Writer's Almanac Archives - Page 11 of 276 - Garrison Keillor

Albums APHC Clips Audio Events Prairie Home Archives Songs Writer's Almanac

Writer's Almanac

To subscribe to the Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episode email, which includes the unedited text and audio from one daily anniversary episode selected from the archive, click here >>>

To browse archived episodes of The Writer’s Almanac from before 2017, click here >>>

• • • • •

To support The Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episodes newsletter, please consider “buying” a donation here >>>

You can also buy a paid subscription to the Anniversary Episode newsletter here >>>

Checks may be made out to Prairie Home Productions, LLC and mailed to:

Prairie Home Productions
P.O. Box 2090
Minneapolis, MN 55402

(Note: donations to LLCs are not tax-deductible)

• • • • •

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, August 28, 2025

Posted on August 28, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Liam O’Flaherty, born on Inishmore, in the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland (1896). He said, “I was born on a storm-swept rock and hate the soft growth of sun-baked lands where there is no frost in men’s bones.” He was the ninth of 10 children, born to a father who fished and farmed and a mother who was once a member of the Plymouth Brethren and whose family came to the islands to build lighthouses.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Posted on August 27, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of travel writer William Least Heat-Moon, born William Trogdon in Kansas City, Missouri (1939). He’s best known for an account of his journey across the back roads of America, Blue Highways.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Posted on August 26, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1920 that the 19th Amendment was formally incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. It proclaimed, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” It ended more than 70 years of struggle by the suffragist movement.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, August 25, 2025

Posted on August 25, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of journalist and novelist Frederick Forsyth (1938), born in Ashford, Kent, England. When he was just a student in Kent, Forsyth learned to speak French, German, Spanish, and Russian. At 17, he quit school and left home to see the world. He learned to fly a plane and joined the Royal Air Force as England’s youngest pilot. And he set out to write thrillers like The Day of the Jackal (1971), The Odessa File (1972), The Devil’s Alternative (1980), and The Fourth Protocol (1984).

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, August 24, 2025

Posted on August 24, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the writer Oscar Hijuelos, born in New York City in 1951. His parents were immigrants from Cuba, and his father supported the family by working in a hotel. Hijuelos went through the New York public schools, he went to City University, and then he got a job working in an advertising office. At night, he would write fiction, and he began to publish short stories.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, August 23, 2025

Posted on August 23, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of American poet Edgar Lee Masters, born in Garnett, Kansas, in 1868. Masters grew up in the small town of Lewiston, Illinois, in the Spoon River valley. His father was a lawyer who didn’t approve of his son’s ambition to write, so Masters became a lawyer in Chicago.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, August 22, 2025

Posted on August 22, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

And it’s the birthday of science fiction and fantasy writer Ray Bradbury, born in 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He has written books such as The Martian Chronicles (1950), Fahrenheit 451 (1953), and Farewell Summer (2006).

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, August 21, 2025

Posted on August 21, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the boy who inspired the Winnie-the-Pooh books: Christopher Robin Milne, born in 1920 in London, England, the son of the children’s writer A.A. Milne. His parents expected a girl and the only name they had picked out was Rosemary, so when they realized they needed to name a boy, they couldn’t decide, so each parent chose one.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Posted on August 20, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1882 that the “1812 Overture” debuted in Moscow. Pyotor Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote the piece to commemorate Russia’s defense in 1812 at the Battle of Borodino against Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. The piece debuted at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. The “1812 Overture” includes 16 cannon shots, which are written into the piece along with all the other orchestral instruments.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Posted on August 19, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Ogden Nash, born in Rye, New York (1902). He wrote humorous poems in his books that include The Bad Parents’ Garden of Verse (1936), I’m a Stranger Here Myself (1938), and You Can’t Get There from Here (1957).

Load next posts