Writer's Almanac Archives - Page 68 of 294 - Garrison Keillor

Albums APHC Clips Audio Events Prairie Home Archives Songs Writer's Almanac

Writer's Almanac

To subscribe to the Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episode email, which includes the unedited text and audio from one daily anniversary episode selected from the archive, click here >>>

To browse archived episodes of The Writer’s Almanac from before 2017, click here >>>

• • • • •

To support The Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episodes newsletter, please consider “buying” a donation here >>>

You can also buy a paid subscription to the Anniversary Episode newsletter here >>>

Checks may be made out to Prairie Home Productions, LLC and mailed to:

Prairie Home Productions
P.O. Box 2090
Minneapolis, MN 55402

(Note: donations to LLCs are not tax-deductible)

• • • • •

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Posted on July 31, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of writer J.K. Rowling, born Joanne Rowling in Yate, England (1965). Rowling grew up in rural England. She tried writing a couple of novels but never finished them. One day, on a cross-country train trip, the idea of Harry Potter just appeared in her mind. She didn’t have a pen to write things down, so she said: “Rather than try to write it, I had to think it. And I think that was a very good thing. I was besieged by a mass of detail, and if it didn’t survive that journey, it probably wasn’t worth remembering.” As soon as she got home, she started writing what she did remember.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Posted on July 30, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of American blues guitarist Buddy Guy, born George Guy in Lettsworth, Louisiana (1936). He made his own guitar when he was 13, and learned to play it by listening to the records of John Lee Hooker and other blues artists. He soon began playing clubs in Baton Rouge, and moved to Chicago in 1957, when he was 21.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, July 29, 2024

Posted on July 29, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (1953). He was born in Brooklyn, New York, but he grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his father was a professor at the University of Michigan. He studied film and design at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and his first major documentary film was Brooklyn Bridge in 1981.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, July 28, 2024

Posted on July 28, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the philosopher Karl Popper, born in Vienna (1902). He was one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. He came up with the theory that what defines a scientific idea is that it can be falsified. He realized that the real work of scientists is not to look for evidence that their theories are correct, but to look as hard as they can for evidence that their theories are false.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, July 27, 2024

Posted on July 27, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1940 that Bugs Bunny made his official debut in an animated film short called A Wild Hare. It was the first cartoon in which Bugs Bunny acted like himself. The storyline of the cartoon involved Elmer Fudd hunting rabbits, only to have Bugs thwart him at every turn.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, July 26, 2024

Posted on July 26, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of writer Aldous Huxley, born in Surrey, England (1894). As a boy, he wanted to be a scientist like his grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley. But when he was 17 years old, he contracted an eye disease that rendered him nearly blind, so he decided to become a writer. His first successful novel was Point Counter Point (1928), which was an extremely ambitious book, with numerous characters and a complex interweaving plot. Huxley decided that his next book would be something light. He had been reading some H.G. Wells and thought it would be interesting to try to write something about what the future might be like.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, July 25, 2024

Posted on July 25, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the anniversary of the day when Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, to the great consternation of folk music fans.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Posted on July 24, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Zelda Fitzgerald, born Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama (1900). She met F. Scott Fitzgerald at one of the military dances where he was stationed in Montgomery. He stood out from the crowd, wearing his Brooks Brothers uniform and his cream-colored boots. Zelda said, “He smelled like new goods.” He told her that she looked like the heroine in the novel he was writing.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Posted on July 23, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1903 that the Ford Motor Company sold its first car, a two-cylinder Model A. It was sold to a Chicago dentist named Ernst Pfenning, who paid $850 for it. The Model A was painted red, with a seat that fit two people, and no roof. It reached 28 mph at top speed.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, July 22, 2024

Posted on July 22, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the painter Edward Hopper, born in Nyack, New York (1882). By the time he was 12, he was already six feet tall. He was skinny, gangly, made fun of by his classmates, painfully shy, and spent much of his time alone drawing. After he finished art school, he took a trip to Paris and spent almost all of his time there alone, reading or painting. In Paris, he realized that he had fallen in love with light. He said the light in Paris was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. He tried to re-create it in his paintings.

Load next posts