APM: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac Podcast feed

Sunday’s Poem: “A November Sunrise” by Anne Porter, from An Altogether Different Language. Sunday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday Madeleine L’Engle, born in New York City (1918), who struggled to find any success as a writer with novels ...

Saturday’s Poem: “Bouquet” by Jerry Roscoe, from The Unexamined Life. Saturday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of William Blake, born in London (1757). He wrote Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794) and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell ...

Friday’s Poem: “The Surgeon” by Alicia Suskin Ostriker, from The Book of Seventy. Friday’s Literary Notes: It was on this day in 1978 that San Francisco mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by Dan White, a former ...

Wednesday’s Poem: “Two Girls” by Jim Harrison, from Saving Daylight. Wednesday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of Leonard Woolf, born in London (1880). He was an incredibly prolific writer, though his literary achievements were overshadowed ...

Thursday’s Poem: “In Sickness and Health” by Alicia Suskin Ostriker, from The Book of Seventy. Thursday’s Literary Notes: It was on this day in 1922 that archaeologist Howard Carter and his patron Lord Carnarvon became the first people in more ...

Monday’s Poem: “Where They Were and What They Were Doing” by Matt Cook, from In the Small of My Backyard. Monday’s Literary Notes: Today, the winner of the 2005 National Spelling Bee turns 18. Anurag Kashyap, who was born in India and grew up in ...

Tuesday’s Poem: “What the Dark-Eyed Angel Knows” by Eleanor Lerman, from The Mystery of Meteors. Tuesday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of the publisher and editor of The Little Review magazine, Margaret Anderson, born in Indianapolis ...

Sunday’s Poem: “Head Cheerleader” by Jack Ridl, from Losing Season. Sunday’s Literary Notes: It was about 12:30 p.m. on this day in 1963 that President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. It was the ...

Saturday’s Poem: “XI.” by Wendell Berry, from Leavings. Saturday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of Christopher Reuel Tolkien (1924) born in Leeds, England. He’s the youngest son of J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings, and he ...

Friday’s Poem: “Farley, Iowa” by Christopher Wiseman, from the longer poem “Standing by Stones” from Crossing the Salt Flats. Friday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of South African novelist Nadine Gordimer, born in Springs, South ...

Thursday’s Poem: “Diagnosis” by Sharon Olds, from One Secret Thing. Thursday’s Literary Notes: It was on this day in 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln got up in front of about 15,000 people seated at a new national cemetery in Gettysburg, ...

Tuesday’s Poem: “Alexandria, 1953” by Gregory Djanikian, from Falling Deeply into America. Tuesday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of the man who created Saturday Night Live — Lorne Michaels, born in Toronto, Canada (1944). He majored in ...

Wednesday’s Poem: “My Love For All Things Warm and Breathing” by William Kloefkorn, from Cottonwood County: Poems by William Kloefkorn and Ted Kooser. Wednesday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of novelist and poet Margaret Atwood, born in ...

Sunday’s Poem: “Manners” by Howard Nemerov, from The Selected Poems of Howard Nemerov. Sunday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (1887). In 1923, she said, “One day seven years ago ...

Sunday’s Poem: “Manners” by Howard Nemerov, from The Selected Poems of Howard Nemerov. Sunday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (1887). In 1923, she said, “One day seven years ago ...

Monday’s Poem: “Middle School Band Concert” by Christine Rhein, from Wild Flight. Monday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of the novelist Andrea Barrett, born in Boston, Massachusetts (1954). She is known for writing fiction about botanists, ...

Monday’s Poem: “Middle School Band Concert” by Christine Rhein, from Wild Flight. Monday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of the novelist Andrea Barrett, born in Boston, Massachusetts (1954). She is known for writing fiction about botanists, ...

Saturday’s Poem: “Cranberry-Orange Relish” by John Engels, from Sinking Creek. Saturday’s Literary Notes: It was on this day in 1851 that Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick was published, and it was a total flop. He had pored his heart and soul ...

Friday’s Poem: “Grapefruit” by Ted McMahon, from The Uses of Imperfection. Friday’s Literary Notes: It’s the birthday of the man who wrote the first memoir in Western literature: St. Augustine, born in 354 in Thagaste, which is now in Algeria. ...