Writer's Almanac Archives - Garrison Keillor

Albums APHC Clips Audio Events Prairie Home Archives Songs Writer's Almanac

Writer's Almanac

To subscribe to the Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episode email, which includes the unedited text and audio from one daily anniversary episode selected from the archive, click here >>>

To browse archived episodes of The Writer’s Almanac from before 2017, click here >>>

• • • • •

To support The Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episodes newsletter, please consider “buying” a donation here >>>

You can also buy a paid subscription to the Anniversary Episode newsletter here >>>

Checks may be made out to Prairie Home Productions, LLC and mailed to:

Prairie Home Productions
P.O. Box 2090
Minneapolis, MN 55402

(Note: donations to LLCs are not tax-deductible)

• • • • •

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, July 31, 2026

Posted on July 31, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of the woman Teddy Roosevelt once called “the most dangerous woman in America” when she was 87 years old. Mary Harris Jones, or “Mother Jones”, was born to a tenant farmer in Cork, Ireland, in 1837.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 30, 2026

Posted on July 30, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

American labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa disappeared on this date in 1975. He was last seen in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, near Detroit.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Posted on July 29, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of poet Stanley Kunitz, born in Worcester, Massachusetts (1905). His parents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. His father took his own life in a public park before Kunitz was born.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Posted on July 28, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins, born in Stratford, near London (1844). He was the eldest of nine children. The whole family drew pictures, wrote stories, and put on plays together.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, July 27, 2026

Posted on July 27, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Bharati Mukherjee, born in Calcutta, India (1940). She said: “As a bookish child in Calcutta, I used to thrill to the adventures of bad girls whose pursuit of happiness swept them outside the bounds of social decency.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, July 26, 2026

Posted on July 26, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of playwright George Bernard Shaw, born in Dublin (1856). He’s the author of dozens of plays, including Man and Superman (1905), Pygmalion (1912), and Saint Joan (1923).

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, July 25, 2026

Posted on July 25, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1952, the archipelago of Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, July 24, 2026

Posted on July 24, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of French novelist Alexandre Dumas, born in Villers-Cotterêts, France (1802). He wrote swashbuckling adventure novels like The Three Musketeers (1844) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844).

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 23, 2026

Posted on July 23, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

And it’s the birthday of crime novelist Raymond Chandler, born in Chicago (1888). He wrote seven novels featuring detective Philip Marlowe.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Posted on July 22, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Emma Lazarus, born in New York City (1849). She came from a wealthy Jewish family, and her father paid to have her first collection of poems published when she was 17.

Load next posts