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The Writer's Almanac

The Writer's Almanac

The Writer's AlmanacĀ is a daily podcast of poetry and historical interest pieces, usually of literary significance. Each day's offering is five minutes long and contains "on this day in history" information as well as an accessible poem.

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spreaker.com/show/the-writers-almanac

Episodes

The Writers Almanac for Sunday, May 29, 2022

Today is the birthday of President John F. Kennedy, born in 1917. He said to his fellow Americans ?ask not what your country can do for you ? ask what you can do for your country."
2022-05-29
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The Writer's Almanac for Saturday, May 28, 2022

Today is the birthday of the man who created James Bond, novelist Ian Fleming, born in London, England in 1908.
2022-05-28
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The Writer's Almanac for Friday, May 27, 2022

It?s the birthday of the American poet who once said, ?The public needs poetry; I need poetry, to help celebrate and console.? Linda Pastan, born in 1932.
2022-05-27
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The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, May 26, 2022

Today is the birthday of photographer Dorothea Lange, 1895, whose photo ?Migrant Mother? is one of the most iconic images of the Great Depression.
2022-05-26
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The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

?People tend to blame a writer for writing something they?re too stupid to understand.? ? Jamaica Kincaid, celebrating her 73rd birthday today.
2022-05-25
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The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

?There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.? ? Joseph Brodsky, poet, born on this day in 1940.
2022-05-24
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The Writer's Almanac for Monday, May 23, 2022

Poet Jane Kenyon would be 75 on this day had she not died of leukemia in 1995. We hear her poem ?Philosophy in Warm Weather.?
2022-05-23
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The Writer's Almanac for Sunday, May 22, 2022

It is the birthday of Harvey Milk (1930), the first openly gay man elected to public office. He was assassinated in 1978 about a year after his election to City Supervisor.
2022-05-22
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The Writer's Almanac for Saturday, May 21, 2022

On this day in 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. Clara Barton said, "I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them."
2022-05-21
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The Writer's Almanac for Friday, May 20, 2022

On this day in 1946 English-born poet, W.H. Auden became a U.S. citizen. "It's a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it."
2022-05-20
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The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, May 19, 2022

Today is the birthday of the minister and activist Malcolm X, born in 1925, and also of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, born in 1930.
2022-05-19
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The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, May 18, 2022

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." -- Bertrand Russell, philosopher, born on this day in 1872.
2022-05-18
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The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Today would have been the 83rd birthday of Gary Paulsen, author of ?Hatchet,? who died in October of last year.
2022-05-17
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The Writer's Almanac for Monday, May 16, 2022

It's the birthday of writer, historian, and radioman Studs Terkel (1912), whose career was built out of in-depth personal interviews.
2022-05-16
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The Writer's Almanac for Sunday, May 15, 2022

?Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.? Words written by the man behind ?The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, born this day in 1856.
2022-05-15
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The Writer's Almanac for Saturday, May 14, 2022

America?s first space station Skylab was launched on this date in 1973. Occupied for only 8 months, it was the first platform for science in space.
2022-05-14
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The Writer's Almanac for Friday, May 13, 2022

Author Daphne du Maurier was born on this day in London (1907). Her blockbuster novel ?Rebecca? (1938) was turned into a film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock.
2022-05-13
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The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, May 12, 2022

Today is the birthday of novelist and poet Rosellen Brown, born in 1939. Her novels include ?Tender Mercies? and most recently ?Half a Heart?.
2022-05-12
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The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, May 11, 2022

It's the anniversary of the printing of the first known book, the Diamond Sutra. In the year 868, Wang Chieh printed a Buddhist scripture on a 16-foot scroll using wood blocks.
2022-05-11
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The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, May 10, 2022

On this date in 1872 Victoria Claflin Woodhull became the first woman candidate for president of the United States.
2022-05-10
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The Writer's Almanac for Monday, May 9, 2022

?I write to annoy God, to make Death laugh. I write because I can?t get it right. I write because I want every woman in the world to fall in love with me.? ?Charles Simic, born on this day in 1938.
2022-05-09
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The Writer's Almanac for Sunday, May 8, 2022

?I am a poet who has preferred not to distinguish in poetry between nature and humanity.? ?Gary Snyder, born on this day in 1930.
2022-05-08
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The Writer's Almanac for Saturday, May 7, 2022

It's the birthday of French playwright, activist, and feminist Olympe de Gouges (1748) who said that if "Woman has the right to mount the scaffold; she must equally have the right to mount the rostrum."
2022-05-07
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The Writer's Almanac for Friday, May 6, 2022

?Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.? And ?The ego is not master in its own house.? ?Sigmund Freud, born on this day in 1856.
2022-05-06
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The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, May 5, 2022

It?s the birthday of the journalist Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864. She became famous for feigning mental illness and exposing conditions in an asylum.
2022-05-05
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The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, May 4, 2022

On this day in 1675, England?s King Charles II commissioned the Royal Greenwich Observatory and appointed the position of Astronomer Royal.
2022-05-04
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The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Today is the birthday of poet, novelist, and memoirist May Sarton, born in Belgium in 1912.
2022-05-02
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The Writer's Almanac for Monday, May 2, 2022

"You know more than you think you do." The parenting advice of the baby boomer generation came from Dr. Benjamin Spock, born on this day in 1903.
2022-05-01
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The Writer's Almanac for Sunday, May 1, 2022

On this date in 1840, the first official adhesive postage stamp was issued in Great Britain. Called the Penny Black, it was an engraved profile of Queen Victoria on a black background.
2022-05-01
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The Writer's Almanac for Saturday, April 30, 2022

It's the 77th birthday of author Annie Dillard. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel ?Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.?
2022-04-30
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The Writer's Almanac for Friday, April 29, 2022

"Jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with" -- Edward Kennedy aka Duke Ellington, born 4/29/1899.
2022-04-29
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The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, April 28, 2022

?You can make a killing in the theater, but not a living.??Robert Anderson, playwright, born on this day 1917.
2022-04-28
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The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, April 27, 2022

It?s the birthday of Mary Wollstonecraft, born in 1759. Her book ?A Vindication of the Rights of Woman? is one of the earliest books of feminist philosophy.
2022-04-27
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The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Ornithologist John James Audubon was born on this day in 1785, his masterpiece ?Birds of America? contained 435 life-sized hand-colored plates of birds.
2022-04-26
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The Writer's Almanac for Monday, April 25, 2022

?Behind the screen of the ordinary can be found unique and wonderful things.? ?Ted Kooser, poet, celebrating his 83rd birthday today.
2022-04-25
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The Writer's Almanac for Sunday, April 24, 2022

On this day in 1916, the Easter Rising began in Dublin. While it failed as a rebellion, it galvanized a movement. Five years later the Republic of Ireland achieved independence.
2022-04-24
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The Writer's Almanac for Saturday, April 23, 2022

It?s the birthday of the American writer Barry Hannah (1942). He said, ?I loved the life, the secret life, of the typewriter when the house was quiet.?
2022-04-23
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The Writer's Almanac for Friday, April 22, 2022

"Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe ... the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me." ? Immanuel Kant, born on this day in 1724.
2022-04-22
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The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, April 21, 2022

Naturalist John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland, on this day in 1838. The founder of the Sierra Club was essential in protecting American wilderness areas.
2022-04-21
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The Writer's Almanac Wednesday, April 20, 2022

?Southern trees bear a strange fruit/Blood on the leaves and blood at the root??The song ?Strange Fruit? was recorded on this day in 1939 by Billie Holiday.
2022-04-20
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The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, April 19, 2022

"There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out."?author and Actress Mae West, who was jailed on this day in 1927 for her performance in ?Sex? on broadway.
2022-04-19
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The Writer's Almanac for Monday, April 18, 2022

Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Susan Faludi was born on this day in 1959. Her latest work is a memoir, ?In the Darkroom.?
2022-04-18
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The Writer's Almanac for Sunday, April 17, 2022

"The sentence is my primary element, my tool, goal, bliss. Each new sentence is a heart-in-the mouth experiment." -- novelist and essayist Cynthia Ozick, was born on this day in 1928.
2022-04-17
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The Writer's Almanac for Saturday, April 16, 2022

The originator of ?The Boxcar Children,? author Gertrude Chandler Warner was born on this day in 1890. She wrote the first 18 of the series.
2022-04-16
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The Writer's Almanac for Friday, April 15, 2022

570 years ago, on April 15th, the original Renaissance Man was born in Tuscany, Leonardo da Vinci (1452).
2022-04-15
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The Writer's Almanac for Thursday, April 14, 2022

It was on this day in 1828 that Noah Webster's ?American Dictionary of the English Language? was published.
2022-04-14
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The Writer's Almanac for Wednesday, April 13, 2022

It's the birthday of Thomas Jefferson (1743) who said, "In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."
2022-04-13
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The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, April 12, 2022

It's the 70th birthday of author Gary Soto. His most recent work is a collection of poetry ?Meatballs for the People: Proverbs to Chew On? published in 2017.
2022-04-12
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The Writer's Almanac for Monday, April 11, 2022

On this day in 1945, the U.S. Army liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany.
2022-04-11
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The Writer's Almanac for Sunday, April 10, 2022

On this day in 1925 ?The Great Gatsby? was first published to a mixed reception. Now viewed as a classic, in 2020 it entered the public domain.
2022-04-10
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