Show Notes: Weekend Edition (Jan 30 - Feb 1, 2026)

Today's Feature: The 95th birthday of Shirley Hazzard, the 102nd birthday of Lloyd Alexander, and the 125th birthday of Langston Hughes.

Deep Dive:

• Shirley Hazzard: A master of the "international novel" whose work examines the intersection of private love and public history with surgical precision.

• Lloyd Alexander: The fantasy pioneer who adapted Welsh mythology into a universal coming-of-age story about duty and character.

• Langston Hughes: The "Poet Laureate of Harlem" who revolutionized American verse by centering the rhythms and experiences of the Black working class.

Weekend Writing Prompt:Langston Hughes often used the rhythm of music to structure his poetry. For your prompt this weekend, choose a piece of music without lyrics (jazz, classical, or lo-fi). Write a short scene or a poem where the sentence length and "beat" of your writing mimic the tempo of the music you are hearing.

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Show Notes: Thursday, January 29, 2026

Today's Feature: The 166th birthday of Anton Chekhov, the 194th birthday of Edward William Blyden, the 161st birthday of Mary Gilmore, and the 141st birthday of Alain Locke.

Deep Dive:

• Anton Chekhov: The physician-writer who redefined the short story by focusing on the quiet, unresolvable "middle of things" rather than traditional moral endings.

• Edward William Blyden: The father of Pan-Africanism whose linguistic mastery and diplomatic career aimed to restore the global dignity of the African diaspora.

• Mary Gilmore: The "Bush Poet" and national icon of Australia who utilized her platform to champion the rights of the poor and Indigenous Australians.

• Alain Locke: The Rhodes Scholar and curator of the Harlem Renaissance who provided the philosophical framework for the "New Negro" movement in American arts.

Poem: "The Myall in Leaf" by Mary Gilmore (Public Domain).

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Show Notes: Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Today's Feature: The 151st birthday of Antonio Machado, the 74th birthday of Humberto Ak'abal, the 152nd birthday of Dmitry Gulia, and the 87th anniversary of the passing of W.B. Yeats.

Deep Dive:

• Antonio Machado: A cornerstone of Spain's "Generation of '98" whose introspective poetry transformed the landscapes of Castile into a mirror for the human soul.

• Humberto Ak'abal: The K'iche' Maya poet who used onomatopoeia and indigenous oral traditions to give the natural world of the Guatemalan highlands a modern literary voice.

• Dmitry Gulia: The foundational figure of Abkhaz literature who created the nation’s first alphabet and newspaper to preserve a culture under pressure.

• W.B. Yeats: A reflection on the Irish giant’s final days and his transition from the mystical folklore of his youth to the sharp, structural modernism of his later years.

Poem: "Has My Heart Gone to Sleep?" by Antonio Machado (Public Domain).

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Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Today's Feature: The 194th birthday of Lewis Carroll, the 135th birthday of Ilya Ehrenburg, and the 105th birthday of James Jones.

Deep Dive:

• Lewis Carroll: Beyond Wonderland—exploring the mathematical logic and the private life of Charles Dodgson.

• Ilya Ehrenburg: The survivor of Soviet censorship whose novel The Thaw defined a generation of political change.

• James Jones: The gritty realism of the man who gave us From Here to Eternity.

• Poem: "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll (Public Domain).

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Show Notes: Monday, January 26, 2026

Today's Feature: The 194th birthday of Jules Vallès, the 175th birthday of Mary Augusta Ward, and the 126th birthday of Seán Ó Faoláin.

Deep Dive:

• Jules Vallès: The French radical whose trilogy Jacques Vingtras brought the language of the street to the French novel.

• Mary Augusta Ward: A look at the Victorian "novel of ideas" and the woman who wrote the million-selling Robert Elsmere.

• Seán Ó Faoláin: The Irish short story master who fought for independence and then fought against the censorship of his own country.

• Poem: "The Shepherdess" by Alice Meynell (Public Domain).

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Weekend Edition, January 23–25, 2026

Today's Feature: The birthdays of Stendhal, Colette, Edith Wharton, Robert Burns, and Somerset Maugham.

Deep Dive:

• Stendhal & Colette: Two French masters of realism and sensory prose who defined the psychological novel.

• Edith Wharton: A Pulitzer-winning look into the aristocratic cages of Old New York.

• Robert Burns: Why the "Ploughman Poet" is still celebrated with a global supper 267 years after his birth.

• W. Somerset Maugham: Insights from the doctor-turned-author who prioritized work over inspiration.

• Writing Prompt: Edith Wharton often wrote about "the cage" of social expectations. Write a scene where a character is physically comfortable in a beautiful setting but feels entirely trapped by a specific social rule they must follow. What is the one thing they want to say, but can't?

• Poem: "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns (Public Domain).

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Today's Feature: The 238th birthday of Lord Byron, the 177th birthday of August Strindberg, and a tribute to Virginia Woolf.

Deep Dive:

• Lord Byron: The original literary celebrity who balanced dark Romanticism with sharp social satire and invented the "Byronic Hero."

• August Strindberg: The Swedish playwright who pioneered naturalism, explored alchemy, and shifted the foundations of modern drama.

• Virginia Woolf: Remembering the legacy of the woman who captured the "flickering" of human consciousness and fought for women's intellectual independence.

• Poem: "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron (Public Domain).

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Show Notes: Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Today's Feature: The 95th birthday of E.L. Doctorow, the 96th birthday of Derek Walcott, and the 76th anniversary of George Orwell's death.

Deep Dive:

• E.L. Doctorow: The master of historical fiction who compared the writing process to "driving at night in the fog."

• Derek Walcott: The St. Lucian Nobel laureate who bridged the gap between the Caribbean and the classical Western canon.

• George Orwell: Reflecting on the final, grueling days of the man who wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four from a hospital bed.

• Poem: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost (Public Domain).

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