Writer's Almanac Archives - Page 113 of 281 - 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 Friday, December 30, 2022

Posted on December 30, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the the birthday of short-story writer, poet, and novelist (Joseph) Rudyard Kipling, born in Bombay, India (1865). He settled in Vermont. It was there, in a rented cottage surrounded by snow, that he began to reimagine the India of his childhood, and he wrote the book for which he’s best known today, “The Jungle Book “(1894), about a boy raised by wolves, who grows up with the other jungle animals until a tiger forces him to go back and live with people.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 29, 2022

Posted on December 29, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1890 that federal troops killed almost 300 Lakota men, women, and children in the massacre at Wounded Knee. One of the survivors was Black Elk, the famous medicine man, who was 27 years old at the time of the massacre. He wrote: “… I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. And I, to whom so great a vision was given in my youth, — you see me now a pitiful old man who has done nothing, for the nation’s hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Posted on December 28, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

“You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make all of them yourself.” — The words of humorist Sam Levenson, born on this day in 1911.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Posted on December 27, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Astronomer Johannes Kepler was born on this day in 1571. In addition to defining the three laws of planetary motion Kepler was also the father of modern optics. He had poor vision himself and developed lenses to correct nearsightedness and farsightedness. He also explained how both eyes work together to produce depth perception.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, December 26, 2022

Posted on December 26, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the 67th birthday of humorist David Sedaris. Sedaris has kept a diary for decades which he uses in writing his work. He says, “It’s a lot of work for something no one’s ever going to see.” His latest book is “Happy-Go-Lucky” which was published in May 2022.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, December 25, 2022

Posted on December 25, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Christmas day is the birthday of Clara Barton (1821). She was working in Washington, D.C., when the Civil War broke out, and she began tending to wounded soldiers. She was afraid that soldiers would lose too much blood if they were brought to a hospital, so she started the practice of treating the wounded at the battlefield. Eventually, she went on to found the American Red Cross.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, December 24, 2022

Posted on December 24, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

On Christmas Eve in 1906, the first radio program was broadcast. Canadian-born Professor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden sent his signals from the 420-foot radio tower of the National Electric Signaling Company, at Brant Rock on the Massachusetts seacoast. Fessenden opened the program by playing “O Holy Night” on the violin. Later he recited verses from the Gospel of St. Luke, then broadcast a gramophone version of Handel’s “Largo.” His signal was received up to five miles away.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, December 23, 2022

Posted on December 23, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today celebrates the birth in 1926 of Robert Bly, poet, translator, and anti-war activist. His books include “Eating the Honey of Words,” and we feature a poem from that work “Looking at the Stars.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 22, 2022

Posted on December 22, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

“The free, creative, loving people who shine so brightly in my memory of studios and coffee shops have become models for a huge section of the population. If they in turn can just stay alive in the face of power and terror, they may become the decisive section.” –Kenneth Rexroth, born on this day in 1905.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Posted on December 21, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of author Edward Hoagland (1932) who said “Country people do not behave as if they think life is short; they live on the principle that it is long, and savor variations of the kind best appreciated if most days are the same.”

Load next posts