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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Posted on January 22, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the man who founded the science of electrodynamics: André-Marie Ampère, born in Lyon, France (1775). Ampère didn’t have much in the way of formal schooling, but he was given free rein of his father’s large collection of books. Some say that Ampère was a math genius from the time he was young, working out complex mathematical formulas with crumbs of bread.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Posted on January 21, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1977, President Jimmy Carter issued an official pardon to Vietnam War draft dodgers. It was the day after his inauguration. He said: “One of the things I did was among the most controversial I ever did. And that was to pardon the so-called draft dodgers who escaped into Canada. And I did that before I ever began to walk down toward the Oval Office. […] I knew I was going to do it.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 20, 2025

Posted on January 20, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Italian film director Federico Fellini, born in Rimini, Italy (1920). As a young man, he enrolled in the University of Rome Law School to avoid military service, but he never attended classes. He worked instead as a cartoonist for a satirical magazine and as a gag writer for a vaudeville troupe.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 19, 2025

Posted on January 19, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe, born in Boston, Massachusetts (1809). His poem “The Raven” is one of his best-known works, and it is also one of the most popular poems in the English language. Even people who have no interest in poetry can usually recite a line or two. It’s narrated by a studious young man who is mourning the loss of his lover, Lenore.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, January 18, 2025

Posted on January 18, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of physician and philologist Peter Mark Roget, born in London in 1779. He was a physician, trained at the University of Edinburgh, and he helped to found the University of London as well as a medical school at the University of Manchester. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society, served as its secretary for over 20 years, and invented a slide rule that was widely used until the invention of the pocket calculator.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 17, 2025

Posted on January 17, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the youngest of the Brontë sisters: Anne Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, in 1820 (books by this author). We don’t know as much about her as we do about her sisters, Charlotte and Emily. She was sensitive, passionate, and spiritual, but also a bit meek and timid. She was especially close to Emily, and they would make up fanciful stories about an imaginary country called “Gondal.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 16, 2025

Posted on January 16, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of food writer Ruth Reichl, born in New York City (1948). Ruth Reichl dealt with her mother by learning how to be a great cook herself. She went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, then moved to Berkeley, where she worked for a collectively owned restaurant called Swallow. She got a job as a food writer at New West magazine and then became the food critic for the Los Angeles Times.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Posted on January 15, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

The French playwright, actor, and manager Molière was baptized in Paris on this date in 1622. He was born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin to a wealthy family; his father was upholsterer to the king. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but instead Poquelin took up with a theatrical family, the Béjarts, when he was 21. They formed a troupe and put on comedies, and he adopted the stage name of Molière.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Posted on January 14, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Albert Schweitzer, born in Kaysersberg, in the province of Alsace-Lorraine (1875). He was a theologian, a musical prodigy, an author, and a philosopher, an expert on Bach, Goethe, and Kant. When he was 21, he made a plan: for the next nine years, he would devote himself to science, art, and religion. But once he turned 30, he would spend the rest of his life serving humanity. And so, on his 30th birthday, he decided to become a medical missionary to Africa.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 13, 2025

Posted on January 13, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Lorrie Moore (1957), born Marie Lorena Moore in Glens Falls, New York. She said of her childhood: “There was acting, and dressing up. We’d play music, and write crappy songs. We’d draw and paint, and fancy ourselves as artistic. It was part of being a girl in the ’60s that you were creative.” She won a short-story prize from Seventeen magazine when she was 19 years old, which prompted her to send them everything she’d ever written.

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