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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, February 15, 2025

Posted on February 15, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of artist, writer, and filmmaker Miranda July, born Miranda Grossinger in Barre, Vermont (1974). She grew up in Berkeley and attended the University of California at Santa Cruz, but dropped out after a couple of years — she was frustrated with her film class, which she said was “all guys, and every project had a gun or a dog in it.” So she moved to Portland and started doing performance art.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, February 14, 2025

Posted on February 14, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1895, Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest opened in London. He wrote the first draft in just 21 days, the fastest he’d ever written anything. The play tells the story of a man named Jack Worthing who pretends to have a younger brother named Earnest.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, February 13, 2025

Posted on February 13, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Georges Simenon, born in Liège, Belgium (1903). He’s one of the most prolific writers of all time, best known for his detective novels featuring Inspector Maigret. He wrote more than 400 books, which sold more than 1.4 billion copies from 1935 to 1997.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Posted on February 12, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Judy Blume, born in Elizabeth, New Jersey (1938), the best-selling author of more than two dozen books for young people. She was 27 years old, with two preschool-aged children, when she began writing seriously. For two years, she received constant rejections. Then in 1970, she had her big breakthrough, with the young adult novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Posted on February 11, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1990 that Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison, outside Cape Town, South Africa. He had been imprisoned for 27 years because of his involvement with the African National Congress. The ANC was the main group resisting the apartheid government, and after decades of nonviolence, some members of the group — including Mandela — had begun advocating violence as the only way to deal with the brutal and violent tactics of the government.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, February 10, 2025

Posted on February 10, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht, born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht in Augsburg, Bavaria (1898). He studied philosophy, drama and medicine at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich where he first experimented with writing poetry and plays.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, February 9, 2025

Posted on February 9, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Irish playwright and novelist Brendan Behan, born in Dublin (1923). He grew up in one of the poorest sections of Dublin. His father took part in the Irish rebellion in the early 1920s, and when Brendan was born, his father was being held in a British prison. When Brendan was nine years old, he joined a youth organization that had ties to the IRA.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, February 8, 2025

Posted on February 8, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of poet Elizabeth Bishop, born in Worcester, Massachusetts (1911). Her father died when she was a little girl. Her mother had an emotional breakdown from grief and spent the rest of her life in various mental institutions. Elizabeth spent most of her childhood moving back and forth between her grandparents in Nova Scotia and her father’s family in Massachusetts.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, February 7, 2025

Posted on February 7, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Charles Dickens, born in Portsmouth, England (1812). When his father was thrown in debtors’ prison, 12-year-old Dickens was forced to leave school and work in a factory, repetitively labeling jars of shoe polish for 10 hours a day in miserable conditions.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, February 6, 2025

Posted on February 6, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1937 that John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men was published. Of Mice and Men was Steinbeck’s fifth novel (he had also published an excerpt from a novel and a book of short stories). His first novel, Cup of Gold (1929), was a total flop — it didn’t even earn back the $250 that Steinbeck received as an advance.

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