The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 2, 2026

Today is the birthday of cartoonist and author Lynda Barry, born in Richland Center, Wisconsin (1956). Her parents divorced when she was 12, and she started dropping acid. Four years later, she was working as a janitor seven nights a week. She beat her drug habit and finished high school. Her parents didn’t come to her graduation.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 1, 2026

It’s the birthday of J. D. (Jerome David) Salinger, born in New York City (1919). He published his first story, “The Young Folks,” in 1940, in a literary magazine called Story. It was all the encouragement he needed to keep writing. After a series of rejections, his stories were accepted by magazines like Saturday Evening Post and Esquire.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 31, 2025

It’s the birthday of Junot Díaz, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1968. He grew up in New Jersey. And he wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), the story of a Dominican misfit, a kindhearted science fiction “ghettonerd” who would do anything for love.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, December 30, 2025

It’s the birthday of the British writer Rudyard Kipling, born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India (1865). His father was an artist who got a teaching appointment in British-controlled India. So Kipling grew up in Bombay, in a house with a huge garden. He loved life in India — playing with the paint and clay in his father’s studio and spending days with his nanny.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, December 29, 2025

It was on this day in 1916 that James Joyce published his first novel: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Joyce had tried to write the same story in several forms before. In 1904, he wrote an autobiographical essay, but it was rejected.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, December 28, 2025

It’s the birthday of Sam Levenson, born in New York City in 1911. He started out as a Spanish teacher in the New York public schools, and then worked his way into comedy. He wasn’t a stand-up comedian so much as he was a storyteller. He told humorous stories about his childhood in New York City.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, December 27, 2025

It’s the week of Christmas, and there are plenty of classic movies for the holiday season. White Christmas is a film from 1954, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, and featuring songs by Irving Berlin — including, of course, “White Christmas.” It’s the story of two World War II Army buddies, Bob and Phil, who become a successful song-and-dance team.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, December 26, 2025

It’s the birthday of Anaïs Nin’s lover, the writer Henry Miller, born in New York City in 1891. He’s best known for his novel Tropic of Cancer (1934). It was banned in the United States until a Supreme Court ruling in 1964 overruled charges of obscenity.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 25, 2025

On this day in 1666, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary:

25. Christmas day. Lay pretty long in bed. And then rise, leaving my wife desirous to sleep, having sat up till 4 this morning seeing her maids make mince-pies. I go to church, where our parson Mills made a good sermon. Then home, and dine well on some good ribs of beef roasted and mince pies; only my wife, brother, and Barker, and plenty of good wine of my own; and my heart full of true joy and thanks to God Almighty for the goodness of my condition at this day.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Today is Christmas Eve. And a very famous poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” takes place on this night. It was published anonymously in 1823. The author was thought to be Clement Clarke Moore, but recently, many scholars have questioned that and think it might have been written by Henry Livingston Jr.