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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, April 20, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, April 20, 2023

In 1841, on this day, the first detective story was published in Graham’s Magazine. It was by Edgar Allan Poe called The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, April 19, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, April 19, 2023

It’s the birthday of diarist Sarah Kemble Knight, born in Boston, Massachusetts (1666). She kept a journal of her travels, recording everything that happened and everything she saw along her way. Her diary was published as The Journal of Madame Knight by Theodore Dwight Junior.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, April 18, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, April 18, 2023

It’s the birthday of lawyer and writer Clarence (Seward) Darrow, born in Kinsman, Ohio (1857). He once said: “I never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with a lot of pleasure.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, April 17, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, April 17, 2023

It’s the birthday of the writer who said, “My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate.” Thornton Wilder, born in Madison, Wisconsin (1897).

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, April 16, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, April 16, 2023

It’s the birthday of writer and teacher Carol Bly, born in Duluth, Minnesota (1930). Bly set her stories in her own home state of Minnesota, where her writing often tackled moral and social issues.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, April 15, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, April 15, 2023

It’s the birthday of ‘the Empress of the Blues’ Bessie Smith, born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (1898). As a child, Smith sang and danced on street corners for coins. Her career began when blues singer Ma Rainey & her Rabbit Foot Minstrels came through Chattanooga, saw Bessie Smith, and took her on the road with them.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, April 14, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, April 14, 2023

On this day in 1935, “Black Sunday,” the Great Plains region experienced one of the largest dust storms in American history.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, April 13, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, April 13, 2023

It’s the birthday of American short-story writer and novelist Eudora Welty (1909). She was born, raised, and died in Jackson, Mississippi. Welty is best known for her trenchant stories of the South.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Today is the birthday of writer Beverly Cleary (1916), the creator of Ramona Quimby, an irascible, imaginative, feisty little girl who continues to transfix children more than 60 years after first appearing in the book Henry Huggins (1950).

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, April 11, 2023

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, April 11, 2023

On this day in 1945 the U.S. Army liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, a camp that was judged second only to Auschwitz in the horrors it imposed on its prisoners.

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