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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, November 15, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, November 15, 2020

It was on this day 80 years ago that 75,000 men were called to Armed Forces duty under the first peacetime conscription in American history.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 14, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 14, 2020

It’s the birthday of the painter Claude Monet (1840-1926), whose color palette shifted into muddy reds and yellows as he gradually lost his vision.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, November 13, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, November 13, 2020

It’s the birthday of St. Augustine, born in Tagaste, Numidia (354), a part of North Africa that is now Algeria.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, November 12, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, November 12, 2020

It’s the birthday of Roland Barthes (1915-1980), who applied sophisticated literary theory to things like movies, stripteases, toys, and wrestling matches.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, November 11, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, November 11, 2020

It’s the birthday of stand-up comedian Jonathan Winters (1925-2013), who said, “I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, November 10, 2020

It was on this day in 1855 that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published his poem “The Song of Hiawatha,” which sold 30,000 copies in its first six months.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, November 9, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, November 9, 2020

It’s the anniversary of Kristallnacht (1938), which erupted after German Nazi Joseph Goebbels made a speech implicitly endorsing anti-Semitic violence.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, November 8, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, November 8, 2020

It’s the birthday of Kazuo Ishiguro (1954), whose novels include “An Artist of the Floating World” and “The Buried Giant.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 7, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 7, 2020

“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.” –Marie Curie, born this day in Warsaw in 1867

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, November 6, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, November 6, 2020

In 1860 on this day, Abraham Lincoln was elected president with less than 40 percent of the popular ballot, and not one single vote from 10 of the Southern states.

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