The Story of Writing

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Abraham Lincoln signs the 13th Amendment, the Voice of America begins broadcasting, the Woolworth's lunch-counter sit ins begin, and it is the birthday of Langston Hughes - with a reading from his poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

Congress approves the 13th Amendment, Truman approves production of thermonuclear weapons, the Winter Soldier Investigation, and the birthday club includes Zane Gray, Norman Mailer, and Peter Sagal - with a reading from Gray's "Man of the Forest."

Antarctica is discovered, San Francisco gets its name, COVID-19 is declared a PHEIC, and it is the birthday of Richard Brautigan - with a reading of his "Hinged to Forgetfulness Like a Door."

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is published, Liliʻuokalani and the Kingdom of Hawaii are overthrown - by the stroke of a pen, and it is the birthday of Anton Chekhov and Florida Ruffin Ridley - with a reading from one of her columns in the Woman's Era newspaper.

Jane Austen's masterwork "Pride and Prejudice" is published - with a reading from the novel.

The Outer Space Treaty, the Paris Peace Accords, the U.S. National Recording Preservation Board creates its registry, and it is the birthday of Lewis Carroll and Peter Laird - with a reading from Carroll's "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland."

The Rocky Mountain National Park is created and the birthday club includes Angela Davis and Jonathan Carroll - with a reading from Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own."

The birthday club includes Robert Burns, W. Somerset Maugham, and Virginia Woolf - with a reading of Burns' "A Red, Red Rose."

Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, canned beer hits the shelves for the first time, and the birthday club includes Signe Rink and Edith Wharton - with a reading from Wharton's "The House of Mirth."

The first female MD in the U.S., the frisbee takes off, the 24th Amendment is ratified - banning poll taxes, and it is the birthday of Camilla Collett - with a reading from Agatha Christie's "Murder in Mesopotamia."

The birthday club includes Lord Byron and August Strindberg - with a reading from Strindberg's "The Road to Damascus."

America's first novel is published and the birthday club includes Noe Ito and Elaine Showalter - with a reading from Mark Twain's "Roughing It."

The birthday club includes Huddie Ledbetter, Nancy Kress, and Fareed Zakaria - with a reading from Kress' "Crossfire."

The ACLU is formed and the birthday club includes Edgar Allan Poe and Patricia Highsmith - with a reading from Poe's classic "The Cask of Amontillado."

It is the birthday of A. A. Milne - with a reading from one of his best known works, "The House at Pooh Corner."

On Anne Bronte's birthday, a look at her writing and the tension it caused her sister Charlotte - with a reading from Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall."

Miguel Cervantes' "Don Quixote" is published, Thomas Jefferson's "Statute for Religious Freedom" is adopted, the Chapultepec Peace Accords are signed - ending the civil war in El Salvador, and it is the birthday of Susan Sontag - with a reading from Cervantes' "Don Quixote."

The King of France commissions the founding of New France - now Canada and the birthday club includes Moliere, Richard Martin, and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. - with two readings from King's writing.

The U.S. and UK sign the Treaty of Paris - ending the Revolutionary War and it is the birthday of Emily Hahn and Maureen Dowd - with a reading from Hahn's "Seductio ad Absurdum: The Principles and Practices of Seduction."

Emile Zola publishes "J'Accuse!" amid the Dreyfus Affair and it is the birthday of Shonda Rimes - with a reading from Zola's "J'Accuse!"

The birthday club includes Laura Adams Armer, Jack London, Haruki Murakami, and Issa Rae - with a reading from London's "Call of the Wild."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is created and the U.S. Surgeon General proclaims smoking tobacco was a public health risk. It is the birthday of Aldo Leopold and this episode includes a reading from his landmark work "A Sand County Almanac."

Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense," the paper that drove opioid prescription, over-use, and overdoses is published, and it is the birthday of Stephen Ambrose, Jim Croce, Donald Fagen, Pat Benatar, and Shawn Colvin - with a reading from Voltaire's "Candide."

The birthday club includes the Apple iPhone, Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Krantz, and Joan Baez - with a reading from Beauvoir's "The Second Sex."