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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, April 7, 2023

Posted on April 7, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of American jazz legend Billie Holiday, born Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia (1915). Her voice and music remain unmatched. She was awarded four posthumous Grammys, and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday April 6, 2023

Posted on April 6, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today in 1748, excavations began to unearth the doomed city of Pompeii, where nearly 11,000 people were killed in place and buried under 80 feet of ash by the sudden eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Posted on April 5, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of American pediatrician and microbiologist Hattie Alexander was born in Baltimore (1901). Alexander would go on to develop a new serum to effectively treat the deadly childhood illness influenzal meningitis, also known as Hib.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Posted on April 4, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1832, Charles Darwin traveling aboard the HMS Beagle landed on the shores of Rio de Janeiro as part of a five-year trip. His Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, which emerged as a result of his journey on the Beagle.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, April 3, 2023

Posted on April 3, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Dr. Jane Goodall (1934), famed British primatologist who revealed the previously unknown social behaviors of chimpanzees by living for years among them. Goodall once said. “You never know who it’s going to be, or what they’re going to do. But as long as I do it, it keeps happening. So you can see why I can’t very well stop.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, April 2, 2023

Posted on April 2, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

French novelist and journalist Émile Zola was born in Paris on this day in 1840. He invented a new style of fiction writing that he called Naturalism, which he defined as “nature seen through a temperament.” Zola said, “If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, April 1, 2023

Posted on April 1, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Science fiction and fantasy author Anne McCaffrey was born on this day in 1926. She’s best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series, about Earth colonists on the planet of Pern living in a medieval-ish society with genetically engineered dragons. She wrote Sci-Fi at a time when the genre was dominated by men. She was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Hugo Award for Science Fiction, in 1968.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, March 31, 2023

Posted on March 31, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the 87th birthday of poet, novelist, and activist Marge Piercy. In 1976, she published “Woman on the Edge of Time,” a work of speculative science fiction about a working-class Latina woman who is committed to an insane asylum, and whose experiences with time travel lead her to understand that her actions will influence the direction of the future. It became regarded as a feminist classic of science fiction.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, March 30, 2023

Posted on March 30, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the artist who wrote, “To do good work, one must eat well, be well housed, have one’s fling from time to time, smoke one’s pipe, and drink one’s coffee in peace”: Vincent van Gogh, born in Groot-Zundert, Holland, in 1853.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Posted on March 29, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1944 that Anne Frank made the decision to rewrite her diary as an autobiography. She wrote: “I know that I can write, a couple of my stories are good, my descriptions of the ‘Secret Annex’ are humorous, there’s a lot in my diary that speaks, but whether I have real talent remains to be seen.”

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