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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, May 10, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, May 10, 2026

It’s the birthday of Fred Astaire, born Frederick Austerlitz, in Omaha, Nebraska (1899). He made dancing look effortless on screen and stage, and the writer John O’Hara called him the “living symbol of all that is the best of show business.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, May 9, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, May 9, 2026

It’s the birthday of journalist, novelist, and playwright J(ames) M(atthew) Barrie, born in Angus, Scotland (1860). He was the seventh of eight children. When he was six years old, his older brother died in a skating accident.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, May 8, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, May 8, 2026

Today is the birthday of poet Gary Snyder, born in San Francisco (1930). When he was 15, he read Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence, and he liked it so much that he went to the library to see what else Lawrence had written.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, May 7, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, May 7, 2026

Today is the birthday of German composer Johannes Brahms, born in Hamburg in 1833. He began studying the piano at the age of seven, and he picked it up quickly.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, May 6, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, May 6, 2026

It’s the birthday of Sigmund Freud, born in Freiburg, Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic), in 1856. He’s usually associated with Vienna, where he lived from the age of four until the Germans occupied it in 1938.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, May 5, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Today is the birthday of journalist Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania (1864). When she was 16, her family moved to Pittsburgh, where she read an editorial in The Pittsburgh Dispatch titled “What Girls Are Good For.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, May 4, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, May 4, 2026

It’s the birthday of Horace Mann, born in Franklin, Massachusetts (1796). He was the first great American advocate of public education. He believed that, in a democratic society, education should be free and universal.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, May 3, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, May 3, 2026

It’s the birthday of poet, novelist, and memoirist May Sarton, born Eleanor Marie Sarton in Wondelgem, Belgium, in 1912. Her father was a science historian, and her mother was an artist.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, May 2, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, May 2, 2026

Today is the birthday of Dr. Benjamin Spock, born in New Haven, Connecticut (1903). He wrote The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946). It began, “You know more than you think you do.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, May 1, 2026

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, May 1, 2026

All 102 stories of The Empire State Building opened to the public on this date in 1931, 45 days ahead of schedule and $5 million under budget, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in New York City.

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