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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 2, 2025

Posted on October 2, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Wallace Stevens, born in Reading, Pennsylvania (1879). His father, a successful lawyer with puritanical leanings, wanted his son Wallace to also grow up to be a lawyer and thereby “make something of himself.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Posted on October 1, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Tim O’Brien, born in Worthington, Minnesota (1946), who was drafted to fight in Vietnam the summer he graduated from college. He said, “Even when I was getting on the plane for boot camp, I couldn’t believe any of it was happening to me, someone who hated Boy Scouts and bugs and rifles.” But it gave him something to write about.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Posted on September 30, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of W.S. Merwin, born in New York City (1927). He was the son of a Presbyterian minister. He began writing his first poems when he was four or five years old. He majored in English at Princeton, then stuck around for an extra year as a graduate student studying Modern Romance languages.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, September 29, 2025

Posted on September 29, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1982 that the first deaths in a series of “Tylenol killings” were reported in the Chicago area. The first victim, a 12-year-old girl, had awakened one morning with a sore throat and taken from her parents one Extra Strength Tylenol capsule. A couple of hours later, her parents found the girl lying on the bathroom floor and rushed her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, September 28, 2025

Posted on September 28, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1066 that William the Conqueror of Normandy arrived on British soil. He defeated the British in the Battle of Hastings on October 14, and on Christmas Day, he was crowned King of England in Westminster Abby.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, September 27, 2025

Posted on September 27, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

This week, we continue to celebrate the anniversary of the Norman invasion of 1066. It was this week in 1066 that William the Conqueror of Normandy first arrived on British soil. The French-speaking Normans eventually defeated Old English-speaking Saxons at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066 — which had a larger and more pronounced effect on the development of the English language than any other event in history.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, September 26, 2025

Posted on September 26, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot, born in Saint Louis (1888), who is the author of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915) and “The Waste Land” (1922).

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, September 25, 2025

Posted on September 25, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of William Faulkner, born in 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. Faulkner won the Nobel Prize in 1950, and in his acceptance speech he said: “It is the poet’s privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Posted on September 24, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of F. Scott Fitzgerald, born in St. Paul, Minnesota (1896), who said, “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Posted on September 23, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the day we traditionally celebrate as the birthday of the tragic Greek poet Euripides, who was born in 480 B.C. He said, “When good men die their goodness does not perish, / But lives though they are gone. As for the bad, / All that was theirs dies and is buried with them.”

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