The American Poet Series
On August 22, 1970, the US Post Office issued the first stamp in the American Poet Series. The series honored seven prolific American poets.
Literature
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Birth of Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash was born on August 19, 1902, in Rye, New York. Having written over 500 poems during his life, Nash is considered America’s best-known humorous poet.
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Death of Nathaniel Hawthorne
American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, while on a trip with former president Franklin Pierce to the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
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Birth of L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was born on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York, about 30 miles from Mystic’s home in Camden. Long before he created Dorothy, Toto, and the Yellow Brick Road, Baum followed a winding path through printing, stamps, poultry, theater, newspapers, sales work, and children’s books.
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Birth of August Wilson
On April 27, 1945, a boy named Frederick August Kittel Jr. was born in a two-room apartment in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. No one in that neighborhood could have guessed he would one day have a Broadway theater named after him. He would grow up to become August Wilson, one of the most celebrated playwrights in American history.
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Birth of Thornton Wilder
On April 17, 1897, playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Over the next several decades, he would become one of America’s most respected writers, known for works that explored everyday life with unusual clarity and structure.
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Birth of John Steinbeck
Acclaimed author John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. From that small farming town would come a writer whose novels captured the struggles of migrant workers, ranch hands, and families uprooted by the Great Depression.
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Mark Twain Publishes Huckleberry Finn
On February 18, 1885, American readers finally got their hands on a novel that captured the raw voice and restless spirit of life along the river. The long-awaited US release of Huckleberry Finn introduced a bold storytelling style that reflected real speech, real conflict, and a complicated nation still wrestling with its past.
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First Inauguration Poetry Reading
On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy took the oath of office on a cold Washington day, while the nation witnessed something entirely new at a presidential inauguration. Standing beside the youthful new president was Robert Frost, America’s most famous living poet, marking the first time poetry became part of the inaugural ceremony.
