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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Posted on September 3, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

The U.S. War of Independence officially ended on this day in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The war, which began at Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775, had more or less been over for two years, since Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, but the American navy continued harassing the British, and by the time the treaty was signed the American fleet had captured dozens of British ships.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Posted on September 2, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Austrian novelist and journalist Joseph Roth, born in Brody, Ukraine (1894). He’s an author who was barely known during his lifetime, but has in the last few years come to be regarded as one of the greatest novelists to come out of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, September 1, 2025

Posted on September 1, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of one of the most popular pulp fiction writers in American history, Edgar Rice Burroughs, born in Chicago (1875). He had read Darwin’s book Descent of Man back in 1899, and he was fascinated by the idea that human beings were related to apes.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, August 31, 2025

Posted on August 31, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of educator Maria Montessori, born in Chiaravalle, Italy (1870). She studied literature and medicine at the University of Rome and was the first woman in Italy to be granted a doctor of medicine (M.D.) degree. She worked as a psychiatric instructor at a clinic for children with learning disabilities and developed therapeutic approaches that involved appeals to the children’s senses, especially the sense of touch.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, August 30, 2025

Posted on August 30, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Warren Buffet, born in Omaha, Nebraska (1930). In February 2008, he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world, worth about $62 billion. Despite his massive wealth, he lived relatively frugally, still residing in the home he bought in 1958 for $31,500, driving his own car, and allotting himself an annual salary from his investment company of about $100,000.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, August 29, 2025

Posted on August 29, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of animal scientist and memoirist Temple Grandin, born in Boston (1947). At age two and a half, she was diagnosed with autism, and doctors recommended that her parents put her in an institution. Though she had developed and acted normally for the first six months of her life, she then began to stiffen up when her mother tried to hold and cuddle her.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, August 28, 2025

Posted on August 28, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Liam O’Flaherty, born on Inishmore, in the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland (1896). He said, “I was born on a storm-swept rock and hate the soft growth of sun-baked lands where there is no frost in men’s bones.” He was the ninth of 10 children, born to a father who fished and farmed and a mother who was once a member of the Plymouth Brethren and whose family came to the islands to build lighthouses.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Posted on August 27, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of travel writer William Least Heat-Moon, born William Trogdon in Kansas City, Missouri (1939). He’s best known for an account of his journey across the back roads of America, Blue Highways.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Posted on August 26, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1920 that the 19th Amendment was formally incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. It proclaimed, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” It ended more than 70 years of struggle by the suffragist movement.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, August 25, 2025

Posted on August 25, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of journalist and novelist Frederick Forsyth (1938), born in Ashford, Kent, England. When he was just a student in Kent, Forsyth learned to speak French, German, Spanish, and Russian. At 17, he quit school and left home to see the world. He learned to fly a plane and joined the Royal Air Force as England’s youngest pilot. And he set out to write thrillers like The Day of the Jackal (1971), The Odessa File (1972), The Devil’s Alternative (1980), and The Fourth Protocol (1984).

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