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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, February 18, 2024

Posted on February 18, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist and teacher Wallace Stegner, born in Lake Mills, Iowa (1909). His father was a schemer who was constantly moving the family from place to place, hoping to strike it rich in one of the Western boomtowns. He watched as his father tried and failed to plant a farm in North Dakota, tried and failed to run a lunchroom in the backwoods of Washington state, sold bootleg liquor in Great Falls, Montana, poured the family’s savings into an invention that was supposed to detect gold in the ground, and finally bought a piece of redwood forest in California, only to cut it all down and sell it for firewood.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, February 17, 2024

Posted on February 17, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of crime novelist Ruth Rendell, born in London (1930). One of the most celebrated mystery novelists of all time, she’s best known for her mystery novels featuring Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford. But she also writes novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, and some critics consider these books to be her best work.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, February 16, 2024

Posted on February 16, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Richard Ford, born in Jackson, Mississippi (1944). His father was a traveling salesman and his grandfather managed a hotel. Ford originally thought he would go into hotel management, like his grandfather, and he studied hotel science at Michigan State University. But he switched to studying English literature, even though he suffered from dyslexia. He said, “Being a slow reader admitted me to books at a very basic level — word by word. That doesn’t seem like bad preparation to me, if writers are people who essentially live in sentences.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, February 15, 2024

Posted on February 15, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of cartoonist Matt Groening, born in Portland, Oregon (1954). He decided to move to Los Angeles after college to try to make it as a writer. He lived in a neighborhood full of drug dealers and thieves, and got a job ghostwriting the memoirs of an 88-year-old filmmaker. After that, he worked at a convalescent home, a waste treatment plant, and a graveyard.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Posted on February 14, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Many writers have been inspired by love. William Butler Yeats met the Irish Nationalist Maud Gonne in 1889. She was one of the most beautiful women of her time, and Yeats fell in love with her the first time he saw her. He said, “[When I met her] the troubles of my life began.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Posted on February 13, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of novelist Georges Simenon, born in Liége, Belgium (1903). He’s one of the most prolific writers of all time, best known for his detective novels featuring Inspector Maigret.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, February 12, 2024

Posted on February 12, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England (1809). When he was only 22, a man named Robert FitzRoy began looking for a naturalist who might accompany him on a voyage to the southern tip of South America. One of Darwin’s professors recommended him for the job, and Darwin jumped at the chance.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, February 11, 2024

Posted on February 11, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of physicist Leo Szilard, born in Budapest, Hungary (1898). In 1939, a few years after coming to America, knowing that German scientists had discovered nuclear fission, he drafted the famous letter that Albert Einstein sent to President Roosevelt advocating the development of an atomic bomb.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, February 10, 2024

Posted on February 10, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of poet and novelist Boris Pasternak, born near Moscow (1890). His father was a painter, his mother was a concert pianist, and Boris studied composition for six years under Scriabin. His first volume of poetry was published when he was 23, and with the publication of Over the Barriers (1917), and My Sister—Life (1922), he was recognized as a major new lyrical voice.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, February 9, 2024

Posted on February 9, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of humorist and playwright George Ade, born in Kentland, Indiana (1866). His daily column for the Chicago Record, “Stories of the Streets and of the Town,” evolved into the popular Fables in Slang (1899). The book was a best seller, and he followed with 11 more humorous volumes.

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