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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 20, 2022

Posted on November 20, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

On this date in 1820, a sperm whale attacked a whaling ship off the coast of South America. The Essex hailed from Nantucket, Massachusetts, and was captained by George Pollard Jr. Pollard was only 29, the youngest man to ever command a whaling ship. First Mate Owen Chase survived and wrote an count of the event, called “The Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex” the book that eventually inspired “Moby Dick.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 19, 2022

Posted on November 19, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of poet Sharon Olds (1942). She loved writing, and for a while she wrote fiction. She said: “But then when I moved to New York, I realized that I wasn’t comfortable making stuff up. I had had it with angels and demons who (if your faith was strong enough) you believed were in the room with you. I’d had enough of fiction.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, November 18, 2022

Posted on November 18, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the 82nd birthday of Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Atwood (1939). Her novels, like “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Cat’s Eye”, frequently question or criticize social institutions. “I grew up in the woods outside of any social structures apart from those of my family. So I didn’t absorb social structures through my skin the way many children do. If you grow up in a small town you instinctively know who is who and what is what and whom you can safely be contemptuous of.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, November 17, 2022

Posted on November 17, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

On this date in 1800, the United States Congress met in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., for the first time. Members of Congress were less than pleased with their new accommodations. Although richly appointed, the building leaked and had no heat.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Posted on November 16, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today the birthday of fiction author Andrea Barrett (1954). She said: “I’ve never known a writer who didn’t feel ill at ease in the world. … We all feel unhoused in some sense. That’s part of why we write. We feel we don’t fit in, that this world is not our world, that though we may move in it, we’re not of it. … You don’t need to write a novel if you feel at home in the world.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Posted on November 15, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of both artist Georgia O’Keeffe and poet Marianne Moore. Two American women who excelled in their artistic fields. both born in the year 1887.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, November 14, 2022

Posted on November 14, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Claude Monet. He was born in Paris (1840) and was among the first European painters to take their canvases outside to paint directly from nature. “I am following Nature without being able to grasp her. I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, November 13, 2022

Posted on November 13, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Writer Robert Louis Stevenson was born on this day in Edinburgh (1850). His books include “Treasure Island,” “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” and “Kidnapped.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 12, 2022

Posted on November 12, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815), the American feminist, women’s rights pioneer, and abolitionist who, with fellow suffragist Susan B. Anthony, worked tirelessly to convince the world that women had the right to vote, purchase property, and divorce their husbands if they so chose.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, November 11, 2022

Posted on November 11, 2022 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of writer Kurt Vonnegut (1922) author of “Cat’s Cradle” and “Slaughterhouse-Five.” It’s also the birthday of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821) author of “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov.”

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