Writer's Almanac Archives - Page 22 of 280 - Garrison Keillor

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 Saturday, June 14, 2025

Posted on June 14, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Harriet Elizabeth Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1811. Her father, Lyman Beecher, was a prominent Congregationalist minister, and he was a great proponent of education. The family moved to Cincinnati in 1832, and Harriet married Calvin Ellis Stowe in 1836; he was a clergyman and scholar, and he encouraged her to continue writing, which she had already enjoyed doing for several years.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 13, 2025

Posted on June 13, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of English novelist and diarist Frances (Fanny) Burney (1752). She was born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, the daughter of a music historian. She didn’t learn to read and write until she was 10 years old, but once she did learn, she wasted no time in putting her skills to work writing plays, poems, and songs.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, June 12, 2025

Posted on June 12, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of writer Djuna Barnes, born near Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York (1892). For many years she lived in the Bohemian world of Greenwich Village and then as an expatriate in Paris, drinking and smoking and having love affairs with men and women alike.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Posted on June 11, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the playwright Ben Jonson, born on this day in London, probably in 1572. His plays include Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone (1606), The Alchemist (1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614). A contemporary, friend, and rival of Shakespeare’s, Jonson was a heavy drinker and a fighter, no “Gentle Will.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Posted on June 10, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Saul Bellow, born in Lachine, Quebec (1913). His parents were Russian immigrants. His father worked in a bakery; he delivered coal; and he was a bootlegger, smuggling alcohol across the border during Prohibition. When Saul was nine years old, the family moved to Chicago, the city that would become the setting of many of Bellow’s novels.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 9, 2025

Posted on June 9, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the man who wrote the songs “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” and “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love”: Cole Porter, born in Peru, Indiana (1891). Most of his great songs were written within a 10-year period: between his first popular Broadway musical, Paris (1928)—his first musicals had been complete flops—and a terrible riding accident in 1937.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, June 8, 2025

Posted on June 8, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of best-selling crime novelist Sara Paretsky, born in Ames, Iowa (1947). She grew up in rural Kansas. Her parents were brilliant but troubled. Her father was a microbiology professor at the University of Kansas, her mother a frustrated housewife who had never lived up to her intellectual potential. Her father was from New York, and felt alienated in Lawrence where there were few other Jewish people, so he decided they needed to leave the city.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, June 7, 2025

Posted on June 7, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Louise Erdrich, born in Little Falls, Minnesota (1954). She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where her parents taught at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Her mother was French-Ojibwe, and her father was German; she and her six brothers and sisters were raised in a close, loving family.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 6, 2025

Posted on June 6, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1933 that the first drive-in movie theater opened, in Camden, New Jersey. The theater was the brainchild of a young man named Richard Hollingshead Jr., a manager at his father’s Camden auto shop, Whiz Auto Products. He dreamed of creating something that would bring a little fun to the tough daily life of the Depression era. He was also thinking about his mother, who was a little bit overweight and wasn’t comfortable in movie theater seats.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, June 5, 2025

Posted on June 5, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1977, the Apple II computer went on sale, and the era of personal computing began. Developed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, it was the first successful mass-produced microcomputer designed for home use. It came standard with 4 kilobytes of memory, game paddles, and a demo cassette with some programs on it. Most people used their televisions as monitors.

Load next posts