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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, September 12, 2024

Posted on September 12, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of English poet Robert Southey, born in Bristol, England (1774). He was one of the leading poets of his day, along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, and was poet laureate of England. Today, we’ve forgotten almost everything he wrote except for one short children’s story he published anonymously called “The Story of the Three Bears” (1837).

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Posted on September 11, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of fiction writer William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name, O. Henry, born in Greensboro, North Carolina (1862). As a young man living in Texas, he was convicted of embezzlement and sent to federal prison. While he was there, he began to write and publish short stories, which a friend in New Orleans would forward to publishers, so that no one would know the author was writing from prison.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Posted on September 10, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of one of the best-selling poets in America, Mary Oliver, born in Maple Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland (1935). When she was a teenager, she dropped out of college and made a pilgrimage to Edna St. Vincent Millay’s estate in upstate New York, and although Millay had been dead for some time, her sister Norma still lived there. The two women hit it off, and Oliver ended up living on the estate for several years.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, September 9, 2024

Posted on September 9, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Leo Tolstoy, born into nobility near Tula, Russia (1828). Besides the pain of losing his mother as a young boy, his childhood was one of relative ease: He read books from his father’s extensive library, went swimming and sledding, listened to stories, and played in the fields and woods on his family’s large estate. After his father died, he lived with relatives and then enrolled at the University of Kazan.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, September 8, 2024

Posted on September 8, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1920 that the first transcontinental U.S. airmail service began, from New York to San Francisco. The Wright brothers made their first flight in 1903, but it took a while for them to convince the U.S. government that airplanes were a technology worth pursuing. The brothers approached the government three separate times in 1905 hoping to interest them as a customer, but to no avail. The military finally agreed to purchase a plane from the Wrights in 1908, but it crashed during flight trials, killing the military observer and injuring Orville Wright. A year later, the flight trials resumed, and this time the government actually purchased the plane.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, September 7, 2024

Posted on September 7, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1927 that the first successful television image was demonstrated, by the inventor Philo T. Farnsworth. Farnsworth was a Mormon farm boy from Utah, and he grew up in a log cabin. When the family moved to a house in Idaho, Farnsworth was amazed that the house had electricity — he had never seen it before.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, September 6, 2024

Posted on September 6, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of writer Alice Sebold, born in Madison, Wisconsin (1963). She grew up near Philadelphia — and she says that she was the “weird” one in an otherwise normal, suburban, middle-class family. Her older sister was smart and talented, but Alice fell between the cracks. She was turned down by the University of Pennsylvania even though her father was a professor there.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, September 5, 2024

Posted on September 5, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of comedian and actor Bob Newhart, born in the Austin area of Chicago (1929). Newhart started out as an accountant before he began doing stand-up comedy in the 1950s. He became known for his deadpan style and slight stammer. He said: “I’ve been told to speed up my delivery when I perform. But if I lose the stammer, I’m just another slightly amusing accountant.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Posted on September 4, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Richard Wright, born on a plantation near Natchez, Mississippi (1908). He’s the author of Uncle Tom’s Children (1938), Black Boy (1945), as well as a number of short stories and a volume of haiku, but he’s best known for his novel Native Son (1940).

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Posted on September 3, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of British manufacturer Matthew Boulton, born in Birmingham, England (1728). Boulton and his business partner James Watt introduced the public to the Boulton & Watt steam engine, a machine that revolutionized manufacturing.

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