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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for December 3, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for December 3, 2018

It was on this day in 1839 that 30-year-old Illinois state assemblyman Abraham Lincoln was admitted to practice law in the United States Circuit Court. 

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The Writer’s Almanac for December 2, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for December 2, 2018

It’s the birthday of novelist Ann Patchett (Los Angeles, 1963), author of Bel Canto and other books, who co-owns Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN.

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The Writer’s Almanac for December 1, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for December 1, 2018

On this date in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. She’d complied in the past, but this day, she was tired.

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The Writer’s Almanac for November 30, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for November 30, 2018

It’s the birthday of the man who said, “A successful book is not made of what is in it, but of what is left out of it”: Mark Twain (Florida, MO, 1835).

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The Writer’s Almanac for November 29, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for November 29, 2018

Today is the birthday of three giants of young people’s literature: Louisa May Alcott (1832), C.S. Lewis (1898), and Madeline L’Engle (1918).

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The Writer’s Almanac for November 28, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for November 28, 2018

It’s the birthday of engraver and poet William Blake (London, 1757), who was dubbed “an unfortunate lunatic” by a contemporary critic.

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The Writer’s Almanac for November 27, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for November 27, 2018

On this day in 1786, Scottish poet Robert Burns borrowed a pony and rode to Edinburgh, and became convinced along the way that he was rather famous.

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The Writer’s Almanac for November 26, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for November 26, 2018

It’s the birthday of two beloved American cartoonists: Charles Schultz (St. Paul, 1922) and Roz Chast (Brooklyn, 1954).

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The Writer’s Almanac for November 25, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for November 25, 2018

It was on this day in 1864 that Confederate rebels set 13 fires in New York City, but they didn’t factor in the need for oxygen to feed the fires, so the damage was negligible.

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The Writer’s Almanac for November 24, 2018

The Writer’s Almanac for November 24, 2018

It’s the birthday of mathematician and philosopher Benedict Spinoza (1632), who only published three books in his lifetime, afraid he’d be branded a heretic.

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