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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, October 20, 2025

Posted on October 20, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, born in Charleville, France (1854). He wrote, “But, truly, I have wept too much! The Dawns are heartbreaking. Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter.” He came to epitomize the Decadent Movement, in which poets and writers celebrated artifice in their works.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, October 19, 2025

Posted on October 19, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the anniversary of the end of the Revolutionary War. On this day in 1781 in Yorktown, Virginia, General Charles Cornwallis and his army of 8,000 troops surrendered to George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau. Together the Americans and the French had about 17,000 troops.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, October 18, 2025

Posted on October 18, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the journalist A.J. Liebling, born Abbott Joseph Liebling in New York City, 1904. He got kicked out of Dartmouth for missing too many chapel services, so he became a reporter. He was a WWII correspondent for The New Yorker, and he ignored politics and combat strategy and just wrote about day-to-day life among the soldiers and the civilians.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, October 17, 2025

Posted on October 17, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Arthur Miller, born in New York City in 1915. His family was wealthy, but they lost all their money during the stock market crash, so they moved to Brooklyn and lived with the whole extended family. Arthur’s uncle was a storyteller and a big liar.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 16, 2025

Posted on October 16, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the often-quoted Irish writer Oscar Wilde, born in Dublin in 1854. He said, “I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.” And he said, “The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Posted on October 15, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the novelist Mario Puzo, born in New York City in 1920. He was the son of Italian immigrants. He wrote two novels that sold almost no copies, and he was in serious debt. Then one Christmas Eve, he had a severe gall bladder attack, and he was in so much pain that he fell into the gutter. As he was lying there, he said to himself, “Here I am, a published writer, and I am dying like a dog.”

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.

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