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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 9, 2024

Posted on November 9, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev, born in Orel, Russia (1818), best known for his novel Fathers and Sons (1862). He grew up near Moscow, where his mother was a wealthy landowner. But as a young man, he went away to study in Berlin.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, November 8, 2024

Posted on November 8, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1900 that the novel Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser was published. Sister Carrie was Dreiser’s first attempt at writing fiction. For eight years, he had been living in New York City and writing articles for 10-cent magazines. His topics included the Chicago drainage canal, stained glass, the American fruit industry, women in music, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Then a friend and fellow magazine writer moved to New York and suggested that he and Dreiser each challenge themselves to write a novel. In October of 1899, Dreiser wrote the words “Sister Carrie” at the top of a stack of yellow papers, and he went to work. By March of 1900, he had finished a draft.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, November 7, 2024

Posted on November 7, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1492 that a meteor fell from the sky near the town of Ensishem in Alsace, France, one of the oldest recorded meteorites. The only witness was a young boy, who heard a sound like an explosion and watched a huge piece of rock fall out of the sky and bury itself in a nearby wheat field.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Posted on November 6, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1860 that Abraham Lincoln was elected to his first term as president of the United States. Before that, Lincoln’s only experience in national politics had been a single term as a congressional representative and two unsuccessful runs for senator. He had only one year of formal schooling and no administrative experience. Newspapers called him a “third-rate Western lawyer.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Posted on November 5, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of speaker and labor organizer Eugene Debs, born to poor Alsatian immigrants in Terre Haute, Indiana (1855). At the age of 14, Debs left high school to work as a paint scraper on the railroad. He soon joined the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, became an influential member of the union, and went on to become editor of their national magazine. He first went to prison for support of the Pullman Strike of 1894.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, November 4, 2024

Posted on November 4, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the man who said, “Poetry didn’t find me, in the cradle, or anywhere near it: I found it.” That’s the poet C.K. Williams, born in Newark, New Jersey (1936). He grew up in a poor family during the Depression. His early exposure to poetry was through his father, who loved to read to him from One Hundred and One Famous Poems. He went to college to play basketball, but after a required English course, he decided that he wanted to write poems.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, November 3, 2024

Posted on November 3, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

A little dog named Laika was launched into space aboard Sputnik 2 on this date in 1957. The mission for Sputnik 2 was to determine if a living animal could survive being launched into orbit. Laika was a stray that had been picked up from the Moscow streets, a 13-pound mutt with perky ears, a curly tail, and uncertain ancestry. She probably had a little spitz or terrier in her family tree, maybe a Siberian husky or even a beagle here and there. She was three years old, a good-natured dog that came to have several nicknames: Lemon, Little Curly, and Little Bug.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, November 2, 2024

Posted on November 2, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the anniversary of the maiden — and only — flight of the Spruce Goose, made on this date in 1947. It’s technically known as the H-4 Hercules, and it was made of birch, not spruce. Dreamed up by shipping magnate Henry Kaiser, and designed by Howard Hughes, it remains the largest airplane ever built, by far: It’s five stories tall, it boasts a wingspan of 320 feet, its cargo area is large enough to hold two railroad boxcars, and it has eight engines with 17-foot propellers. It was made of wood because metal was at a premium during the war, and Kaiser wanted to see if aircraft could be built using other materials.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, November 1, 2024

Posted on November 1, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is All Saints’ Day, and Pope Julius II chose this day in 1512 to display Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for the first time. It took Michelangelo four years to complete the paintings that decorate the ceiling of the chapel. The paintings are of scenes from the Old Testament, including the famous center section, “The Creation of Adam.” The chapel itself was built about 25 years earlier, and various Renaissance painters were commissioned to paint frescos on the walls.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 31, 2024

Posted on October 31, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of John Keats, who was born in London in 1795. His father, a livery-stable manager, died when Keats was eight years old. The boy didn’t receive much formal education, but he discovered literature as a teenager, becoming first a voracious reader and then an aspiring poet. In 1817, he devoted himself to poetry. In 1818, he tended to his brother, who was dying of tuberculosis; Keats contracted the disease himself, and became increasingly ill in 1819, although he produced poetry of remarkable quality during that year, some of the best poetry of the Romantic movement.

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