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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Posted on February 7, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Sinclair Lewis, born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota (1885), author of “Main Street” and “Babbitt”, and the first American to win the Nobel Prize in literature.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, February 6, 2023

Posted on February 6, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1937 that John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men was published. It’s the birthday of British paleoanthropologist Mary Douglas Leakey (1913) and of Babe Ruth (1895).

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, February 5, 2023

Posted on February 5, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

The American novelist, poet, and painter William S. Burroughs was born on this day in 1914.Burroughs is best known for his third novel, “Naked Lunch.” On writing, he said: “The only way I can write narrative is to get right outside my body and experience it. This can be exhausting and at times dangerous. One cannot be sure of redemption.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, February 4, 2023

Posted on February 4, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of writer, activist, and feminist Betty Friedan (1921), who wrote the groundbreaking book “The Feminine Mystique”, which explored the unhappy lives of American housewives and spurred the second wave of feminism in the United States during the 1960s.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, February 3, 2023

Posted on February 3, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of the first woman to graduate from medical school, Elizabeth Blackwell, born on this day in Bristol, England, in 1821. She wanted to become a doctor because she knew that many women would rather discuss their health problems with another woman. After becoming a doctor, she opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, February 2, 2023

Posted on February 2, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

“The artist, like the God of the Creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.” — James Joyce, born on this day in Dublin, 1882.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Posted on February 1, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Langston Hughes, born in 1902 on this day in Missouri under the name James Mercer Langston Hughes. Hughes became a prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance, a group of African-American artists and writers in Harlem, New York. His books include “Fine Clothes to the Jew”, “Not Without Laughter”, and “The Ways of White Folks.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Posted on January 31, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Norman Mailer (1923). His first novel, “The Naked and the Dead”, it became the definitive literary novel about World War II, and made Norman Mailer famous at the age of 25. He went on to win two Pulitzer Prizes: for “The Armies of the Night” and for his nonfiction novel “The Executioner’s Song”.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 30, 2023

Posted on January 30, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

It is the birthday of historian Barbara Tuchman, born in New York City on this day in 1912. She wrote “The Guns of August”, a study of the events that led to the outbreak of World War I. She said, “War is the unfolding of miscalculations.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 29, 2023

Posted on January 29, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of writer and politician Thomas Paine, born in Thetford, England (1737). He became wildly successful in the colonies with his long essay Common Sense, in which he said, “The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind.” The pamphlet sold more than 100,000 copies by the end of 1775, and the American Revolution began the next year.

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