Writer's Almanac Archives - Page 7 of 277 - 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 Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Posted on October 14, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, born in Denison, Texas, in 1890. His mother was a pacifist, and when he decided to go to West Point for college, she broke down in tears. He loved being in the military and training troops.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, October 13, 2025

Posted on October 13, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of singer and songwriter Paul Simon, born in Newark, New Jersey, (1941). In 1964, he and his friend Art Garfunkel recorded a folk album, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM. It was a flop, and Paul Simon moved back in with his parents.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, October 12, 2025

Posted on October 12, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the novelist Richard Price, born in the Bronx in New York in 1949. He published his first novel when he was 24, a novel called The Wanderers (1974), about a group of teenagers growing up in housing projects in the Bronx. His most recent novel, Lush Life, came out this year (2008).

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, October 11, 2025

Posted on October 11, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Eleanor Roosevelt, born in New York City in 1884. She was shy and awkward as a girl; her mother, a beautiful socialite, was disappointed in her daughter. Both Eleanor’s parents died by the time she was a teenager. Then she met a distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and they got married.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, October 10, 2025

Posted on October 10, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1971 that the London Bridge was dedicated in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The city of London realized that the bridge wasn’t strong enough for all the traffic that crossed it every day, and that it was sinking slowly into the Thames River. They needed a more modern bridge, so they put the London Bridge up for sale. The entire bridge was dismantled, each stone was numbered, and then it was shipped to Arizona, where it took three years to put back together.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 9, 2025

Posted on October 9, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the English singer and songwriter John Lennon, born in Liverpool, England, in 1940. He was an only child, raised by his aunt and uncle, but his mother lived nearby, and she encouraged him to play the banjo, and later the guitar.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Posted on October 8, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the science fiction writer Frank Herbert, born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1920. He was a photographer during WWII. He went to the University of Washington, but he didn’t graduate because he only wanted to study what interested him, so he refused to take the required courses for a major.

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

Posted on October 7, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the novelist and critic Elizabeth Janeway, born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1913. She was in college when she started writing a novel, but she didn’t finish it until many years later, while she was raising her first child and pregnant with her second one. The novel was called The Walsh Girls (1943).

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

Posted on October 6, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day, October 6th, that two of William Faulkner’s novels were published, two years apart: As I Lay Dying came out in 1930 and Light in August in 1932. Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying in just six weeks; he wrote it while he worked the night shift at a power plant.

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

Posted on October 5, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Flann O’Brien, born Brian O’Nolan in County Tyrone, Ireland (1911), and best known in his time as Myles na Gopaleen, the writer of a clever and often satirical column for The Irish Times. Today he is most famous for his postmodern novels At Swim-Two-Birds (1939) and The Third Policeman (1967).

Load next posts