Story The Writer’s Almanac

It's the birthday of Alex Haley (1921-1992), who wrote both "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (1965) and "Roots" (1976).

It's the birthday of Joyce Sutphen, Poet Laureate of Minnesota, whose poem "Happiness" we are featuring today.

It’s the birthday of author P.L. Travers (1899-1996), who described her popular Mary Poppins series as “both a joy and a curse.”

The first refrigerator was patented in the United States on this date in 1899. The company Frigidaire was founded 19 years later.

Today’s episode features a poem by Galway Kinnell, called “Wait,” promising that “Personal events will become interesting again.”

75 years ago today, in 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing 80,000 people on impact.

The comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" on this day in 1924. Creator Harold Gray was staunchly anti-FDR, but the musical version intentionally subverted his politics.

It’s the birthday of pioneering jazz musician Louis Armstrong (1901-1971), who said, “Seems to me it ain’t the world that’s so bad but what we’re doing to it.”

It’s the birthday of British crime novelist P.D. James (1920-2014), who had a seat in the House of Lords and also worked as a local magistrate.

It's the 78th birthday of Isabel Allende (1942), who once got fired for translating romance novels too liberally, adding depth and independence to the women characters.