Podcast
The Story of Writing
Hosted by Jon Brown · EN
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.
109episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Story of Writing July 8, 2026
3w ago00:04:40Tap to summarizeThe Wall Street Journal publishes its first edition, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hits its lowest point in the 20th Century, and the Nixon Administration changes how it would work with indigenous people in the U.S., and it's the birthday of science historian Margaret Rossiter - with a reading from Matilda Joslyn Gage's "Woman as Inventor."
Transcribe →Story of Writing July 7, 2026
4w ago00:03:37Tap to summarizeIn New York City, riots break out against abolition of slavery, the U.S. begins its first military draft, the Ziegfeld Follies begin a 20-year run, and bakeries start selling sliced bread - with a reading from Countee Cullen's poem "Bread and Wine."
Transcribe →Story of Writing July 6, 2026
4w ago00:04:40Tap to summarizeLouis Pasteur uses a vaccine to save a nine-year-old boy who was mauled by a rabid dog, Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a military bus, and the birthday club includes Marc Chagall and Viola Desmond - with a reading of Lucille Clifton's poem "won't you celebrate with me."
Transcribe →Story of Writing July 5, 2026
4w ago00:04:08Tap to summarizeIsaac Newton publishes his masterwork: "Principia," Frederick Douglass gives his enduring speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" The bikini makes a splash when it's introduced at a swimming pool in Paris and it is Bill Watterson's birthday - with a reading from William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Transcribe →Story of Writing July 4, 2026
4w ago00:05:28Tap to summarizeThe writing - and politics - of the Declaration of Independence - with a reading from a letter from delegate Benjamin Rush to U.S. President John Adams.
Transcribe →Story of Writing July 3, 2026
4w ago00:04:03Tap to summarizeGeneral George Washington takes command of the Continental Army, and the Battle of Gettysburg comes to an end, and it's the birthday of writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman - with a reading from her short story "If I Were A Man."
Transcribe →Story of Writing July 2, 2026
Jul 200:04:55Tap to summarizeThe U.S. decides to sever ties with the UK, the ship "Amistad" was overtaken by Africans kidnapped to become slaves in America, Jean Sibelius's "Finlandia" premieres, signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the birthday club includes Hermann Hesse and Thurgood Marshall - with a reading from Hesse's letter to a reader who expressed hopelessness.
Transcribe →Story of Writing July 1, 2026
Jul 100:04:39Tap to summarizeThe oldest surviving benchmarks for global sea level tells a grim tale, the U.S. Civil War Battle of Gettysburg begins, Canada is born, the WWI Battle of the Somme begins, and it's the birthday of George Sand - with a reading from one of her letters to one of her former lovers.
Transcribe →Story of Writing June 30, 2026
Jun 3000:04:47Tap to summarizeThe Wilberforce-Huxley evolution debate at Oxford becomes an exchange of thinly veiled insults, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Yosemite Valley Grant Act, Albert Einstein publishes On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, the National Organization for Women is established, and it's the birthday of Joan Murrell Owens - with a reading from Rachel Carson's "The Edge of the Sea."
Transcribe →Story of Writing June 29, 2026
Jun 2900:04:11Tap to summarizeFire rips through Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London and the birthday club includes Celia Thaxter, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and Stokely Carmichael - with a reading from Carmichael's speech to UC Berkeley.
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