National Wash Your Nose Day, Feeding Tube Awareness Week, Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day⌠On January 1, 2022, Dan Brotzel decided to observe a different awareness dayevery day for a whole year.
He had no idea what he was letting himself in for.
Dressing up as a gorilla then a daffodil, growing a âtash (sort of), eating fish fingers with custard, working for a food bank and signing up for a marathon, Dan both learned a lot and amassed a huge collection of wristbands.
He met fascinating people: a town crier, a hermit, a man born intersex, a stationery fetishist. Some people were facing life-changing challenges while others were movers and shakers in the strange world of made-up holidays.
As the days passed, he wondered what it all meant, in a world where World Lymphoma Awareness Day clashes with National Double Cheeseburger Day.
âProof that fake holidays can inspire real change... I've learned more in these 200 pages than in a whole year of social media platitudes. This curious, creative, compassionate study of awareness days charmed even a fake holiday cynic like me.'â FRANCESCA LAWSON, CREATOR, GENDER PAY GAP BOT
âA master story-teller and observer of people and relationshipsâ' CHRISTY LEFTERI, AUTHOR OF THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO
âA genuinely laugh-out-loud writerâ CM Taylor, AUTHOR OF PREMIERSHIP PSYCHO