The Story of Writing

The U.S. Post Office Department is founded, Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville" and Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" premiere, "The Futurist Manifesto" is published, Prohibition in the U.S. begins to roll back, U.S. film studios allow the government to censor their scripts, and Norman Rockwell's "Four Freedoms" begin to appear on the cover of...

New Amsterdam becomes New York (again), "The Feminine Mystique" is published, and the birthday club includes Kay Boyle, Carson McCullers, Smokey Robinson, Amy Tan, and Helen Fielding - with a reading from Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman."

"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is published, the Chicago Seven are acquitted, and the birthday club includes Wallace Stegner and Toni Morrison - with a reading from Morison's "Song of Solomon."

Happy birthdays to Isabelle Eberhardt, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and Chaim Potok - with a reading from one of Eberhardt's notebook.

The first anti-discrimination law in the U.S. is passed and happy birthday to Otis Blackwell - with a reading from "Plum Bun," by Jessie Redmon Fauset.

Christopher Columbus, while sailing on the ship "Nina," wrote a letter describing some of the things he saw on his 1492 voyage of discovery, and happy birthday to Susan B. Anthony - with a reading from her book "On the Campaign for Divorce Law Reform."

Voyager 1 snaps the picture titled "The Pale Blue Dot," and the birthday club includes Christopher Latham Sholes and Carl Bernstein - with a reading from Anne Bronte's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall."

ASCAP takes shape, the Dresden Fire Bombing begins, Australia apologizes for its mistreatment of Aboriginal populations, and the birthday club includes Eleanor Farjeon and Kate Roberts - with a reading from Mary Shelley's masterpiece "Frankenstein."

Quite the birthday club: Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, and Judy Blume - with a reading from Lincoln's second inaugural address.

The first accusation of Gerrymandering, the Flint "Sit Down" Strike, the Seabed Arms Control Treaty, and happy birthdays to Joy Williams and Mo Willems - with a reading from Williams' "The Quick and the Dead."

Happy birthdays to William Allen White and Boris Pasternak - with a reading from Pasternak's classic "Doctor Zhivago."

Giuseppe Verdi’s last opera, “Falstaff,” premiers at La Scala in Milan, and the birthday club includes Thomas Paine, Carole King, and Alice Walker - with a reading from Paine’s “The Rights of Man.”

Happy birthdays to Jules Verne and Kate Chopin - with a reading from Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Seas."

Emile Zola goes on trial for revealing the Dreyfus Affair, the U.S. imposes a more than 45-year embargo on Cuba, the Maastricht Treaty is signed creating the European Union, Mississippi ratifies the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, and the birthday club includes Charles Dickens, Laura Ingall's Wilder, and Sinclair Lewis - with a reading from Lewis' "Babbitt."

Queen Elizabeth II becomes ruler of England, and the birthday club includes Francois Truffaut, Bob Marley, Natalie Cole, and Michael Pollan - with a reading of the poem "Inventory," by Dorothy Parker.

U.S. Steel is formed, the Immigration Act of 1917, United Artists is launched, happy birthday to William S. Burroughs - with a reading from "The Letters of Madame De Sevigne to Her Daughter," by Marie Rabutin-Chantal De Sevigne.

George Washington is elected President of the U.S., France abolishes slavery, and happy birthday to Betty Friedan - with a reading from Kate Chopin's "The Awakening."

The 15th Amendment is ratified in the U.S., the day the music died, and the birthday club includes Gertrude Stein and James Michener - with a reading from "Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte.

Alexander Selkirk is rescued, the Mexican-American War ends with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, both James Joyce and his novel "Ulysses" come into the world, the serum run finishes in Nome, Alaska - and a reading from Joyce's "Ulysses."

President Abraham Lincoln signs the 13th Amendment, the Oxford English Dictionary publishes its first volume, the Voice of America begins broadcasting, segregated lunch counter sit-ins begin, and happy birthday to Langston Hughes - with a reading of Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

The U.S. Congress passes the 13th Amendment, the Winter Soldier Investigation, and happy birthday to Zane Grey - with a reading from Grey's "Riders of the Purple Sage."

Antarctica is discovered, San Francisco gets its name, COVID is declared a PHEIC, and happy birthday to Richard Brautigan - with a reading from George Sand's "Indiana."

"The Raven" is published, Karl Benz patents the gas-powered car, Queen Liliʻuokalani begins leading Hawaii, and the birthday club includes Anton Chekhov and Florida Ruffin Ridley - with a reading from Ridley's writing in "The Woman's Era" newspaper.

"Pride and Prejudice" is published - with a reading from Jane Austen's master piece.

The Outer Space Treaty, the Paris Peace Accords, the U.S. National Recording Registry, and happy birthdays to Lewis Carroll and Peter Laird - with a reading from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."