The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 20, 2023

It’s the birthday of American playwright and memoirist Lillian Hellman, born in New Orleans (1905). She spent her childhood bouncing between Upper West End Avenue in New York City and a series of genteel boarding houses run by relatives in New Orleans. She was a smart loner who took refuge in books.
Hellman was opinionated, brash, funny, and sometimes rash, as when she got into a very public spat with novelist Mary McCarthy, who went on the Dick Cavett show in 1979 and said every word Hellman ever wrote, “including ‘and’ and ‘the,’ was a ‘lie.’”

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 19, 2023

It was on this day in 1964 that the United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Act after a long battle in the Senate. Lyndon Johnson signed the act into law 13 days later. It was this piece of legislation that outlawed all segregation on the basis of race in the United States. The text of the law was extremely specific, listing all the places of public accommodation where segregation was forbidden, including any inn, hotel, motel, restaurant, cafeteria, lunchroom, lunch counter, soda fountain, gasoline station, motion picture house, theater, concert hall, sports arena, stadium or other place of exhibition or entertainment.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, June 18, 2023

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney turns 75 today — born in 1942 in Liverpool, England. He is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the recipient of 21 Grammys. His Beatles song “Yesterday” is one of the most covered songs in musical history, and he has written over 30 No. 1 songs in his life.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, June 17, 2023

It’s the birthday of Igor Stravinsky, born in Oranienbaum, a suburb of St. Petersburg, Russia (1882), to an opera singer father. He wasn’t a happy kid. He described his childhood as, “a period waiting for the moment when I could send everyone and everything connected with it to hell.” He didn’t have many friends and he didn’t do well in school, but he liked music. When he was two years old, he surprised his parents by humming from memory a folk tune he had heard some women singing.

In 1851, while Geronimo was away from home, members of the Mexican militia raided his camp and slaughtered its inhabitants — Geronimo’s mother, wife, and three children among the dead. The event inspired an intense desire for revenge in Geronimo, who spent much of his life at war with Mexican and American soldiers.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 16, 2023

The Apache leader Geronimo was born on this day in Sonora, Mexico (1829). Geronimo is celebrated for his resistance to American and Mexican military encroachment into American Indian territory.

In 1851, while Geronimo was away from home, members of the Mexican militia raided his camp and slaughtered its inhabitants — Geronimo’s mother, wife, and three children among the dead. The event inspired an intense desire for revenge in Geronimo, who spent much of his life at war with Mexican and American soldiers.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday June 15, 2023

Today is the birthday of the Italian model Lisa del Giocondo, born Lisa Gherardini in Florence (1479). We don’t know much about her childhood, but we know that when she was 15, she married a wealthy silk merchant nearly twice her age. She didn’t have a rich dowry, and most girls in her situation would not have found husbands but would have been sent to a convent, unless her family had political connections or other advantages.
In about 1503, Francesco commissioned an esteemed local artist named Leonardo to paint his wife’s portrait — possibly because the couple had just bought their house, or perhaps it was to commemorate the birth of their second son.
That portrait was, of course, the Mona Lisa, and 6 million people view it at the Louvre every year.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 14, 2023

It’s the birthday of photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, born in the Bronx, New York (1904). She was born on her parents’ anniversary. Her mother, Minnie, homeschooled the kids and tried to teach them courage as well as academics. Maggie, as they called her, took these lessons to heart, and always made it a point to challenge herself. Her dad was an amateur photographer, and as a kid she would accompany him on photo excursions and help him in the darkroom.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Today is the birthday of Irish poet William Butler Yeats, born in Sandymount, Ireland (1865), and considered one of the greatest poets in the history of the English language. Some of his most famous poems are “Easter, 1916,” “Sailing to Byzantium,” and “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1923.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 12, 2023

Today is the birthday of Anne Frank (born in Frankfurt, Germany, 1929), who died at the age of 14 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany during the Holocaust. Frank, her family, and four other people hid for two years in an attic space above Frank’s father’s business warehouse. The space was called “The Secret Annex,” and they survived through the help of Otto Frank’s employees, who brought them food, newspapers, and sundries.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, June 11, 2023

It’s the birthday of the playwright Ben Jonson, born on this day in London, probably in 1572. His plays include Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone (1606), The Alchemist (1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614). A contemporary, friend, and rival of Shakespeare’s, Jonson was a heavy drinker and a fighter, no “Gentle Will.”