The Story of Writing

Mary Lyon establishes Mount Holyoke, White and Black U.S. workers strike together, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt launches the Civil Works Department, and the birthday club includes Sarah Fielding, Bram Stoker, Margaret Mitchell, Martha Gellhorn, and Kazuo Ishiguro - with a reading from Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

The British offer to emancipate American slaves - if they fought to defeat American colonists in their war of Independence, abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy is assassinated, women in Colorado get the right to vote, more than 20 years before the U.S. ratified the 19th Amendment, Jeanette Rankin becomes the first woman elected to Congress, and the birthday club includes Albert Camus and Joni Mitchell - w...

The Charter of the Forest is sealed in London and the birthday club includes Derrick Bell, Michael Cunningham, and Colson Whitehead - with a reading from L. M. Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables."

"The Gunpowder Treason" is discovered, Susan B. Anthony is arrested for voting, George Selden gets the U.S. patent for the automobile, declarations of war pull the Ottoman Empire in World War One, and it's Art Garfunkle's birthday - with a reading of Susan B. Anthony's speech about being arrested and fined for voting.

Sigmund Freud publishes his book "Interpretation of Dreams" and the birthday club includes Will Rogers and Charles Frazier - with a reading from Rogers' newspaper column.

The English Parliament makes Henry VIII head of the Anglican Church, Olympe de Gouges is guillotined for her feminist writings, and it is the birthday of Ludovic Kennedy - with a reading from Emily Bronte's classic "Wuthering Heights."

Penguin Books is exonerated of charges of obscenity for publishing D. H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterly's Lover," U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson decides the public should hear more optimistic reports of the war in Vietnam, and the birthday club includes Moa Martinson and Isobel Andrews - with a reading from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self Reliance."

Shakespeare's "Othello" and "The Tempest" premiere, Edmund Burke publishes his pamphlet "Reflections on the Revolution in France," The U.S. Library of Congress opens its doors, and we mark the birthdays of Stephen Crane and Susanna Clarke. This episode includes a reading from Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage."

Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the Church Door, the Netherlands Leiden University Library opens, and the birthday club includes Marie Louise Andrews, Tom Paxton, Ali Farka Touré, and Susan Orlean - with a reading from W. E. B. DuBois' "The Souls of Black Folk."

Nat Turner is arrested for starting a slave rebellion, Czar Nicholas II issues the October Manifesto, Orson Wells narrates "The War of the Worlds" and scares some listeners, and the birthday club includes Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Zoe Akins, Ruth Gordon, and Jean Chapman - with a reading from Roberts' "The Time of Man."

The opera "Don Giovanni" premiers in Prague, the International Red Cross is voted into existence, and it is "Black Tuesday" - the stock market crash at the beginning of the Great Depression. It is the birthday of The New Yorker 's editor David Remnick and this episode includes a reading from Jane Austen's "Emma."

It's a big day for colleges in the new world, Jonathan Swift publishes "Gulliver's Travels," and the birthday club includes Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Held, and Susan Harris - with a reading from Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait of Dorian Gray."

The Missouri Governor signed an order to exterminate mormons, a Soviet naval officer refuses to launch a nuclear torpedo, and it's the birthday of Sylvia Plath - with a reading from her "Unabridged Journals."

Wyatt Earp was part of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, Ida B. Wells publishes her pamphlet "Southern Horrors," and Hilary Clinton and Marisha Pessl celebrate their birthdays.

The Light Brigade charges the wrong guns, the Zinoviev letter is published in the UK, and birthdays included Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, Anne Tyler, Zadie Smith, and Katy Perry - with a reading from Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo."

A transcontinental telegraph line begins operations, the first person to actually survive the plunge goes over Niagara Falls, about 90 percent of Iceland's women go on strike, and the birthday club includes Sarah Josepha Hale and Alexandra David-Neel - with a reading from George McDonald's "At the Back of the North Wind."

The first national convention on Women’s Rights begins in Massachusetts and the birthday club includes Ellie Greenwich and Michael Crichton - with a reading from Crichton's "The Lost World."

The Cuban Missile Crisis begins, Jean-Paul Sartre refuses the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the birthday club includes Doris Lessing, Timothy Leary, and Julie Dash - with a reading from Lessing's "The Golden Notebook."

Thomas Edison applies for a patent for the electric light bulb, Ernest Hemingway publishes his classic novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and the birthday club includes Ursula Le Guin and Carrie Fisher - with a reading from Fisher's "Postcards From the Edge."

The U.S. approves the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. and UK set the modern border of Canada, and the U.N. tries to promote cultural expression as a counterweight to intellectual property. The birthday club includes Isabel de Chaurrier and Nellie McClung - with a reading from McClung's "Sowing Seeds in Danny."

The American colonists win their independence from the British, "Black Monday" upends the U.S. financial markets, and the birthday club includes Miguel Angel Asturias, Walter Munk, John le Carre, Phillip Pullman, and Tracy Chevalier - with a reading from Willa Cather's "My Antonia."

Herman Melville publishes "The Whale" - better known as "Moby Dick" - in London, Phyllis Wheatley is granted her freedom, and the birthday club includes Isabelle Briggs-Meyers, Martha Burk, Ntozake Shange, Wendy Wasserstein, and Terry McMillan - with a reading from McMillan's take on writing.

Marconi goes wireless across the Atlantic and the birthday club includes Elinor Glyn, Jerry Siegel, Arthur Miller, George Mackay Brown, Ariel Levy, and Randall Munroe - with a reading from Brown's "A Time to Keep."

Charlotte Bronte publishes "Jane Eyre," and the Cardiff Giant is "discovered."

The Julian calendar gives way to the Gregorian calendar and the birthday club includes P. G. Wodehouse, Mario Puzo, Italo Calvino, and Eugene Patterson - with a reading from Wodehouse's "My Man Jeeves."