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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, April 4, 2025

Posted on April 4, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1968 that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated standing on the balcony of his room on the second floor of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis at 6:01 in the evening. He’d gone to Memphis to support a strike by 1,300 black sanitation workers.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, April 3, 2025

Posted on April 3, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of American author, statesman, and short-story writer Washington Irving, born in 1783 in New York City. That same week, the British cease-fire was brokered and the American Revolution ended, and William and Sarah Irving named their youngest child in honor of its most famous general, George Washington.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Posted on April 2, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It is the birthday of writer Émile Zola, born in Paris in 1840. His father was an Italian engineer, and he died when Émile was seven, leaving the family to get by on a small pension. Émile’s mother hoped he would become a lawyer, but he failed the qualifying examination, and so he took a series of clerical jobs. He also wrote literary and art reviews for newspapers.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Posted on April 1, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the birthday of science fiction and fantasy author Anne McCaffrey, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1926. She’s best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series, about Earth colonists on the planet of Pern living in a medieval-ish society with genetically engineered dragons, but it’s far from her only accomplishment.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, March 31, 2025

Posted on March 31, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It is the birthday of Ukrainian-born Russian humorist, novelist, and dramatist Nikolai Gogol, born in the Cossack village of Sorochintsy in 1809. His mother was a descendant of Polish nobility, and his father was a poet and playwright. As a boy, Gogol helped his uncle stage Ukrainian plays in his home theatre, and he also discovered he had a gift for mimicry, so he considered becoming an actor, but his audition was unsuccessful.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, March 30, 2025

Posted on March 30, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh, born in Zundert, Holland (1853). He’s the painter of sunflowers and starry nights whose work was just beginning to be acknowledged when he committed suicide at the age of 37. His brother Theo was an art dealer, and for years he had supplied Van Gogh with a small monthly stipend; in return, Van Gogh gave his brother every canvas he painted.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, March 29, 2025

Posted on March 29, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1912, Captain Robert Falcon Scott wrote the last entry in his diary. Scott is remembered for his bravery in losing the race to the South Pole. His first expedition on the Discovery (1901-04) took him within 450 miles of the South Pole before he had to turn back. He later led the Terra Nova expedition, which reached the pole in January 1912 — only to discover that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had been there a month earlier.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, March 28, 2025

Posted on March 28, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s is the birthday of Nelson Algren, born Nelson Algren Abraham in Detroit (1909). He grew up in Chicago’s immigrant neighborhoods. He became known as a writer of Chicago. “People ask me why I don’t write about nature or the suburbs,” he once said. “If a writer could write the truth about one Chicago street, that would be a good life’s work.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, March 27, 2025

Posted on March 27, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

On this date in 1915, the woman known as “Typhoid Mary” was put into quarantine in a cottage in the Bronx. Her name was Mary Mallon, and she worked as a cook in various wealthy households around New York City. Every household she worked in seemed to suffer an outbreak of typhoid fever. A doctor named George Soper noticed this strange pattern of outbreaks among the wealthy.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Posted on March 26, 2025 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the poet who said: “The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.” That’s Robert Frost, born in San Francisco (1874). After his father died of tuberculosis, Frost’s mother moved the family to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where Robert’s paternal grandparents lived. Frost went to Dartmouth, but left after a couple of months. He returned home and worked odd jobs, but he resented them all, believing that his true calling was to be a poet.

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