The Story of Writing

Ernest Shackleton rescues every member of his crew on the "Endurance," and the birthday club includes Mary Shelley, Virginia Lee Burton, Kitty Wells, Molly Ivins, and Anna Politkovskay - with a readi…

The Beatles play their last paid concert, and the birthday club includes John Locke, Charlie "Bird" Parker, and Temple Grandin - with a reading from Locke's "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding."

Scientific American Magazine publishes its first issue, Caleb Bradham changes the name of his "Brad's Drink," Emmet Till is murdered and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his speech now know…

The Famous Five pose the "persons" question, the Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed by the world's major powers, and the birthday club includes George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, C. S. Smith, and Alice Coltr…

The French approve the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Quebec declares French it's Provincial language, and the birthday club includes Zona Gale, Caroline Pafford Miller, and Ben…

The Great Moon Hoax begins, the U.S. National Park Service is established, and the birthday club includes Walt Kelly and Leonard Bernstein - with a reading from Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre."

The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the Treaty of Cordoba is signed, and the Panic of 1857 begins in the U.S. The birthday club includes Howard Zinn, Paulo Coelho, and Ava DuVernay - with a reading from Wil…

King George III issues a proclamation to quash the American rebellion, the 'Salad Bowl Strike' begins in California, and the World Wide Web becomes available to everyone. It is the birthday of Willia…

The Siege of Leningrad begins and the birthday club includes Claude Debussy, Dorothy Parker, Ray Bradbury, and Annie Proulx - with a reading of Parker's poem "Coda."

Nat Turner leads a slave rebellion, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas begin their famous debates, and a reading from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Minnie's Sacrifice."

Darwin rushes to publish his theory of evolution, U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson declares the Civil War is over (but northerners didn't believe him), and the Canadian Supreme Court issues a doozy of a rul…

The gold rush fuels California genocide, the liberation of Paris begins, and on Ogden Nash's birthday, a look at his writing and a reading of his poem "Everybody Tells Me Everything."

Spanish gets grammar, U.S. women win the right to vote, Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Lolita" is published in the U.S., and anti-Apartheid activist Stephen Biko is arrested in South Africa. The birthday …

Sir Walter Raleigh tries to colonize Roanoke, the world's first commercial steamboat service begins on the Hudson River, George Orwell publishes his landmark book "Animal Farm," and the birthday club…

The birthday club includes T. E. Lawrence, Georgette Heyer, Wallace Thurman, William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., Charles Bukowski, and Diana Wynne Jones - with a reading from Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of W…

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz premiers, Japan surrenders to end the Second World War and the birthday club includes Walter Scott, Oscar Peterson, Stanley Milgram, and Stieg Larsson - with a reading from…

The U.S. Social Security program is established and the birthday club includes Ernest Thompson Seton, Ernest Thayer, David Crosby, Steve Martin, Danielle Steele, and Gary Larson - with a reading from…

French King Louis XVI is arrested for treason, it is "Barbed Wire Sunday," and it is the birthday of suffragist, abolitionist, and public speaker Lucy Stone - with a reading from her response to her …

Isaac Singer gets a patent for his sewing machine, Sue Hendrickson finds the best T. rex skeleton ever discovered, and the birthday club includes Mary Roberts Rinehart, Radclyffe Hall, Erwin Schrodin…

Actress Hedy Lamarr gets a patent for tech used today, and the birthday club includes Angus Wilson and Alex Haley - with a reading from Haley's "Roots: the Saga of an American Family."