Writer's Almanac Archives - Page 6 of 239 - Garrison Keillor

Albums APHC Clips Audio Events Prairie Home Archives Songs Writer's Almanac

Writer's Almanac

To subscribe to the Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episode email, which includes the unedited text and audio from one daily anniversary episode selected from the archive, click here >>>

To browse archived episodes of The Writer’s Almanac from before 2017, click here >>>

• • • • •

To support The Writer’s Almanac Anniversary Episodes newsletter, please consider “buying” a donation here >>>

You can also buy a paid subscription to the Anniversary Episode newsletter here >>>

Checks may be made out to Prairie Home Productions, LLC and mailed to:

Prairie Home Productions
P.O. Box 2090
Minneapolis, MN 55402

(Note: donations to LLCs are not tax-deductible)

• • • • •

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Posted on October 15, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Italian writer Italo Calvino, born in Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba (1923). His parents were scientists — his father an agronomist, his mother a botanist — and they were working in Cuba at the time of their son’s birth, but moved back to Italy not long afterward. As a boy, he listened to the radio constantly, dreaming about the outside world. When he discovered his talent for writing, he began writing radio plays.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, October 14, 2024

Posted on October 14, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Dwight D. Eisenhower, born in Denison, Texas (1890). His father cleaned train locomotives for a living, but he was offered a better job at a creamery back in his hometown of Abilene, Kansas; so Dwight grew up in Abilene, one of seven brothers. All the boys were called “Ike” as a nickname for Eisenhower, but only Dwight’s nickname stuck long-term.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, October 13, 2024

Posted on October 13, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of cookbook author Mollie Katzen, born in Rochester, New York (1950). She grew up in a Jewish home, where she learned to love food. “Being grateful for food, slowing down around food — that’s what was sacred for me, and this was all in kashrut. […] Even a bowl of popcorn in front of the TV, I love to ‘behold’ the popcorn, and not just mindlessly reach in and eat it.”

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, October 12, 2024

Posted on October 12, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the poet and translator Robert Fitzgerald, born in Geneva, New York (1910), best known for his beautiful English translations of Homer’s Odyssey (1961) and The Iliad (1974). He was also an influential classics professor at Harvard, and he believed that Homer’s work should be always read aloud.

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, October 11, 2024

Posted on October 11, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of the longest-serving First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, born in New York City (1884) who said, “A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.” She began a secret courtship with her cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During World War I, she went off to Europe and visited wounded and shell-shocked soldiers in hospitals there.

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, October 10, 2024

Posted on October 10, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, born in a village in Parma, Italy (1813). His parents owned a tavern and were not very well off. But his father recognized musical talent in Giuseppe and bought him a spinet (an upright harpsichord), which he kept for the rest of his life. By the age of 12, Verdi was the organist for his church.

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Posted on October 9, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of composer Camille Saint-Saens, born in Paris (1835). He was a child prodigy, with perfect pitch and a fantastic memory. He learned the piano and organ, and played the music of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart in recitals. He composed nice waltzes and gallops by the age of five, and wrote his first symphony at sixteen. His first famous opera was Samson and Dalila (1877).

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Posted on October 8, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of Frank Herbert, born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1920. He’s best known for his science fiction masterpiece Dune, which was rejected by 20 publishers before it was finally accepted by Chilton — a publisher who was best known for producing auto repair manuals — in 1965. He lied about his age to get his first newspaper job in 1939, and he worked as a photographer for the U.S. Navy during World War II.

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, October 7, 2024

Posted on October 7, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It’s the birthday of poet and essayist Diane Ackerman (1948), born Diane Fink in Waukegan, Illinois. She has a knack for blending science and literary art; she wrote her first book of poetry entirely about astronomy. It was called The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral, and it was published in 1976, while she was working on her doctorate at Cornell.

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, October 6, 2024

Posted on October 6, 2024 - Writer's Almanac

It was on this day in 1847 that Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre was published (some sources say October 16). The public reception was divided. William Thackeray, who wrote Vanity Fair, called it “the masterwork of a great genius.” One reviewer said: “This is not merely a work of great promise; it is one of absolute performance. It is one of the most powerful domestic romances which have been published for many years.”

Load next posts