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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, October 25, 2024

Posted on October 25, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

The birthday of Geoffrey Chaucer, the first great English poet and author of The Canterbury Tales, is unknown, and so we instead remember him on the anniversary of his death, this day in the year 1400. He was buried in the south transept of Westminster Abbey in London, where he was a tenant and a member of the parish.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 24, 2024

Posted on October 24, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It may come as no surprise that Sarah Josepha Hale was a vocal supporter of Thanksgiving, and along with a litany of other social causes and campaigns, the campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday was her dearest cause. She wrote letters to one president after another — Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and finally Abraham Lincoln, who did, in fact, listen to her. On October 3, 1863, he issued a proclamation, saying, “The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible.” He proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday, celebrated that year on the last Thursday of November.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Posted on October 23, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

On this day in 1920, the novel Main Street by Sinclair Lewis was published. Lewis’s previous books hadn’t sold very well, but he was optimistic that he could sell 25,000 copies of Main Street. The first printing of 10,000 copies sold out in record time, and Harcourt couldn’t get enough paper to meet the demand, so had to publish several smaller printings. Lewis’s total sales goal of 25,000 was met by November, and within a few years, Main Street had sold 2 million copies.

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Posted on October 22, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

On this date in 1938, Chester Carlson produced the first electrophotographic image, paving the way for the invention of the Xerox machine. He was working in the patent department of a battery manufacturer and going to law school at night. One of the most tedious parts of his day job was making copies of patent documents. The most efficient system available at the time was to retype the documents using carbon paper, but every time they were retyped, someone would have to proofread them, and the delay was causing a bottleneck in the department.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, October 21, 2024

Posted on October 21, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, born in Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire, England (1772). Coleridge is the author of poems such as “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” “Christabel,” and “Frost at Midnight.” As a small boy, he spent a lot of time reading. His favorite book was The Arabian Nights. His father died when he was 10, and then he had to go off to boarding school at Christ’s Hospital in London. It was known as the “blue-coat school,” where everyone had to wear a blue gown, a blue cap and yellow stockings. Coleridge hated it there.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, October 20, 2024

Posted on October 20, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of political humorist Art Buchwald, born in Mount Vernon, New York (1925). In 1982, Buchwald won the Pulitzer Prize for his syndicated column “Art Buchwald,” which appeared twice a week in over 550 newspapers. His columns have been published as collections such as I Think I Don’t Remember (1987) and Whose Rose Garden Is It Anyway? (1989). Buchwald began writing columns when he lived in Paris in the 1950s.

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, October 19, 2024

Posted on October 19, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

Today is the anniversary of the surrender that ended the American Revolutionary War, in Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. George Washington had had a difficult spring. His troops were low on supplies and food, their clothing was in shreds, and there had been a steady stream of desertions from his ranks.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, October 18, 2024

Posted on October 18, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1954 that the first transistor radio appeared on the market. Transistors were a big breakthrough in electronics — a new way to amplify signals. They replaced vacuum tubes, which were fragile, slow to warm up, and unreliable. During World War II, there was a big funding push to try to update vacuum tubes, since they were used in radio-controlled bombs but didn’t work very well. A team of scientists at Bell Laboratories invented the first transistor technology in 1947.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 17, 2024

Posted on October 17, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of playwright Arthur Miller, born in New York City (1915). His father was the wealthy owner of a coat factory, and the family had a large Manhattan apartment, a chauffeur, and a summer home at the beach. Then, in 1928, his father’s business collapsed. He watched his parents sell their most valuable possessions, one by one, to pay the bills, until finally the family had to move in with relatives in Brooklyn. Miller had to share a bedroom with his grandfather. He was 13 years old.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Posted on October 16, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Oscar Wilde, born in Dublin (1854), who was already a successful playwright when he fell into a love affair with the young aristocrat Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde was married with two children at the time, and the affair ruined his reputation in society. He later wrote, “I curse myself night and day for my folly in allowing him to dominate my life.”

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