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PODCAST

The Story of Writing

On this short, daily podcast, host Jon Brown talks about the writers and written work that made history on this day. Each episode includes a reading of prose or poetry.

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All Episodes

00:04:45

Story of Writing September 15, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/15

The HMS Beagle lands in the Galapagos, the 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama is bombed, and it's the birthday of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - with a reading from her novel "Half of a Yellow Sun."

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00:04:44

Story of Writing September 14, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/14

Handel completes his masterpiece "Messiah" and the birthday club includes William H. Armstrong and Kate Millett - with a reading of Kate LaDew's poem "I taste the soap in the cup of tea you pour for me."

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00:04:34

Story of Writing September 13, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/13

Henry Hudson reaches the river that would be named after him, "Je me souviens," Francis Scott Key watches the British attack Baltimore, and it's the birthday of Mildred D. Taylor - with a reading from Key's "Defense of Fort M'Henry."

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00:03:54

Story of Writing September 12, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/12

Elizabeth Barrett marries Robert Browning, Pres. John F. Kennedy delivers his speech "We choose to go to the moon," and the birthday club includes H. L. Mencken, Nellie Wong, and Michael Ondaatje - with a reading from Mencken's diary.

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00:04:39

Story of Writing September 11, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/11

Charles Lindbergh voices his anti-Semitism to a national audience and the birthday club includes O. Henry and D. H. Lawrence - with a reading from Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

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00:04:00

Story of Writing September 10, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/10

John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown Colony, Elias Howe gets the patent for a sewing machine, and the birthday club includes Hanna Webster Foster, Mary Oliver, and Stephen Jay Gould - with a reading from Gould's "Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History."

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00:03:35

Story of Writing September 9, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/09

The Compromise of 1850, "debugging," and the birthday club includes Leo Tolstoy, Kimberly Willis Holt, and Adam Sandler - with a reading from Holt's "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town."

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00:03:07

Story of Writing September 8, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/08

Michelangelo's "David" is unveiled, the Pledge of Allegiance, and Ford pardons Nixon - with a reading from Nella Larsen's "Quicksand."

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00:05:15

Story of Writing September 7, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/07

Union General William T. Sherman orders the people of Atlanta to evacuate the city and the birthday club includes C. J. Dennis, Elinor Wylie, Edith Sitwell, Dorothy Marie Donnelly, and Sonny Rollins - with a reading from Sherman's memoirs.

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00:04:05

Story of Writing September 6, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/06

Pilgrims and Puritans start settling in America, women's suffrage begins 50 years before the 19th Amendment is ratified, and the birthday club includes Isabella Leonarda, Jane Addams, and Robert Pirsig - with a reading from Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."

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00:03:56

Story of Writing September 5, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/05

The UK declares war on China in order to secure the opium trade, Pres. Teddy Roosevelt mediates the end of the Russo-Japanese war, U.S. officials arrest "Tokyo Rose," and it's Jonathan Kozol's birthday - with a reading from his book "Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools."

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00:03:13

Story of Writing September 4, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/04

Los Angeles is founded, George Eastman patents film on a roll, and Evelyn Waugh publishes A Handful of Dust." The birthday club includes Richard Wright and Beyonce - with a reading from Wright's "Black Boy."

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00:03:37

Story of Writing September 3, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/03

The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolutionary War, Frederick Douglass escapes slavery, the UN institutes its so-called Bill of Rights for Women, the Paris Global Climate Agreement is ratified, and a reading from Douglass's "My Escape from Slavery."

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00:05:10

Story of Writing September 2, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/02

Theodore Roosevelt first says, "Walk softly, and carry a big stick," the Japanese sign the Instrument of Surrender to end combat in WWII, and the birthday club includes Eugene Field and Billy Preston - with a reading from Roosevelt's essay "Lincoln and Free Speech."

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00:04:43

Story of Writing September 1, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/09/01

The first woman switchboard operator goes to work and the birthday club includes Johann Pachelbel, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Harriet Shaw Weaver, Liz Carpenter, and Lily Tomlin - with a reading from Elspeth Huxley's "The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood."

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00:05:32

Story of Writing August 31, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/08/31

Union troops - under Gen. William T. Sherman - attacked the city of Atlanta, Zeppelin got the patent for a "navigable balloon," the U.S. Congress passed its first neutrality act, and the Nazis mounted a false flag attack within Germany to establish a reason to invade Poland. The birthday club includes Roger Dean, Van Morrison, and Itzhak Perlman - with a reading from Willa Cather's "The Song of the Lark."

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00:04:40

Story of Writing August 30, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/08/30

Explorer Ernest Shackleton rescues every member of his crew on the ship Endurance and the birthday club includes Mary Shelley, Virginia Lee Burton, Kitty Wells, Molly Ivins, and Anna Politkovskaya - with a reading from Shelley's "Frankenstein."

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00:04:08

Story of Writing August 29, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/08/29

The birthday club includes John Locke, Charlie "Bird" Parker, and Temple Grandin - with a reading from Locke's "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding."

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00:06:02

Story of Writing August 28, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/08/28

Scientific American magazine prints its first issue, Emmet Till is murdered in Mississippi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his speech now called "I Have a Dream" - which is today's reading.

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00:04:34

Story of Writing August 27, 2026

The Story of Writing ·

2026/08/27

Canada's "Famous Five" ask a simple question, the Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed, and the birthday club includes Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Cecil Smith, and Alice Coltrane - with a reading of a comic poem by an unknown writer.

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1,228 results

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