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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 12, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 12, 2023

Jack London was born on this day in 1876. He lead a life of adventure and manual labor which he used to inform his writing. His first published work was “Story of a Typhoon off the Coast of Japan” based on his own experiences for a contest in San Francisco. He won first prize over literature students from Stanford and Berkley. Thus began a famous writing career.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 11, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Writer and ecologist Aldo Leopold was born on this day in in Burlington, Iowa (1887). He wrote: “Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 10, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 10, 2023

“It is the imagination that gives us poetry. When you sit down to write a poem, you really don’t know where you’re going. If you know where you’re going, the poem stinks, you probably already wrote it, and you’re imitating yourself.” – Phillip Levine, poet, born on this day in 1928.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 9, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 9, 2023

It was on this day in 1956 when the “Dear Abby” advice column first appeared in print, in the San Francisco Chronicle.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 8, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 8, 2023

George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address on this date in 1790. In addition to nation building; he also urged Congress to promote science and literature, saying, “Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, January 7, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, January 7, 2023

Author Zora Neal Hurston was born on this day in 1891. She is best known for her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” A work unpublished in her lifetime “Baracoon: The Story of the “Last Black Cargo”” was published in 2018 and became a best seller.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 6, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 6, 2023

“I write pieces, and move them around. And the fun of it is watching the truthful parts slide together. What is false won’t fit.” – Elizabeth Strout, novelist, born on this day in 1956.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 5, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 5, 2023

On this day in 1643 the first legal divorce recorded in the American colonies was finalized between Anne and Dennis Clarke of Massachusetts Bay Colony on the grounds of adultery and abandonment. The court’s record read: “She is garunted to bee divorced.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 4, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Today is the birthday of Louis Braille (1809) who developed a written language for the blind before he was 15 years old. It is also the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton (1643) who defined the three laws of motion. And finally the birthday of the bestselling presidential biographer Doris Kerns Goodwin (1943).

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 3, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 3, 2023

“The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation, because in the degradation of women, the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.” – Lucretia Coffin Mott, born on this day in 1793 – Abolitionist and women’s rights reformer.

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