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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, March 19, 2023

Posted on March 19, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of novelist Philip Roth, born in 1933. In 1959, when he was 26 years old he published his first book, a novella and short stories titled “Goodbye, Columbus”. It won the National Book Award. In 1969 he wrote a best seller “Portnoy’s Complaint”, which is entirely made up of a monologue delivered by a patient, Alexander Portnoy, to his analyst.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, March 18, 2023

Posted on March 18, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Novelist John Updike was born on this day in 1932. His literary career had him write more than 50 books, including novels, poetry, short stories and many newspaper columns. He said, “No amount of learned skills can substitute for the feeling of having a lot to say.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, March 17, 2023

Posted on March 17, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of novelist and children’s author Penelope Lively, her novel Moon Tiger (1987) won the Booker Prize. In Moon Tiger, she wrote: “We open our mouths and out flow words whose ancestries we do not even know. We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse: we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, March 16, 2023

Posted on March 16, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

“The books we enjoy as children stay with us forever — they have a special impact. Paragraph after paragraph and page after page, the author must deliver his or her best work.” – Sid Fleischman, born on this day in 1920. He won the Newbery Award in 1987 for his novel “The Whipping Boy.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Posted on March 15, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the Ides of March, the day Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by conspirators in 44 B.C.E. The Roman Senate felt Cesar was a threat to the Republic, and had tyrannical leanings. An assassination was planned where only senators were allowed to be present, knives easily concealed in the drapery of their togas. Despite warnings Caesar went to meet the Senate. Upon arrival he was set upon, and murdered. The assassination that was meant to save the Republic actually resulted, ultimately, in its downfall. It sparked a series of civil wars and led to Julius’ heir, Octavian, becoming Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Posted on March 14, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Sylvia Beach, born in Baltimore, Maryland (1887). In Paris, she founded an English-language bookstore and lending library called Shakespeare and Company, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It opened just as the “lost generation” was discovering that city, and it became a central feature of the Parisian literary scene of the 1920s. Beach also published books, including the first — blue and white — edition of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” in 1922.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, March 13, 2023

Posted on March 13, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

A big day for science, March 13 2003 – The journal “Nature” reported the discovery of the oldest known fossilized human footprints, 350,000 years old. And on March 13, 1781, English astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, March 12, 2023

Posted on March 12, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

March 12th marks the birthdays of poet Naomi Shihab Nye (1952), Playwright Edward Albee (1928), author and publisher Dave Eggers (1970), novelist and journalist Carl Hiaasen (1953), and the author of “On the Road” and 17 other novels, Jack Kerouac (1922).

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, March 11, 2023

Posted on March 11, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1818 “Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus” was published. The novel was first published anonymously, but quickly became a sensation, and when 21-year-old Mary Shelley stepped forward as the author, many were doubtful that such a young woman could have crafted the deeply complex and intriguing story of creation, ethics, and philosophy. Frankenstein is now considered a modern classic, the very first science fiction novel, and became a popular symbol of feminist literature in the 1960s. Mary Shelley went on to write several more novels. She died at the age of 51 from a brain tumor.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, March 10, 2023

Posted on March 10, 2023 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the 82nd birthday of American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter David William Rabe. He won a Tony for Best Play in 1972 for “Sticks and Bones” and has been nominated 4 times. David Rabe said: “I get a sentence, an idea, an image, and I start. I don’t know anything beyond it. I follow it.”

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