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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 4, 2021

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 4, 2021

Today is the birthday of presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin (1943), who says of history, “Mostly it is for people who didn’t live through it.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 3, 2021

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 3, 2021

It’s the birthday of the writer who created Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, and Gollum: J.R.R. Tolkien (Bloemfontein, South Africa, 1892).

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, January 2, 2021

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, January 2, 2021

“Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised.” –Antarctic explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 1, 2021

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 1, 2021

The hymn “Amazing Grace” was first presented at a prayer meeting in Olney, Buckinghamshire, England, on this date in 1773.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 31, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 31, 2020

Happy New Year’s Eve! Today’s episode consists of a poem by Hayden Saunier about a dog, a car, a truck, and a connection.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 30, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Astronomer Edwin Hubble announced the discovery of other galaxies beyond the Milky Way on this date in 1924.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, December 29, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Today is the anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee, in South Dakota, 1890. The medicine man Black Elk said, “A people’s dream died there.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, December 28, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, December 28, 2020

It was on this day in 1895 that Auguste and Louis Lumière had the first commercial movie screening at the Grand Café in Paris. The film was 46 seconds long.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, December 27, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, December 27, 2020

On this day in 1978, the country of Spain became a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship. Headlines that day read, “Good morning, democracy.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, December 26, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, December 26, 2020

Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” premiered at the Civic Theatre in Chicago on this date in 1944.

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