Towel Day 2027 is on Tuesday

About Towel Day

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the fictional guidebook insists that a towel is the most useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can own, and lists a string of unlikely uses for one. A traveler who still has a towel is assumed to be someone who has their life in order. Fans honor that running joke by carrying a towel in plain view, draped over a shoulder or a bag, and using it to start conversations about Adams and his books.

Adams died of a heart attack on May 11, 2001, at age 49. Three days later, a fan named D. Clyde Williamson posted a proposal on an online forum suggesting that people mark two weeks after his death, May 25, 2001, as Towel Day by carrying a towel and making sure it was noticed. Chris Campbell registered the towelday.org domain two days after that to promote the idea, and it spread quickly online.

What was planned as a single memorial became an annual event. Readers around the world now post photos with their towels, hold readings and gather in costume, and the official Towel Day site keeps answering questions from newcomers. Adams' story began as a BBC radio comedy in 1978 before becoming a series of novels, and the day keeps introducing new readers to it. May 25 is also marked by some fans as Geek Pride Day, and many celebrate the two together.

Sources: Towel Day: Frequently Asked Questions, Towel Day (official site). How we check dates.

How to mark Towel Day

• Carry a towel all day, somewhere people will see it, and explain it to anyone who asks.
• Read or reread The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or listen to the original radio series.
• Take a photo of your towel somewhere unexpected and share it with other fans.
• Lend your copy of the book to a friend who has never read Douglas Adams.
• Explore Adams' nonfiction too, such as Last Chance to See, his book about travels to find endangered animals.

Towel Day dates