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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Posted on January 7, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

On this date in 1610, Galileo wrote a letter describing his discovery of three of Jupiter’s moons. He had recently made some improvements to his telescope, and he discovered them in December. As he continued to observe them over the next few months, a fourth celestial body appeared, and he realized that they were actually orbiting the giant planet.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Posted on January 6, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of E.L. Doctorow, born in New York City (1931). He’s the author of The Book of Daniel (1971), which won the National Book Award; and Ragtime (1975). Andrew’s Brain was published in 2014. In 1986, Doctorow sat down with George Plimpton, and the two of them discussed writing for The Paris Review.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, January 5, 2026

Posted on January 5, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the Twelfth Night, otherwise known as the eve of Epiphany. It’s the official end of the holiday season, which begins with All Hallows’ Eve, and it’s the day on which many people take down their Christmas decorations or risk bad luck for the coming year. Poet Robert Herrick wrote, “Down with the rosemary, and so / Down with the bays and mistletoe; / Down with the holly, ivy, all, / Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas Hall.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, January 4, 2026

Posted on January 4, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of Louis Braille, born in Coupvray, France (1809). He was blinded in his father’s harness shop when he was three years old. His parents tried their best to give him a normal life; even without his eyesight, he was the best student in his school, and eventually went on to become a famous organist and cellist.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, January 3, 2026

Posted on January 3, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of women’s rights reformer Lucretia (Coffin) Mott, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, in 1793. She went to public school in Boston for two years, and then, when she was 13, she enrolled in a Quaker boarding school near Poughkeepsie, New York. After two years there, she was hired on as an assistant, and then a teacher.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, January 2, 2026

Posted on January 2, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of cartoonist and author Lynda Barry, born in Richland Center, Wisconsin (1956). Her parents divorced when she was 12, and she started dropping acid. Four years later, she was working as a janitor seven nights a week. She beat her drug habit and finished high school. Her parents didn’t come to her graduation.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, January 1, 2026

Posted on January 1, 2026 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of J. D. (Jerome David) Salinger, born in New York City (1919). He published his first story, “The Young Folks,” in 1940, in a literary magazine called Story. It was all the encouragement he needed to keep writing. After a series of rejections, his stories were accepted by magazines like Saturday Evening Post and Esquire.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, December 31, 2025

Posted on December 31, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Junot Díaz, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1968. He grew up in New Jersey. And he wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), the story of a Dominican misfit, a kindhearted science fiction “ghettonerd” who would do anything for love.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Posted on December 30, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the British writer Rudyard Kipling, born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India (1865). His father was an artist who got a teaching appointment in British-controlled India. So Kipling grew up in Bombay, in a house with a huge garden. He loved life in India — playing with the paint and clay in his father’s studio and spending days with his nanny.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, December 29, 2025

Posted on December 29, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1916 that James Joyce published his first novel: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Joyce had tried to write the same story in several forms before. In 1904, he wrote an autobiographical essay, but it was rejected.

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