Tag: curious penman at wordpress

Carl Van Vechten Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Carl Van Vechten, born June 17, 1880.

Carl Van Vechten was an American writer and artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. He gained fame as a writer, and notoriety as well, for his 1926 novel Nigger Heaven. In his later years, he took up photography and took many portraits of notable people. Although he was married to women for most of his adult years, Van Vechten engaged in numerous homosexual affairs over his lifetime.

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.

Andy Weir Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Andy Weir, born June 16, 1972.

Andrew Taylor Weir  is an American novelist. His 2011 novel The Martian was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016and his 2021 novel Project Hail Mary was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

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.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Harriet Beecher Stowe, born June 14, 1811.

Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans. The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.

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.

Anne Frank Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Anne Frank, born June 12, 1929.

Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank  was a German-born Jewish girl who kept a diary in which she documented life in hiding under Nazi persecution during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She is a celebrated diarist who described everyday life from her family’s hiding place in an Amsterdam attic. One of the most-discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the 1947 publication of The Diary of a Young Girl (originally Het Achterhuis in Dutch, lit. ’the back house’; English: The Secret Annex), in which she documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944 — it is one of the world’s best-known books and has been the basis for several plays and films.

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.

Athol Fugard Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Athol Fugard, born June 11, 1932.

Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director widely regarded as South Africa’s greatest playwright. He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apartheid. Some of these have also been adapted for film.

His novel Tsotsi was adapted as a film of the same name and won an Academy Award in 2005. It was directed by Gavin Hood.

Acclaimed in 1985 as “the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world” by Time, Fugard continues to write. He has published more than thirty plays.

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.

Write By The Rails Workshop

06/08/2024 – Greetings one and all from Curious Penman. The Curious Penman staff were out and about in Old Town Manassas to attend a workshop held by Write By The Rails, a member organization of the Virginia Writers Club. This group event was at 10 am at Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church at 9350 Main St in Manassas, VA, and it was awesome! Mary Ellen Stone hosted the event. Nine people joined the workshop and discussed poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. This was a critique and support workshop, where writers brought samples of their work.

After laying down the ground rules for the workshop, no dominating the conversation, make sure your input is constructive and don’t be needlessly negative or positive, give specifics, etc. Curious Penman joined the fiction group with a sample of an upcoming Knight Shade Files story, and listened to other ineresting works; a short story about the day in the life of a Naval Academy graduate, a Christian thriller, and an epic Irish fantasy tale! Subsequent Write By The Rails workshops will be held at Bull Run Unitarian every first Saturday at 10 am, the next one slated for Saturday, July 6, 2024.

Catch you on the flipside!

James Salter Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to James Salter, born June 10, 1925.

James Arnold Horowitz, better known as James Salter, his pen name and later-adopted legal name, was an American novelist and short-story writer. Originally a career officer and pilot in the United States Air Force, he resigned from the military in 1957 following the successful publication of his first novel, The Hunters.

After a brief career in film writing and film directing, in 1979 Salter published the novel Solo Faces. He won numerous literary awards for his works, including belated recognition of works originally criticized at the time of their publication.

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.

Gregory Maguire Biobite

Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Gregory Maguire, born June 9, 1954.

Gregory Maguire  is an American novelist. He is the author of Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire’s adult novels are inspired by classic children’s stories. Maguire published his first novel, The Lightning Time, in 1978. Wicked, published in 1995, was his first novel for adults. It was adapted into a popular Broadway musical in 2003.

Maguire is married to American painter Andy Newman, in one of the first same-sex marriages performed in the state of Massachusetts. They have three children.

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.