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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 24, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 24, 2020

It was on this day in 1374 in Aachen, Germany that an outbreak of dancing plague or dancing mania, also known as St. Vitus’ Dance, first began.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 23, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 23, 2020

It’s the birthday of Soviet poet Anna Akhmatova (1889), who spent 30 years writing her poem “Requiem” in pieces so that Stalin’s regime would not discover it.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 22, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 22, 2020

It’s the birthday of Erich Maria Remarque (Germany, 1898), who is best known for his anti-war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, June 21, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, June 21, 2020

It’s the birthday of French existentialist and writer Jean-Paul Sartre (1905), who said, “a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, June 20, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, June 20, 2020

It’s the birthday of writer and activist Charles Waddell Chesnutt (1858), the first black fiction writer to have his work published in The Atlantic magazine.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 19, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, June 19, 2020

Today is Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It’s also the anniversary of the passing of the Civil Rights Act (1964).

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, June 18, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, June 18, 2020

On this day in 1983, Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. She said, “I’m sure it was the most fun I’ll ever have in my life.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 17, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Today is the birthday of poet, essayist, and translator Ron Padgett (1942), whose poetry has been featured many times on the Almanac.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 16, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, June 16, 2020

It’s the birthday of the Apache leader Geronimo (1829), who died in 1909 as a prisoner of war in a military hospital in Oklahoma City.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 15, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, June 15, 2020

100 years ago today, three young black men were lynched in Duluth, Minnesota after being wrongfully accused of raping a white woman.

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