Awareness Daze

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 day every 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 ‘tash (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.

“Proof 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.'” FRANCESCA LAWSON, CREATOR, GENDER PAY GAP BOT

“A master story-teller and observer of people and relationships”' CHRISTY LEFTERI, AUTHOR OF THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO

“A genuinely laugh-out-loud writer” CM Taylor, AUTHOR OF PREMIERSHIP PSYCHO