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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, December 25, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, December 25, 2020

It was Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” that revived Christmas after the Puritans had stamped out the old medieval Christmas in England.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 24, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 24, 2020

On Christmas Eve of 1940, Jean-Paul Sartre’s first play was performed, in a German POW camp where he himself was a prisoner.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 23, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 23, 2020

It’s the birthday of Robert Bly (Madison, MN, 1926), who for decades exchanged letters twice a week with his friend, fellow poet Donald Hall.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, December 22, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, December 22, 2020

It’s the birthday of the poet and translator Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982), who mentored the Beat poets but became disillusioned as they turned into “hipsters.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, December 21, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, December 21, 2020

400 years ago today the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, not in Virginia as intended, but in the lands of the Wampanoag people.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, December 20, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, December 20, 2020

It’s the 66th birthday of Mexican-American writer Sandra Cisneros (Chicago, 1954), best known for “The House on Mango Street” (1984).

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, December 19, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, December 19, 2020

It’s the birthday of French singer Édith Piaf (1915-1963), who was raised by prostitutes in a brothel before becoming an international star.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, December 18, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, December 18, 2020

It’s the birthday of Fletcher “Smack” Henderson (1897), a pianist who majored in chemistry and mathematics and became famous as a bandleader and arranger.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 17, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, December 17, 2020

On this day in 1790, workers who were doing some repairs unearthed the Aztec Sun Stone in Mexico City.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 16, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 16, 2020

It is traditionally believed that Ludwig van Beethoven was born on this date in 1770. He grew up in Bonn, and then traveled to Vienna to learn from Mozart.

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