served as the culminating event of the 2022 Pambansang Buwan ng Pagbasa .

“ Importante na simula sa murang edad ay matutunan natin na mahalin at pahalagahan ang pagbabasa. Ang pagbasa ang nagsisilbing daan upang tuklasin ang malawak na mundo sa ating paligid at mas kilalanin ang sarili nating potensyal upang magsimula ng positibong pagbabago gaya ng mga paborito nating tauhan sa mga kuwento ,” Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Gina O. Gonong said in her virtual message during the 2022 National Reading Month (NRM) celebration.

In the celebration, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte served as the first reading ambassador of the event to champion reading, literature, and literacy in the lives of the Filipino youth and communities.

Vice President and Secretary Duterte read stories for children titled Ang Kamatis ni Peles, Pitong Araw na Trabaho written by Virgilio S. Almario, and Ang Bungtod ug Ako (The Mountain and I); and encouraged reading among the Filipino youth.

“ Sa pagbasa, nalilinang natin ang kakayahang magbasa, magsulat at magbilang na mahahalagang elemento ng pagkatuto at pundasyon ng habambuhay na pagkatuto. Instrumento rin ang pagbasa sa paglinang ng mga indibidwal na kakayahan na kailangan ng sinuman upang magtagumpay sa hinaharap ,” Usec. Dr. Gonong added.

Carrying the theme “Rediscover the Legacy of Literature through Reading”, the NRM celebration promotes love for reading among students and raises awareness of the vital role of reading and literacy in developing critical thinking in the youth.

Meanwhile, other DepEd Executive Committee members who were also chosen as ambassadors for reading, Usec. Dr. Gonong, Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Epimaco V. Densing III, and Undersecretary for Finance Annalyn M. Sevilla participated in the succeeding storytelling sessions.

BLD Director Leila P. Areola, on the other hand, stressed the significance of declaring the celebration of NRM every November to promote the Bawat Bata Bumabasa program and cultivate a genuine love for reading.

“It is our fervent hope that our schools and learning centers will continue conducting the activities [Read-A-Thon, Share-a-Book, and Book Talk] we started and that we will continue to promote the love for reading among learners as well as the whole school community.”

National Reading Month 2021 official theme: “Bawat Bata Bumabasa sa Kabila ng Hamon ng Pandemya”

• Mark Pere Madrona
• October 26, 2021

Elementary and high schools around the Philippines will be celebrating the annual National Reading Month this November. According to an announcement from Department of Education earlier today, the official theme for National Reading Month 2021 is “ Bawat Bata Bumabasa sa Kabila ng Hamon ng Pandemya ” (“Every Child a Reader Despite the Challenges of the Pandemic”).

The celebration, which is listed in the Department of Education’s official calendar for school year 2021-2022, is customarily managed by a school’s English Department.

In relation to that, November 27 of each year has been declared as “Araw ng Pagbasa” (National Reading Day) through Republic Act 10556. This is in honor of the father of former President Benigno Aquino III, the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., whose birth date is November 27, 1932. Read the full text of RA 10556 her e.

DepEd prescribed the following activities in connection to the celebration of the National Reading Month in the past years:

• Mystery Reader –
• Exchange Books –
• Reading Camp –
• Reading Academy –
• Reading Challenge –
• Climb the Poetree –
• Planting Reading Trees –

Apart from that, schools can also organize competitions related to the National Reading Month including essay writing, poster and slogan making, creative story telling, spoken word poetry, as well as reading proficiency and spelling quiz bees. Because of the still-ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, these events will still be held virtually just like last year.

It must be noted that November is also the Philippine Book Development Month as stipulated in Proclamation 1436 s. 2007, which was signed by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

About Author

The Filipino Scribe (TFS) is managed by Mark Pere Madrona, a multi-awarded writer and licensed professional teacher from the Philippines.

Mr. Madrona earned his master’s degree in history from the University of the Philippines-Diliman last 2020. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in journalism cum laude from the same university back in 2010. His area of interests includes Philippine journalism, history, and politics as well as social media.

Know more about him here: https://www.filipinoscribe.com/about/.

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How to incorporate National Reading Month in the classroom

As part of our celebration of National Reading Month , Education.com is sharing free reading resources each week in March. With specially curated stories for each grade level, this is the perfect time to explore the magic of books and celebrate the joys of reading. 

For more ideas to inspire a love for literature, check out these fun and easy ways to incorporate National Reading Month in your classroom. 

Boost reading comprehension with leveled books 

Not only should we encourage children to read more, but we should also make sure they understand the words they’re reading. Help young readers develop fundamental literacy skills and foster a love for reading by choosing the right books! While a few new words in a text can help expand their vocabulary, too much of a challenge can hinder their reading comprehension . 

Education.com’s leveled books are written to support various reading abilities and help students find their perfect reading level! Ranging from Pre-K to 2nd-grade levels, these leveled books are a collection of the same stories written at different degrees of difficulty. If kids find a story too challenging or too easy, they can read the text at another level.

Encourage children to write their own stories

Get your students excited about books by helping them bring their imaginations to life through writing their own stories! If kids are having a hard time sitting down and writing, encourage them to write about topics they enjoy, whether that’s sports or video games.

Additionally, consider a writing contest for children who thrive on competition and challenges. To celebrate Reading Month, Education.com is hosting a Story Challenge in March for young authors to submit their original pieces! Winners will be featured on our site and win one year of an Education.com Premium membership.

Create a reading challenge

Contests are a great way to keep kids engaged in their learning! They tap into our innate desire for competition and gamify the learning process. Naturally, a reading challenge can motivate your students to read more and allow them to have fun along the way. 

Here are some quick tips for launching a successful learning contest: 

• Set goals and a clear timeline. How many pages should kids aim to read? When do you want to complete the challenge? 
• Is planning a competition too much to do alone? Consider getting more educators involved to make it a grade-wide or school-wide contest. 
• Visually track progress to encourage students to reach, or surpass, their goals.  
• Fuel the competition by including exciting prizes, such as a field trip or ice cream party!

Engage your students with novel studies

Instead of giving your students independent reading assignments, invite them to participate in an interactive reading experience. Using a novel study with your entire class or a group of students can build community and develop a love for reading. Throughout a novel study, learners can enjoy the benefits of lively discussion, authentic vocabulary development, and exposure to experiences outside their daily realities.

If you’re unfamiliar with implementing novel studies, Education.com’s new novel study worksheets can help! Designed by experienced educators, these resources will minimize your prep work and let you focus on supporting students’ critical thinking and literacy skills. Each set includes a pre-reading worksheet, discussion guides, various post-reading activities, and a link to a novel-specific vocabulary list from our friends at Vocabulary.com . Take your class through an engaging read on The Giver by Lois Lowry, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, or The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

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DepEd Tagum City celebrates reading month; reading program intensified

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What and Why Celebrate National Reading Day, Week and Month 2022

In this Article we discuss about the Celebration of National Reading Day, Week and Month, 2022

What and Why Celebrate National Reading Day, Week and Month

The National Education Policy 2020 has emphasized reading as a key skill for foundational learning. The critical role played by Public/Schools/Digital libraries towards this end is also highlighted. The P. N. Panicker Foundation has been a key contributor in this area.

Honouring the father of the Library Movement, the late P.N. Panicker, 19thJune i s being celebrated as Reading Day and the following week as the Reading Week. Started as a Reading Day Celebration on 19th June 1996, it has become a mass movement to promote the culture of reading. On 19th June 2017, Hon’ble Prime Minister launched the 22ndNational Reading Month Celebrations and gave a clarion call to propagate the message of ‘Read and Grow’ among all the citizens of the country by 2022.

The 27thNational Reading Day will be c elebrated on 19th June 2022, the following week as Reading Week and Reading Month will be celebrated from 19th June to 18th July 2022. A variety of events will be organized in hybrid mode in Schools/Colleges/Libraries by the P. N. Panicker Foundation .

Date of National Reading Day 2022

The 27thNational Reading Day will be c elebrated on 19th June 2022

What is P. N. Panicker Foundation ?

P N Panicker, the father of Library and Literacy Movement in Kerala is an eminent personality, who was the pillar behind the socio- cultural rebirth in Kerala. P N Panicker Foundation, the mother organization of P N Panicker Vigyan Vikas Kendra was established during the Sathabhishek year  (84 th  birth anniversary of P N Panicker ) under the Chairmanship of Justice V R Krishna Iyer to spearhead developmental issues focusing on inclusive growth in tune with the technological advancement.

The details of these activities are available at the link: pnpanickerfoundation.org

FAQ – Some Questions and Answer Regarding Reading Day

• When was first started Reading Day Celebration ? – 19th June 2017
• Who declared June 19 National Reading Day? – Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
• Why do we celebrate Reading Day? – 19th June is celebrated as National Reading Day in India  to honour the Keralite teacher, P.N. Panicker .

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Hi, My name is Chetan Darji , and I am the owner and Founder of this website. I am 24 years old, Gujarat-based (India) blogger. I started this blog on 20th January 2019.

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Republic of the Philippines Department of Education Region VIII - Eastern Visayas

OCTOBER 27, 2022 RM 1219, S. 2022 – 2022 National Reading Month Celebration

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The Changing Political Geography of COVID-19 Over the Last Two Years

Over the past two years, the official count of coronavirus deaths in the United States has risen and is now approaching 1 million lives. Large majorities of Americans say they personally know someone who has been hospitalized or died of the coronavirus , and it has impacted – in varying degrees – nearly every aspect of life .

A new Pew Research Center analysis of official reports of COVID-19-related deaths across the country, based on mortality data collected by The New York Times, shows how the dynamics of the pandemic have shifted over the past two years.

A timeline of the shifting geography of the pandemic

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand how the geography of the coronavirus outbreak has changed over its course. For this analysis, we relied on official reports of deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus collected and maintained by The New York Times .

The estimates provided in this report are subject to several sources of error. There may be significant differences between the true number of deaths due to COVID-19 and the official reported counts of those deaths. There may also be variation across the states in the quality and types of data reported. For example, most states report deaths based on the residency of the deceased person rather than the location where they died. The New York Times collects data from many different local health agencies, and this likely leads to some additional measurement error.

This analysis relies on county-level data. Counties in the United States vary widely in their population sizes, so in many places in the essay, we divide counties into approximately equal-sized groups (in terms of their population) for comparability or report on population adjusted death rates rather than total counts of deaths.

The pandemic has rolled across the U.S. unevenly and in waves. Today, the death toll of the pandemic looks very different from how it looked in the early part of 2020 . The first wave (roughly the first 125,000 deaths from March 2020 through June 2020) was largely geographically concentrated in the Northeast and in particular the New York City region. During the summer of 2020, the largest share of the roughly 80,000 deaths that occurred during the pandemic’s second wave were in the southern parts of the country.

The fall and winter months of 2020 and early 2021 were the deadliest of the pandemic to date. More than 370,000 Americans died of COVID-19 between October 2020 and April 2021; the geographic distinctions that characterized the earlier waves became much less pronounced.

By the spring and summer of 2021, the nationwide death rate had slowed significantly, and vaccines were widely available to all adults who wanted them. But starting at the end of the summer, the fourth and fifth waves (marked by new variants of the virus, delta and then omicron) came in quick succession and claimed more than 300,000 lives.

In many cases, the characteristics of communities that were associated with higher death rates at the beginning of the pandemic are now associated with lower death rates (and vice versa). Early in the pandemic, urban areas were disproportionately impacted. During the first wave, the coronavirus death rate in the 10% of the country that lives in the most densely populated counties was more than nine times that of the death rate among the 10% of the population living in the least densely populated counties. In each subsequent wave, however, the nation’s least dense counties have registered higher death rates than the most densely populated places.

Despite the staggering death toll in densely populated urban areas during the first months of the pandemic (an average 36 monthly deaths per 100,000 residents), the overall death rate over the course of the pandemic is slightly higher in the least populated parts of the country (an average monthly 15 deaths per 100,000 among the 10% living in the least densely populated counties vs. 13 per 100,000 among the 10% in the most densely populated counties).

As the relationship between population density and coronavirus death rates has changed over the course of the pandemic, so too has the relationship between counties’ voting patterns and their death rates from COVID-19.

In the spring of 2020, the areas recording the greatest numbers of deaths were much more likely to vote Democratic than Republican. But by the third wave of the pandemic, which began in fall 2020, the pattern had reversed: Counties that voted for Donald Trump over Joe Biden were suffering substantially more deaths from the coronavirus pandemic than those that voted for Biden over Trump. This reversal is likely a result of several factors including differences in mitigation efforts and vaccine uptake, demographic differences, and other differences that are correlated with partisanship at the county level.

During this third wave – which continued into early 2021 – the coronavirus death rate among the 20% of Americans living in counties that supported Trump by the highest margins in 2020 was about 170% of the death rate among the one-in-five Americans living in counties that supported Biden by the largest margins.

As vaccines became more widely available, this discrepancy between “blue” and “red” counties became even larger as the virulent delta strain of the pandemic spread across the country during the summer and fall of 2021, even as the total number of deaths fell somewhat from its third wave peak.

During the fourth wave of the pandemic, death rates in the most pro-Trump counties were about four times what they were in the most pro-Biden counties. When the highly transmissible omicron variant began to spread in the U.S. in late 2021, these differences narrowed substantially. However, death rates in the most pro-Trump counties were still about 180% of what they were in the most pro-Biden counties throughout late 2021 and early 2022.

The cumulative impact of these divergent death rates is a wide difference in total deaths from COVID-19 between the most pro-Trump and most pro-Biden parts of the country. Since the pandemic began, counties representing the 20% of the population where Trump ran up his highest margins in 2020 have experienced nearly 70,000 more deaths from COVID-19 than have the counties representing the 20% of population where Biden performed best. Overall, the COVID-19 death rate in all c ounties Trump won in 2020 is substantially higher than it is in counties Biden won (as of the end of February 2022, 326 per 100,000 in Trump counties and 258 per 100,000 in Biden counties).

Partisan divide in COVID-19 deaths widened as more vaccines became available

Partisan differences in COVID-19 death rates expanded dramatically after the availability of vaccines increased. Unvaccinated people are at far higher risk of death and hospitalization from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and vaccination decisions are strongly associated with partisanship . Among the large majority of counties for which reliable vaccination data exists, counties that supported Trump at higher margins have substantially lower vaccination rates than those that supported Biden at higher margins.

Counties with lower rates of vaccination registered substantially greater death rates during each wave in which vaccines were widely available.

During the fall of 2021 (roughly corresponding to the delta wave), about 10% of Americans lived in counties with adult vaccination rates lower than 40% as of July 2021. Death rates in these low-vaccination counties were about six times as high as death rates in counties where 70% or more of the adult population was vaccinated.

More Americans were vaccinated heading into the winter of 2021 and 2022 (roughly corresponding to the omicron wave), but nearly 10% of the country lived in areas where less than half of the adult population was vaccinated as of November 2021. Death rates in these low-vaccination counties were roughly twice what they were in counties that had 80% or more of their population vaccinated. ( Note: The statistics here reflect the death rates in the county as a whole, not rates for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, though individual-level data finds that death rates among unvaccinated people are far higher than among vaccinated people.)

This analysis relies on official reports of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the United States collected and reported by The New York Times .

COVID-19 deaths in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories are not included in this analysis. Additionally, deaths without a specific geographic location have been excluded.

Data was pulled from the GitHub repository maintained by The New York Times on March 1, 2022, and reflects reported coronavirus deaths through Feb. 28.

There are several anomalies in the deaths data. Many locales drop off their reporting on the weekends and holidays. In addition to the rhythm of the reporting cycle, there are many instances where a locality will revise the count of its deaths downward (usually only by a small amount) or release a large batch of previously unreported deaths on a single day. The downward revisions were identified and retroactively applied to earlier days.

Large batches of cases were identified by finding days that increased by more than 10 deaths and were 10 standard deviations above the norm for a county within a 30-day window. Deaths reported in these anomalous batches were then evenly distributed across the days leading up to when they were released.

Population data for U.S. counties comes from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey estimates published by the Census Bureau (accessed through the tidycensus package in R on Feb. 21). The 2020 vote share for each county was purchased from Dave Leip’s Election Atlas (downloaded on Nov. 21, 2021).

The analysis looks at deaths among counties based on their 2020 vote. Counties were grouped into five groups with approximately equal population. For analyses that include 2020 vote, Alaskan counties are excluded because Alaska does not report its election results at the county level. The table below provides more details.

This essay benefited greatly from thoughtful comments and consultation with many individuals around Pew Research Center. Jocelyn Kiley, Carroll Doherty and Jeb Bell provided invaluable editorial guidance. Peter Bell and Alissa Scheller contributed their expertise in visualization, Ben Wormald built the map animation, and Reem Nadeem did the digital production. Andrew Daniller provided careful attention to the quality check process, and David Kent’s watchful copy editing eye brought clarity to some difficult concepts.

Lead photo: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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A Proclamation on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month,   2024

During Pride Month, we celebrate the extraordinary courage and contributions of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) community.  We reflect on the progress we have made so far in pursuit of equality, justice, and inclusion.  We recommit ourselves to do more to support LGBTQI+ rights at home and around the world. 

For generations, LGBTQI+ Americans have summoned the courage to live authentically and proudly — even when it meant putting their lives and livelihoods at risk.  In 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in New York, brave LGBTQI+ individuals protested the violence and marginalization they faced, boosting a civil rights movement for the liberation of LGBTQI+ people that has transformed our Nation.  Since then, courageous LGBTQI+ Americans continue to inspire and bring hope to all people seeking a life true to who they are.  LGBTQI+ people also continue to enrich every aspect of American life as educators, entertainers, entrepreneurs, athletes, actors, artists, scientists, scholars, diplomats, doctors, service members, veterans, and so much more.

Advancing equality for the LGBTQI+ community is a top priority for my Administration.  I signed the historic Respect for Marriage Act, which protects the marriage of same-sex and interracial couples.  As Commander in Chief, I was proud to have ended the ban on transgender Americans serving in the United States military.  I signed historic Executive Orders strengthening civil rights protections for housing, employment, health care, education, and the justice system.  We are also combating the dangerous and cruel practice of so-called “conversion therapy” and implementing a national strategy to end the HIV epidemic in this country.  We ended the disgraceful practice of banning gay and bisexual men from donating blood.  We are doing this work here at home and around the globe, where LGBTQI+ community members are fighting for recognition of their fundamental human rights and seeking to live full lives, free from hate-fueled violence and discrimination.

But for all the progress, we know real challenges persist.  Last year, as we celebrated Pride Month on the South Lawn of the White House, I had the honor of meeting survivors of the Club Q and Pulse shootings, which tragically took the lives of LGBTQI+ Americans.  Although my Administration passed the most significant gun law in nearly 30 years, the Congress must do its part and ban assault weapons.  At the same time, families across the country face excruciating decisions to relocate to a different State to protect their children from dangerous and hateful anti-LGBTQI+ laws, which target transgender children, threaten families, and criminalize doctors and nurses.  These bills and laws attack our most basic values and freedoms as Americans:  the right to be yourself, the right to make your own medical decisions, and the right to raise your own children.  Some things should never be put at risk:  your life, your safety, and your dignity.

To the entire LGBTQI+ community — and especially transgender children — please know that your President and my entire Administration have your back.  We see you for who you are:  made in the image of God and deserving of dignity, respect, and support.  That is why I have taken historic action to protect the LGBTQI+ community.  We are ensuring that the LGBTQI+ community is protected against discrimination when accessing health care, and the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Justice launched a safety partnership to provide critical training and support to the community, including resources to help report hate crimes and better protect festivals, marches, community centers, businesses, and health care providers serving the community.  The Department of Education and the Department of Justice are also addressing whether book bans may violate Federal civil rights laws when they target LGBTQI+ students or students of color and create hostile classroom environments.  Additionally, we are providing specialized services through the nationwide crisis hotline for LGBTQI+ youth who feel isolated and overwhelmed — anyone who needs help can call 988 and then press 3 to be connected to a professional counselor.  We are committing more resources for mental health programs that help families support and affirm their kids and are starting a new Federal initiative to address LGBTQI+ homelessness.  We finalized new regulations requiring States to protect LGBTQI+ kids in foster care.

America is the only Nation in the world founded on an idea:  We are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.  We have never fully lived up to that idea, but we have never fully walked away from it either.  This month, we recommit to realizing the promise of America for all Americans, to celebrating courageous LGBTQI+ people, and to taking pride in the example they set for our Nation and the world.  

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2024 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month.  I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the achievements of the LGBTQI+ community, to celebrate the great diversity of the American people, and to wave their flags of pride high.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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Northern Ireland Has a Sinn Fein Leader. It’s a Landmark Moment.

The idea of a first minister who supports closer ties to the Republic of Ireland — let alone one from Sinn Fein, a party with historic ties to the Irish Republican Army — was once unthinkable. On Saturday, it became reality.

By Megan Specia

Reporting from Belfast, Northern Ireland

As Michelle O’Neill walked down the marble staircase in Northern Ireland’s Parliament building on Saturday, she appeared confident and calm. She smiled briefly as applause erupted from supporters, but her otherwise serious gaze conveyed the gravity of the moment.

The political party she represents, Sinn Fein, was shaped by the decades-long, bloody struggle of Irish nationalists in the territory who dreamed of reuniting with the Republic of Ireland and undoing the 1921 partition that has kept Northern Ireland under British rule.

Now, for the first time, a Sinn Fein politician holds Northern Ireland’s top political office, a landmark moment for the party and for the broader region as a power-sharing government is restored. The first minister role had previously always been held by a unionist politician committed to remaining part of the United Kingdom.

“As first minister, I am wholeheartedly committed to continuing the work of reconciliation between all our people,” Ms. O’Neill said, noting that her parents and grandparents would never have imagined that such a day would come. “I would never ask anyone to move on, but what I can ask is for us to move forward.”

The idea of a nationalist first minister in Northern Ireland, let alone one from Sinn Fein, a party with historic ties to the Irish Republican Army, was indeed once unthinkable.

But the story of Sinn Fein’s transformation — from a fringe party that was once the I.R.A.’s political wing, to a political force that won the most seats in Northern Ireland’s 2022 elections — is also the story of a changing political landscape and the results of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended the decades-long sectarian conflict known as the Troubles.

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• World Biography

Frances Mayes Biography

Born c. 1940, in Fitzgerald, GA; daughter of Garbert (a cotton mill manager) and Frankye (Davis) Mayes; married William Frank King (a computer research scientist; divorced, 1988); married Ed Kleinschmidt (a creative writing professor), 1998; children: Ashley (from first marriage). Education: Attended Randolph–Macon College; earned B.A. from University of Florida; San Francisco State University, M.A., 1975.

Home —2022 Broderick St., San Francisco, CA 94115; and Cortona, Italy.

Taught English and creative writing at San Francisco State University since the late 1970s, eventually become chair of the creative writing department; freelance copywriter for cookbook publishers and newspapers; first collection of poetry, Sunday in Another Country, published by Heyeck Press, 1977; contributor of poetry to Atlantic, Carolina Quarterly, Gettysburg Review, and Southern Review, and of travel articles to the New York Times after 1988. Her memoir, Under the Tuscan Sun, was made into a film by Touchstone Pictures, 2003.

Award from Academy of American Poets, 1975.

Frances Mayes was virtually unknown as a writer until her 1996 memoir, Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy, went on to spend much of the remainder Frances Mayes of the decade on the best–seller lists. The account of her renovation of an abandoned villa in the Italian countryside was even made into a 2003 feature film that starred Diane Lane. "I think people responded to a woman in her midlife taking a big risk and making a change," Mayes told WWD writer Luisa Zargani about the book's appeal. "I believe a lot of people have this dream."

Mayes was born in the early 1940s and grew up in a small Georgia town called Fitzgerald, where her father managed a family owned cotton mill. One of three daughters in her family, she was a bookworm from an early age, preferring to while away the hours perched on a tree branch in her backyard with Nancy Drew mysteries. She left Fitzgerald in 1958 to attend Randolph–Macon College in Virginia, but eventually transferred to the University of Florida to earn her undergraduate English degree. While there she met her first husband, who would go on to a career as a computer–research scientist. The couple moved to northern California in the early 1960s, and had a daughter, Ashley, in 1964.

Mayes continued her studies, eventually earning a graduate degree from San Francisco State University (SFSU) in 1975. She began teaching there, and published her first book of poetry in 1977, the prophetically titled Sunday in Another Country. Several more volumes followed, but Mayes toiled on the verge of obscurity as a poet while rising to a post as head of SFSU's creative–writing department. Collections of her verse—which included After Such Pleasures in 1979 and Hours, a 1984 tome that drew heavily upon her Southern roots—earned good reviews in the literary world, but she remained a relative unknown outside of it.

Mayes' life changed after her 1988 divorce. She had already been spending time in Italy during her summer teaching breaks, but decided to use her divorce settlement money to acquire a more permanent address there. In 1989, she found an abandoned 250–year–old villa for sale just outside of Cortona. The place was about 60 miles southeast of Florence, the Tuscan capital, and was one of many in the area that had sat crumbling for a generation and was badly in need of repair. Since the 1950s, Italians had been leaving the countryside in droves for the cities, and high taxes on such estates also made keeping the venerable ancestral homes impossible.

Mayes paid dearly for the property, Bramasole, but also knew it was far more reasonable a price than buying a vacation home somewhere on the California coast. She and her boyfriend, Ed Kleinschmidt—also an academic—began restoring it with the help of local artisans known as muratori. She also began a journal of the renovation process, which also chronicled her increasing passion for the Tuscan hills, a fertile agricultural region, and her idyllic days there.

Mayes began writing articles for the New York Times about the charms of Florence and region, and a 1992 piece on a weekly market fair became the basis for her memoir. "I just had such a good time writing the article that I started writing other chapters, other essays," she recalled in an interview with Lee Svitak Dean of the Star Tribune. The result was Under the Tuscan Sun, published by San Francisco's Chronicle Books in 1996. New York Times reviewer Alida Becker delivered one of the first mainstream press reviews. "Casual and conversational, her chapters are filled with craftsmen and cooks, with exploratory jaunts into the countryside—but what they all boil down to is an intense celebration of what she calls 'the voluptuousness of Italian life,'" Becker noted. The critic did grant that Mayes' passion for her adopted land at times "leads to the sort of gushy observations you might expect from a besotted lover. But more often it produces an appealing and very vivid snapshot imagery."

In her book, Mayes writes that her rustic house yielded many surprises that first year. Told that its water supply was excellent and dated back to a system built by the great Medici patrons in medieval times, Mayes found out otherwise during a shower just six weeks later. She was forced to pay dearly for a truckload of water to keep her supplied for the rest of their summer. Another time, prepping the dining–room walls for a paint job, they uncovered a fresco. "Every swipe reveals more: two people by a shore, water, distant hills," she writes. "The biscuit–colored houses are the same colors we see all around us." Ed concentrates on refurbishing the long–neglected garden, and Mayes devotes herself to shopping for local produce in the meantime. The Cortona market brings inspiration. At certain intervals in her book, she includes many casual recipes for such Italian delights as basil and mint sorbet and wild mushroom lasagna.

Mayes' San Francisco publisher had little marketing money to promote the book when it was first published, but it soon caught on with readers, and word of mouth helped propel it to the best–seller lists after Broadway Books released it as a trade paperback in late 1997. It remained on the New York Times bestseller lists until July of 2000, an astonishing 142–week run. Mayes' account of her new life in Italy, juxtaposed with her more hectic one back in the United States, seemed to strike a chord with readers. Italy and its pleasures have intoxicated centuries of travelers back to the pilgrim of the early Christian era. In more modern times, food, family, and enjoying life's simple pleasures— la dolce vita, or "the sweet life"—seem to be the preoccupying goal of Italians, who appear to outsiders to be a nation of impossibly fashionable and attractive people whose days revolve around spirited political arguments at outdoor cafes and long, genial evening meals. "I had a feeling it would sell," Mayes confessed to San Francisco Chronicle writer Jerry Carroll, "because I absorbed the sense of the mania people have for Italy, not only as a travel destination and a place to have a vacation, but as a lifestyle. There is a sense that the Italians are having more fun." The restorative, escapist fantasy was not lost on United States President Bill Clinton, whom reporters followed to a bookstore one day in the middle of his impeachment trial in early 1999, where he became one of the one million readers who bought a copy of Under the Tuscan Sun.

The success of Under the Tuscan Sun freed Mayes financially. "I've always been trying to squeeze writing in around the edges of teaching," she told Entertainment Weekly journalist Lisa Schwarzbaum. "Now I just have the responsibility of being a writer, which is what everyone in my department dreams of, to write their way out of that horrible job." There had been some professional derision, Mayes granted, that after so many years contributing poetry to small literary journals that she then earned a mint out of a combination travelogue/home–restoration diary complete with recipes for polenta and gelato. "Sometimes my colleagues have been a little weird about this, and I've been shocked, because I expected all my friends and associates to be thrilled for me," she told Schwarzbaum. "One of my colleagues referred to my book as 'your little food book.'"

Mayes wrote a sequel, Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy, that takes up where her first memoir ended: she and Ed finish the house, plant a garden, and begin to use Bramasole as a base to explore Tuscany and Italian treasures elsewhere. The pair, who had married by then, collaborated on the lavishly illustrated In Tuscany in 2000, a coffee–table–style work that prompted some book reviewers to declare that perhaps Mayes had finally exhausted her subject matter.

In 1987, she wrote The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems, and started a novel she had begun some years earlier but then misplaced. Mayes rewrote the first 50 pages of the novel, called Swan, which was published by Broadway in 2002. She had always wanted to tackle the form, but was stymied by the necessity of devising a credible plot. Then, she explained to Atlanta Journal–Constitution writer Bob Longino, she realized she could build a story around the "things that always obsessed me about the South and growing up there. Unlike other parts of the country, the actions of your ancestors play out on you in a pretty direct way. I think in the South there has always been that sense that your dead grandmother might walk into the room at any minute."

Swan is set in a small Georgia town of same name—not coincidentally also the earlier name of her Fitzgerald birthplace—and centers on a grown brother and sister, J.J. and Ginger, whose mother committed suicide nearly two decades before. Ginger, an archaeologist, has been living in Italy for many years, but returns home when their mother's body is found illegally exhumed. The plot reaches back into possible skeletons in the family closet, and is helped along by a number of memorable side characters drawn from townsfolk and extended family members. "Mayes pulls off the drama while eschewing melodrama, imbuing the book with a strong core," asserted Houston Chronicle writer Melanie Danburg.

Mayes' Tuscan reveries were revived for the big screen when the film version of Under the Tuscan Sun was released in 2003. Diane Lane played the Mayes character, but director Audrey Wells, who had adapted the book for the screen, changed some elements of the story. The steady Ed vanished, and instead she finds romance with an Italian man. "I didn't mind the changes at all, I actually expected them," Mayes told WWD 's Zargani just before the film was released in United States theaters. "The spirit of the book is there, it's the same as the film's."

Mayes still lives in Bramasole, and because of her books Cortona became a thriving tourist destination. The city began hosting a Tuscan Sun Festival, and even made Mayes an honorary citizen. The occasion required her to deliver a ten–minute speech in Italian, which she claimed was the "the scariest thing I have ever done apart from having a baby," she told Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly. Her love of Italy remains strong, despite her still–shaky language abilities, and often in her books she has compared the welcome she received in her new homeland to the famous Southern hospitality with which she was raised. "They have this warmth and gift for friendship that just constantly amazes us," she told Dean in the Star Tribune interview. "They are the most giving people. Surely that's a gross generalization. I'm sure there are some horrid Italians, but we've never met them."

Mayes was tapped as a consulting designer for the "Tuscan Home" line of furniture by Drexel–Heritage, and was working on another nonfiction book, Tuscan Home, slated for 2004 publication. She and Ed—who took her last name when they wed in 1998—also acquired another property in Tuscany. This one might prove even more challenging: 900 years old, it was built by hermits and sits perched on a mountainside. Back at Bramasole, travelers still stop on the road to get a view at her beloved, immortalized home. "I've heard them say it's even more beautiful than they thought," she told People writer Peter Ames Carlin. "But I also heard someone on the road say, 'Is that it? Why don't they fix it up?'"

Selected writings

Sunday in Another Country (poetry), Heyeck Press (Woodside, CA), 1977.

Climbing Aconcagua (poetry), Seven Woods Press (New York, NY), 1977.

After Such Pleasures (poetry), Seven Woods Press, 1979.

The Arts of Fire (poetry), Heyeck Press, 1982.

Hours (poetry), Lost Roads Publishers (Providence, RI), 1984.

The Discovery of Poetry, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1987.

Ex Voto (poetry), Lost Roads Publishers, 1995.

Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy (memoir), Chronicle Books, 1996.

Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy, Broadway Books, 1999.

(Coauthor) In Tuscany, Broadway Books, 2000.

Swan (novel), Broadway, 2002.

(Editor) The Best American Travel Writing 2002, Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Mayes, Frances, Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy, Chronicle Books, 1996.

Periodicals

Atlanta Journal–Constitution, October 10, 2002, p. F1.

Booklist, November 15, 2000, p. 594.

Entertainment Weekly, April 16, 1999, p. 32; December 8, 2000, p. 85.

Houston Chronicle, October 20, 2002, p. 23.

Library Journal, September 1, 2003, p. 236.

New York Times, November 17, 1996; September 26, 2003, p. E15.

People, August 23, 1999, p. 154.

Publishers Weekly, August 26, 2002, p. 57.

San Francisco Chronicle, September 16, 1997, p. E1.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), November 7, 2001, p. 1E; November 8, 2001, p. 6T.

WWD, August 29, 2003, p. 4.

"Frances Mayes," Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2003.

— Carol Brennan

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