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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 24, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 24, 2022

Poet Stephen Dunn was born on this day in 1939. He published more than 10 books of poetry before his collection “Different Hours” won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, June 23, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, June 23, 2022

“Today I have so much to do/I must kill memory once and for all/I must turn soul to stone/I must learn to live again”–Russian poet Anna Akhmatova born in Odessa in 1889.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 22, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 22, 2022

It was on this day in 1944 that the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 became law — a law better known as the GI Bill.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 21, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 21, 2022

“My ideal state as a reader when I’m reading other people is feeling I’m vaguely wasting my time when I’m not reading that novel.”–Novelist Ian McEwan, born in Aldershot, England (1948).

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 20, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 20, 2022

Today is the birthday of Vikram Seth, born in Calcutta, India (1952), author of “A Suitable Boy”, the longest single-volume work of fiction in English since 1747.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, June 19, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, June 19, 2022

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by the United States Senate on this date. It prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in employment, voting, and the use of public facilities.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, June 18, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, June 18, 2022

On this day in 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, from Newfoundland to Wales.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 17, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 17, 2022

“If I don’t make line breaks, it’s a prose poem. The line breaks are part of the dance of the poem. If I’m not dancing, I don’t know what steps to take. I don’t know whether to turn or to bow or to move quickly or whatever. I don’t know what to do if I don’t have the line breaks.”–Ron Padgett (1942).

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, June 16, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, June 16, 2022

“A writer who has published as many books as I have has developed, of necessity, a hide like a rhino’s, while inside there dwells a frail, hopeful butterfly of a spirit.” –Joyce Carol Oates, born on this day in New York in 1938

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 15, 2022

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 15, 2022

On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin is believed to have performed his famous kite experiment proving that lightning is electricity.

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