World Braille Day 2027: Monday, Jan. 4, and a Printable Braille Alphabet Chart

World Braille Day is Monday, Jan. 4, 2027, according to the United Nations (UN), which lists the date as 4 January and says it has been celebrated since 2019. It falls on the birthday of Louis Braille, born on Jan. 4, 1809, per the Library of Congress. This story adds a weekday table for 2027 to 2032 that we computed, the dot numbers for every letter from the Braille Authority of North America (BANA), and a free printable chart.

When is World Braille Day each year through 2032?

The date is fixed at Jan. 4, so only the weekday moves. We computed these from the calendar.

Year	Jan. 4 falls on
2027	Monday
2028	Tuesday
2029	Thursday
2030	Friday
2031	Saturday
2032	Sunday

Put the day on your January 2027 printable calendar, or see the rest of the month in our January 2027 important dates list.

Why does the United Nations mark World Braille Day?

The UN says braille is used by blind and partially sighted people to read the same books and periodicals as everyone else. It calls braille essential in the context of education, freedom of expression and opinion, and social inclusion. The UN General Assembly proclaimed the day in resolution 73/161, and the UN names the system after its 19th-century French inventor, Louis Braille.

Another UN observance comes later in the month: see our story on International Day of Education on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2027.

Who was Louis Braille?

The Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) says Louis Braille was born in the village of Coupvray near Paris on January 4, 1809. When he was three, he was playing with a sharp tool from the workshop of his father, who made leather gear for horses. He accidentally injured one eye, and an infection later caused total blindness.

In 1821, at age 12, Braille took a secret code devised for the military, and the NLS says he spent several years developing the system. BANA also dates the system to 1821.

How does a braille cell work?

The Library of Congress calls the braille cell, an arrangement of six dots, the basic unit for reading and writing braille, and says the dots can form 63 different patterns. BANA says the six dots fit under the fingertips, in two columns of three. Dots 1, 2 and 3 run down the left column and dots 4, 5 and 6 down the right.

BANA describes the alphabet in three steps:

1. The first ten letters, a to j, use only the top four dots (1, 2, 4, 5).
2. Adding dot 3 makes the next ten letters, k to t.
3. Adding dot 6 to those makes the last six letters, except w, which BANA says was not used very much in French when Louis Braille devised the system.

Numbers use the number sign, dots 3, 4, 5 and 6, placed before the letters a to j for 1 to 0. BANA says Unified English Braille (UEB) is the official code in the United States and Canada.

What are the dot numbers for each letter?

These are the dot numbers from BANA’s Braille Basics table.

Letter	Dots	Letter	Dots	Letter	Dots
a	1	j	245	s	234
b	12	k	13	t	2345
c	14	l	123	u	136
d	145	m	134	v	1236
e	15	n	1345	w	2456
f	124	o	135	x	1346
g	1245	p	1234	y	13456
h	125	q	12345	z	1356
i	24	r	1235

Free printable braille alphabet chart

The printable lists the dot numbers for a to z in the three groups above, plus the number sign, with a notes line for the letters you have learned. It is a visual chart of dot numbers, not tactile braille: nothing on the paper is raised. Print it, then call out the dots for a short word.

Who can borrow braille books in the United States?

The NLS says it administers a free national library program that provides braille and recorded materials. Its eligibility page says any resident of the United States or American citizen living abroad who is unable to read or use regular print materials can use it. The printable weekly calendar can hold a reminder to check the NLS pages on Monday, Jan. 4.

Not in our sources: any 2027 theme or event for World Braille Day.