October 5

In literary history

• 1988India became the first country to ban The Satanic Verses, ten days after its publication, under customs law. Khomeini's fatwa against Rushdie would not come for another four months; India got there first.

Writers born on October 5

• Denis Diderot (1713),
• Flann O'Brien (1911)

The Daily Canon for October 5

Cathedral by Raymond Carver (1983).