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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 16, 2026

Posted on July 16, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye was published on this date in 1951. It is Salinger’s only novel. It’s one of the most banned books in American history.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Posted on July 15, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Iris Murdoch, born in Dublin (1919) and raised in London. She wrote her first novel, Under the Net, in 1954. The book was named one of Modern Library’s 100 Best English-language Novels of the 20th Century.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Posted on July 14, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of folk singer Woody Guthrie, born in Okemah, Oklahoma (1912). Guthrie’s early life was difficult: his older sister died in a coal fire and his mother, Nora Belle, was institutionalized after setting a fire that severely burned Guthrie’s father.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, July 13, 2026

Posted on July 13, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1798 that William Wordsworth, while on a walking tour of Wales, saw the ruins of Tintern Abbey, which inspired his poem “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, July 12, 2026

Posted on July 12, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of poet Pablo Neruda, born Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in Parral, Chile (1904). In 1923, when he was 19, he sold all his possessions in order to publish his first book, Crepusculario (Twilight).

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, July 11, 2026

Posted on July 11, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Elwyn Brooks White, better known as E.B. White, born in Mount Vernon, New York (1899). He wrote for The New Yorker for nearly 60 years, and married its first fiction editor, Katharine Angell, in 1929.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, July 10, 2026

Posted on July 10, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of short-story writer Alice Munro, born Alice Laidlaw in Wingham, Ontario (1931). She’s the author of many collections of short stories.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 9, 2026

Posted on July 9, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the man the New York Times called “the poet laureate of contemporary medicine,” neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks, born in London (1933).

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Posted on July 8, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of writer Shirley Ann Grau, whose novels and short stories, set in the Deep South, explore the intricacies of race and gender.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, August 7, 2026

Posted on July 7, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the Dutch dancer and spy Mata Hari, born Margaretha Zelle in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands (1876). She attended a teachers college and then married an army officer, Captain Rudolph MacLeod, in 1895.

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