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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Posted on January 7, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the man most responsible for reviving Hebrew as a spoken language, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, born in Luzhki, part of the Russian Empire (1858). He wanted to make sure that Jewish people from around the world could communicate with each other.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 6, 2025

Posted on January 6, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of National Book Award-winning novelist E.L. Doctorow, born in New York City (1931). He said that his parents named him after Edgar Allan Poe, because his dad was a big fan. As an adult, he once confronted his mom: “Do you realize that you and Dad named me after a paranoid, drug-addicted alcoholic with necrophiliac tendencies?” His aging mother replied, “Edgar, that’s not funny.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 5, 2025

Posted on January 5, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the woman whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart addressed “dearest little wife”: Constanze Mozart, born Constanze Weber in Zell im Wiesental, Germany (1762). The two of them first met when Wolfgang was 21 and Constanze was 15, but he was not interested in her so much as her sister Aloysia.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, January 4, 2025

Posted on January 4, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 2004, NASA’s “wonderful workhorse,” the Spirit Rover, landed successfully on Mars. Its twin, Opportunity, landed on the other side of the planet three weeks later. The purpose of the mission was to analyze rock and soil samples, look for evidence of water, and determine whether the environment on Mars was conducive to life.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 3, 2025

Posted on January 3, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1882 that the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde docked in New York. Customs asked him if he had anything to declare. Oscar Wilde replied, “Nothing but my genius.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 2, 2025

Posted on January 2, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, born in Petrovichi, Russia (1920). His family immigrated to the United States when he was three years old, and his parents opened a candy shop in Brooklyn. He spent most of his time working in the family store, and he was fascinated by the shop’s newspaper stand, which sold the latest issues of popular magazines. When his father finally relented and let him read pulp fiction, Asimov started reading science fiction obsessively.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Posted on January 1, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of J.D. (Jerome David) Salinger, born in New York City (1919). Salinger had started his career as a writer back in 1940, at a time when the short stories published in magazines were still one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the United States. He published a number of short stories in the group of magazines known as “the slicks,” magazines that included The Saturday Evening Post, Mademoiselle, Good Housekeeping, and Collier’s. But the magazine that he most wanted to publish a story in was The New Yorker.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Posted on December 31, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the woman Martin Luther King Jr. called “The Queen of American Folk Music”: Odetta, born Odetta Holmes Felious, in Birmingham, Alabama (1930). She thought at first that she’d be an opera singer, but she heard folk music in San Francisco and decided that was the kind of music that said what she wanted to say.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, December 30, 2024

Posted on December 30, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the man who said, “I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble.” That’s (Joseph) Rudyard Kipling, born in Bombay, India (1865), best known for his books Kim (1901) and The Jungle Book (1894).

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, December 29, 2024

Posted on December 29, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Paul Rudnick, born in Piscataway Township, New Jersey (1957). He finds that being from New Jersey is a useful excuse for a host of social missteps: “Whenever I stumble over my own feet, or blurt out a thought that makes no sense at all, or leave the house wearing one pattern too many, I always think, It’s okay, I’m from New Jersey.

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