Albums APHC Clips Audio Events Prairie Home Archives Songs Writer's Almanac
Writer's Almanac

To subscribe to the Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episode email, which includes the unedited text and audio from one daily anniversary episode selected from the archive, click here >>>

To browse archived episodes of The Writer’s Almanac from before 2017, click here >>>

• • • • •

To support The Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episodes newsletter, please consider “buying” a donation here >>>

You can also buy a paid subscription to the Anniversary Episode newsletter here >>>

Checks may be made out to Prairie Home Productions, LLC and mailed to:

Prairie Home Productions
P.O. Box 2090
Minneapolis, MN 55402

(Note: donations to LLCs are not tax-deductible)

• • • • •

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 16, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 16, 2020

J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” was published on this date in 1951. It was turned down by publisher Harcourt, Brace and landed at Little, Brown instead.

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 15 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 15 2020

It’s the birthday of novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch (1919-1999), who won the Booker Prize in 1978 for “The Sea, the Sea.”

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 14, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 14, 2020

On this date in 1881, Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in New Mexico Territory. He was 22 years old.

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, July 13, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, July 13, 2020

“The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.” –Nigerian playwright Wole Soynika, born this day in 1934

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, July 12, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, July 12, 2020

“All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are.” –poet & diplomat Pablo Neruda, born this day in 1904

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, July 11, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, July 11, 2020

“To Kill a Mockingbird” was published on this date 60 years ago. Harper Lee said, “I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers.”

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, July 10, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, July 10, 2020

It’s the birthday of inventor Nikola Tesla (Austria-Hungary, 1856), who sailed to America with four cents, plans for a flying machine, and a few of his poems.

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 9, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 9, 2020

It’s the birthday of Oliver Sacks (1933-2015), who explored phenomena of the brain in books like “Musicophilia” and “Seeing Voices.”

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 8, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 8, 2020

It’s the birthday of psychiatrist and writer Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (Switzerland, 1926-2004), who famously outlined the five stages of grief.

Read More
The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 7, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 7, 2020

It’s the birthday of American biologist Nettie Stevens (1861-1912), who made the pioneering discovery of sex chromosomes.

Read More