Anne Brontë Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Anne Brontë, born January 17, 1820.

Anne Brontë was an English novelist and poet, and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.

Anne Brontë was the daughter of Maria (née Branwell) and Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England. Anne lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors.

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

Happy Hour Café

01/15/2024 ‑ Curious Penman attended the Happy Hour Café writer’s venue at Panera Bread at 8085 Sudley Road in Manassas on Saturday, January 13, 2024.  Food, drink, and conversation were enjoyed as local writers engaged in this month’s writing exercise prompted by the painting of a lone cowboy against a big city backdrop.  One scenario placed the gunslinger traversing the city with a watchful eye.  Curious Penman drafted a scene where the gunslinger stops a robbery attempt. 

Due to a schedule conflict with ScribbleCon24, February’s café will not be held.  The next Happy Hour Café is scheduled for March 9, 2024.

Spilled Ink VA EAST

01/14/2024 ‑ Curious Penman attended Spilled Ink VA East via ZOOM on Friday, January 12, 2024.  Twelve participants read a variety of different works for poetry and prose.  Topics included loss and grief, love and relationships, and the Curious Penman offered poetry about food (from the Winter Writing Workshop).  This session even had a last minute celebrity guest, writer and voice actor Khris Heaton of YouTube’s Power Rangers: Unworthy.  Heaton stopped by to read some of his personal  science fiction work.

Our next ZOOM meeting will be on Friday, February 9, 2024.

Anthony Hecht Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Anthony Hecht, born January 16, 1923.

Anthony Evan Hecht was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, and the Holocaust being recurrent themes in his work.

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

Ernest J. Gaines Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Ernest J. Gaines, born January 15, 1933.

Ernest James Gaines was an American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. Four of his works were made into television movies.

His 1993 novel, A Lesson Before Dying, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Gaines was a MacArthur Foundation fellow, was awarded the National Humanities Medal, and was inducted into the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) as a Chevalier.

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

David Bergen Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to David Bergen, born January 14, 1957.

David Bergen  is a Canadian novelist. He has published eleven novels and two collections of short stories since 1993 and is currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His 2005 novel The Time in Between won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and he was a finalist again in 2010 (for The Matter With Morris) and 2020 (for Here the Dark), making the long list in 2008 (for The Retreat).

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

Carolyn See Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Carolyn See, born 1934.

Carolyn See was a professor emerita of English at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of ten books, including the memoir, Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America, an advice book on writing, Making a Literary Life, and the novels There Will Never Be Another You, Golden Days, and The Handyman. See was also a book critic for the Washington Post for 27 years.

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

David Mitchell Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to David Mitchell, born January 12, 1969.

David Stephen Mitchell is an English novelist, television writer, and screenwriter.

He has written nine novels, two of which, number9dream and Cloud Atlas, were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He has also written articles for several newspapers, most notably for The Guardian, and translated books about autism from Japanese to English.

Mitchell was born in Southport in Lancashire (now Merseyside), England, and raised in Malvern, Worcestershire. He was educated at Hanley Castle High School and at the University of Kent, where he obtained a degree in English and American Literature followed by an M.A. in Comparative Literature.

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.

Alan Paton Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Alan Paton, born January 11, 1903.

Alan Stewart Paton was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels Cry, the Beloved Country, Too Late the Phalarope and the narrative poem The Wasteland.

Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg in the Colony of Natal (now South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province), the son of a civil servant (who was of Christadelphian belief). After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed by a diploma in education.

To read more, go to Wikipedia.

To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.