It’s the birthday of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), a devoted aesthete and one of the most quotable authors in the English language.

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It's the birthday of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844), who wrote that God was like a star whose light we can see, even though the star died long ago.

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It’s the birthday of poet and playwright e e cummings (1894-1962), about whom a critic once asked, “What is wrong with a man who writes like this?”

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It's the birthday of Harlem Renaissance writer Arnaud "Arna" Wendell Bontemps (1902-1973), who also preserved and anthologized African American literature.

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On this day in 1823, Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh sold the first raincoat. They are still sometimes called "macs" in Great Britain.

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"Saturday Night Live" premiered on this day in 1975, with George Carlin as host and Andy Kaufman and the Muppets as special guests.

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It's the birthday of singer-songwriter John Prine (1946), who died of complications stemming from COVID-19 earlier this year.

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It's the birthday of writer Belva Plain (1915-2010), whose first book, "Evergreen," stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for 61 weeks.

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100 years ago today, the science fiction author Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, Washington. He is best known for "Dune" (1965) and its sequels.

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It's the birthday of poet and author Diane Ackerman (1948), who is known for her wide-ranging works that blend science and literary art.

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