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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, July 7, 2025

Posted on July 7, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of historian David McCullough, born in Pittsburgh (1933). As a kid, he loved to wander around the city by himself, hopping on and off of the streetcars, visiting museums, and exploring. He studied literature at Yale, where he was mentored by the playwright Thornton Wilder. After graduation, McCullough headed to New York City, a place he had always dreamed about.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, July 6, 2025

Posted on July 6, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote a passionate letter to an unknown woman on this date in 1812. Beethoven had gone to the Czech resort town of Teplitz, which his physician had recommended for his health. And over the course of two days, he wrote a letter, in three installments, to a mysterious woman who has come to be known as “the Immortal Beloved.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, July 5, 2025

Posted on July 5, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

On this date in 1687, Isaac Newton published one of the most important books in the history of science. Its full name is Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, or “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.” It had begun as a brief tract called “On Motion,” in which Newton had discussed mathematical theories of planetary motion. Almost as soon as he’d finished writing it, he began revising and expanding it.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, July 4, 2025

Posted on July 4, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass was first published on this date in 1855. The first edition consisted of 12 poems and was published anonymously. Whitman helped set the type himself. He kept adding to the collection and, eight editions and 36 years later, the final “death-bed edition” contained almost 400 poems.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 3, 2025

Posted on July 3, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Franz Kafka, born in Prague (1883). He was unhappy for most of his life: terrified of his tyrannical father, plagued by a whole host of psychosomatic illnesses, and tormented by guilt and anxiety. He described himself as “peevish, miserable, silent, discontented, and sickly.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Posted on July 2, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1698, British engineer Thomas Savery patented the first steam engine. He wanted to find a way to pump water out of coal mines, and eventually he built a machine that was filled with water itself. When steam was introduced under pressure, the water level rose and created a vacuum that drew more water up through a valve below.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Posted on July 1, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of French novelist George Sand, born Lucile Aurore Dupin in Paris (1804). She was raised by her grandmother at the family’s estate in rural Berry in central France, and was sent to an English convent in Paris to be educated. Although she started out as a troublemaker, Aurore underwent a spiritual conversion and decided to become a nun.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 30, 2025

Posted on June 30, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1936 that Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone With the Wind was published. Mitchell was from a prominent Atlanta family — she was a fourth-generation Atlantan on her father’s side, and came from a big Irish Catholic family on her mother’s side. She grew up hearing grandiose stories of the Civil War. She was 10 years old before she found out — from some black farm workers — that the South had actually lost the war.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, June 29, 2025

Posted on June 29, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1776 that the first mass was conducted for settlers at the Misión San Francisco de Asís, in the place that became the city of San Francisco. The colonists had arrived at their new home two days earlier, after a journey of many months. Spain was the major colonial power in the western half of the Americas.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, June 28, 2025

Posted on June 28, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this date in 1928 that Louis Armstrong and his band, the Hot Five, recorded “West End Blues.” Armstrong was 26 years old at the time, and living in Chicago, where he’d been for six years. He’d moved there from New Orleans as part of Joe “King” Oliver’s band; Oliver had been a friend and mentor to the young singer and trumpeter since Armstrong was a teenager. They parted ways in 1925.

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