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

Posted on January 23, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of painter Edouard Manet, born on the Left Bank of Paris (1832). He’s known for his scenes of Parisian cafes and bars, paintings which were controversial for their time: for example, “Luncheon on the Grass” depicted two clothed men and a nude women seated in a field.

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

Posted on January 22, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of choreographer and dancer George Balanchine, born Georgi Balanchivadze, in St. Petersburg, Russia (1904).His father was a composer who studied under Rimsky-Korsakov, so Balanchine knew music well by the time he took up dance.He studied at the Maryinsky Theater’s ballet school and at age 20 joined Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 21, 2024

Posted on January 21, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of blues singer and songwriter Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter (sometimes noted as January 20 or January 29), born in Mooringsport, Louisiana (1888). He’s best known for his songs “Goodnight Irene,” “Midnight Special,” and “Rock Island Line” and for his skill in playing 12-string guitar.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, January 20, 2024

Posted on January 20, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist and short-story writer Robert Olen Butler, born in Granite City, Illinois (1945). Butler worked as a cab driver, an editor, in a steel-mill, and as a teacher in both high school and college. He started off at Northwestern University as a theater major, but before graduating he turned to playwriting, deciding he would “rather write the words than mouth them.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 19, 2024

Posted on January 19, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the poet and short-story writer Edgar Allan Poe, born in Boston (1809). He was the son of two actors, but both his parents died of tuberculosis when he was just a boy. He was taken in by a wealthy Scotch merchant named John Allan, who gave Edgar Poe his middle name. His foster father sent him to the prestigious University of Virginia, where he was surrounded by the sons of wealthy slave-owning families. He developed a habit of drinking and gambling with the other students, but his foster father didn’t approve. He and John Allan had a series of arguments about his behavior and his career choices, and he was finally disowned and thrown out of the house.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 18, 2024

Posted on January 18, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the humorist and children’s book writer A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne, born in London, England (1882). He was the author of many successful plays and novels, but though everything he wrote was entertaining, it was all forgettable. More than anything else, Milne wanted to write something that would stand the test of time.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Posted on January 17, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Anne Brontë, born in Yorkshire (1820). Anne Brontë has been remembered primarily as the third Brontë sister. She was meek and more religious-minded than Charlotte or Emily, and little is known about her life compared to the lives of her sisters. But she was a writer, just as they were.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Posted on January 16, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of essayist and cultural critic Susan Sontag, also born in New York City (1933). She was an intellectual even as a child, buying the Partisan Review and reading Trilling, Rosenberg, and Arendt. She graduated from high school at age 15 and became a serial academic. Susan Sontag said that she preferred to think of herself as a novelist. Her first novel, The Benefactor, was published in 1963. Her most popular, The Volcano Lover, came out in 2002. But it is her essays that made her famous.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 15, 2024

Posted on January 15, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., born in Atlanta (1929). It was 1955, early in King’s new tenure as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on one of that city’s busses. King was elected to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association, which was formed with the intention of boycotting the transit system.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 14, 2024

Posted on January 14, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of American novelist Tillie Olsen, born Tillie Lerner, in Omaha, Nebraska (1913). A young radical, she started work on a novel about the struggles of the working class, but put it aside when she was raising her children. Her short story, “Tell Me a Riddle,” won the O. Henry Award for the best American short story in 1961, and became the title story of her first published book (1962). In Silences (1979), she wrote about the conflict between motherhood and writing.

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