The Story of Writing

Missouri's Governor issues the Extermination Order targeting Mormons, Vasily Arkhipov refuses to launch a Soviet nuclear weapon and spares humanity, and happy birthday to Sylvia Plath - with a reading from her journal.

Wyatt Earp is caught up in the gunfight that made Tombstone, Arizona famous and Ida B. Wells publishes her pamphlet "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases." Happy birthdays to Hilary Clinton and Marisha Pessl - with a reading from Wells' "Red Record."

The Charge of the Light Brigade, the Zinoviev letter, and happy birthdays to Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, Anne Tyler, Zadie Smith, and Katy Perry - with a reading from Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo."

The U.S. transcontinental telegraph line goes live, the first time someone goes over Niagara Falls and survives, and Iceland's women go on strike. And happy birthdays to Sarah Josepha Hale and Alexandra David-Neel - with a reading from George MacDonald's "At the Back of the North Wind."

The first national convention on Women’s Rights begins and happy birthdays to Ellie Greenwich and Michael Crichton - with a reading from Crichton's "The Lost World."

The Cuban Missile Crisis begins and the birthday club includes Dorris Lessing, Timothy Leary, and Julie Dash - with a reading from Robert Louis Stevenson's " The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Thomas Edison applies for his patent for the incandescent lightbulb and Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" is published. The birthday club includes Ursula Le Guin and Carrie Fisher - with a reading from Fisher's "Postcards From the Edge."

The Louisiana Purchase is ratified, the U.N. approves the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and the birthday club includes Isabelle de Charrière and Nellie McClung - with a reading from McClung's "Sowing Seeds in Danny."

American colonists, helped by the French, won their independence from the British, "Black Monday," and the birthday club includes Miguel Ángel Asturias, Walter Munk, John le Carre, Philip Pullman, and Tracy Chevalier - with a reading from Willa Cather's "My Antonia."

Herman Melville's "The Whale" is first published and Phyllis Wheatley is freed. The birthday club includes Isabel Briggs Meyers, Martha Burk, Ntozake Shange, Wendy Wasserstein, and Terry McMillan - with a reading from Wheatley's "To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth."

Marconi begins the service sending wireless signals across the North 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."

The Cardiff Giant is "discovered," and becomes the quintessential story of our time.

The switch between the Julian and Gregorian calendars begins and happy birthdays to P. G. Wodehouse, Mario Puzo, Italo Calvino, and Eugene Patterson - with a reading from Wodehouse's "My Man Jeeves."

George Eastman gets the U.S. patent for photographic strip film, Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier, and Martin Luther King, Jr., Aung San Suu Kyi, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, and Yasser Arafat are awarded Nobel Peace Prizes. Happy birthdays to Katherine Mansfield and Usher - with a reading from Mansfield's "At the Bay."

Happy birthday to Mary Kingsley, Arna Bontemps, and Paul Simon - with a reading from Bontemps' "A Black Man Talks of Reaping."

The Salem Witch Trials end, the first U.S. asylum opens, Desmond Doss becomes the only conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor, and nearly 50,000 Finns abandon their churches. Happy birthday Kamini Roy - with a reading from "The Awakening," by Kate Chopin.

In San Francisco, California, Japanese-American students were told they could no longer attend public schools and the AIDS Quilt was first displayed in public. Happy birthday to Elmore Leonard and Thich Nhat Hanh. And South Korean novelist Han Kang is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Today's reading is from "Jane Eyre," by Charlotte Bronte.

Spiro Agnew resigns as Vice President of the U.S. The birthday club includes Louise Mack, Harold Pinter, Lily Tuck, and John Prine - with a reading from Mack's "A Woman's Experiences in the Great War: An Australian Author's Clandestine Journey Through War-Torn Belgium. "

Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the French abolish the death penalty, and the Taliban try to assassinate Malala Yousafzai. Happy birthday to John Lennon - with a reading from "The Age of Reason" by Edith Wharton.

Joan Mance opens North America's first hospital, Der Spiegel faces accusations of treason, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize for Literature, and "Cats!" opens on Broadway. Happy birthday to R. L. Stine - with a reading from Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises."

King George III signs the Royal Proclamation that - unintentionally - recognized aboriginal title, the McCollum memo is issued, and U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Happy birthdays to Ann Eliza Smith, James Whitcomb Riley, Alice Dalgliesh, and Michelle Alexander - with a reading from Riley's "A Good Man."

The first opera is performed, the music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia forms, the film "The Jazz Singer" premiers, and Annie Ernaux is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Happy birthdays to Caroline Gordon, Shana Alexander, and Marshall Rosenberg - with a reading from "Their Eyes Were Watch God," by Zora Neale Hurston.

PBS launches in the US and the birthday club includes Louise Fitzhugh and Neil DeGrasse Tyson - with a reading from Jane Austen's "Persuasion."

Willie Gillis makes his first appearance on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post and the birthday club includes Edward Stratemeyer, Donald Sobol, Jackie Collins, and Anne Rice - with a reading from Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations."

Proclamations of Thanksgiving keep happening on this day and happy birthdays to Thomas Wolfe and Gore Vidal - with a reading from Wolfe's "You Can’t Go Home Again."