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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, October 23, 2026

Posted on October 23, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1920, the novel Main Street by Sinclair Lewis was published. Lewis had first envisioned a novel about small-town life 15 years earlier.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 22, 2026

Posted on October 22, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Doris Lessing, born in Kermanshah in what is now Iran (1919). Her father had lost a leg in the British army and was a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Persia.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Posted on October 21, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, born in Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire, England (1772). Coleridge is the author of poems such as “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” “Christabel,” and “Frost at Midnight.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Posted on October 20, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, born in Charleville, France (1854). He began writing letters to the poet Paul Verlaine, whose work he admired, and Verlaine invited him to stay at his house.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, October 19, 2026

Posted on October 19, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the anniversary of the surrender that ended the American Revolutionary War, in Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. George Washington had had a difficult spring.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, October 18, 2026

Posted on October 18, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1954 that the first transistor radio appeared on the market. Transistors were a big breakthrough in electronics — a new way to amplify signals. They replaced vacuum tubes, which were fragile, slow to warm up, and unreliable.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, October 17, 2026

Posted on October 17, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Shinichi Suzuki, born in Nagoya, Japan (1898). He’s the man who developed the Suzuki Violin Method, a way of teaching very young children to play classical music by listening and imitating, the way they learn to speak.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, October 16, 2026

Posted on October 16, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Eugene O’Neill, born in New York City (1888). Eugene was born in a hotel room, and his father went back on tour two days after the birth. For much of his childhood, O’Neill accompanied his father.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 15, 2026

Posted on October 15, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of the poet Virgil, born Publius Vergilius Maro near Mantua, Italy (70 B.C.), who became famous for writing poems about the beauty and simplicity of farm life at a time when Rome was being torn apart by civil wars.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Posted on October 14, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower born in Denison, Texas (1890). He grew up in a poor family that was very religious. His mother was a pacifist.

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