The Story of Writing

The birthday club includes George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Christine Brennan, Raphael Saadiq, and Mark Zuckerberg - with a reading from George Orwell's "1984."

Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom declares that Britain would remain neutral in the U.S. Civil War, the MOVE bombing, and a reading from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Two Offers."

The birthday club includes Albert Murray, Burt Bacharach, and George Carlin - with a reading from "Never Cry Wolf," by Farley Mowat.

The first book is published and the birthday club includes Harriet Quimby and Irving Berlin - with a reading of "Love 6" by Rose Auslander.

Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman to be nominated to be U.S. President, Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the UK, and the very first issue of Marvel Comics' "The Hulk" was published. The birthday club includes Max Steiner, Ariel Durant, and Bel Kaufman - with a reading from Kaufman's semi-autobiographical novel "Up the Down Staircase."

The birthday club includes J. M. Barrie, Richard Adams, and Alan Bennett - with a reading from Bennett's "The History Boys."

It is Victory in Europe Day, the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, and the birthday club includes Gary Snyder and Naomi Klein - with a reading from Klein's book "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate."

Beethoven premiers his 9th Symphony, Geoffrey Dummer publishes his idea of an integrated circuit, and the birthday club includes David Hume, Ruth Prawer-Jhabvala, and Angela Carter - with a reading from Hume's “Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences.”

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the Works Progress Administration and the birthday club includes Orson Welles, Bob Seger, and Martha Nussbaum - with a reading from Nussbaum's "Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities."

The birthday club includes Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Tammy Wynette, and Michael Palin - with a reading from Kierkegaard's book "Either/Or."

The May 4th Movement in China and the Kent State shootings in Ohio - with a reading from Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea."

SCOTUS rules against race-based real-estate agreements and the birthday club includes Septima Poinsette Clark and Pete Seeger - with a reading from Clark's "Purpose of Citizenship Schools."

The 522nd Artillery Group stops a WWII forced march and saved hundreds and it's the birthday of pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock - and a reading from Charlotte Armstrong's "The Unsuspected."

England and Scotland form Great Britain, Carl Linnaeus publishes 'Species Plantarum,' which began the use of the two Latin names that identify species, the Memphis Massacre begins, worker rallies lead to the creation of May Day, and it's the birthday of Joseph Heller - with a reading from his novel, 'Catch 22.'

The birthday club includes John Crow Ransom, Annie Dillard, and Jane Campion - with a reading from Dillard's master work "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek."

On her birthday, a look back at the writing and other creative work of Amy Krouse Rosenthal - with a reading from her "Modern Love" essay in The New York Times, titled "You May Want to Marry My Husband."

Muhammad Ali refuses to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War and the birthday club includes Harper Lee and Terry Pratchett - with a reading from Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird."

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."

Georgia becomes the last state needed to ratify the 13th Amendment - ending slavery in the US, President Theodore Roosevelt states his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and the Irish Free State is born. The birthday club includes Cornelia Meigs, Ira Gershwin, and Stephen Wright - with a reading from Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth."