Birthday of Interesting Writers

Here are two interesting little snippets from today's edition of Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac":

It's the birthday of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, born in Chicago, Illinois (1937). He has written for The New Yorker for many years. He said, "I don't make deals, I don't party and drink with sources, and I don't play a game of leaks. I read, I listen, I squirrel information. It's fun."


It's the birthday of Barbara Kingsolver, (books by this author) born in Annapolis, Maryland (1955). She started writing fiction when she was pregnant and had horrible insomnia. She wrote every night, but she didn't want to disturb her husband, so she worked on her novel in a closet. It was the story of a young woman who decides she needs to get out of her small town in Kentucky, and drives across the country to Arizona. Along the way, she changes her name from Marietta to Taylor, and she reluctantly takes in a three-year-old child named Turtle.

That novel was The Bean Trees (1988), and it made Kingsolver's name. Since then, she has written poetry, essays, and novels like The Poisonwood Bible (1998) and Prodigal Summer (2001). In 2007, she published Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,a book about her family's year of eating only food that was grown within 100 miles of their house. It was a huge best seller.

She said, "It is harrowing for me to try to teach 20-year-old students, who earnestly want to improve their writing. The best I can think to tell them is: Quit smoking, and observe posted speed limits. This will improve your odds of getting old enough to be wise."