Monday

Jul. 3, 2000

maggie and milly and molly and may

by E. E. Cummings

Broadcast date: MONDAY, 3 July 2000

Poem: "maggie and milly and molly and may," by e.e. cummings, from The Complete Poems 1913-1962 (Harcourt Brace Javonovitch).

It's the birthday in Boone, North Carolina, 1935, of John Yount, the novelist who wrote Hardcastle, Toots in Solitude, and Thief of Dreams--books set in the Great Depression in the hills of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.

It's the anniversary, 1916, of the start of The Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War.

It's the birthday in Berkshire, England, 1912, of writer Elizabeth Taylor, author of At Mrs. Lippincote's (1945), A Wreath of Roses (1950), The Wedding Group (1968), and several volumes of short stories, many of which first appeared in the New Yorker.

It's the birthday in Albion, Michigan, 1908, of writer M.F.K Fisher, author of 15 books of essays, and hundreds of stories for the New Yorker, most of them having to do with food. Some of her books: How to Cook a Wolf (1942), The Gastronomical Me (1943), and With Bold Knife and Fork (1968).

It's Francis Steegmuller's birthday, New Haven, Connecticut, 1906--author of several dozen short stories, mysteries, comic novels, and pieces for the New Yorker and other magazines, but best known for her biographies, particularly of French artists. Her biography of Jean Cocteau won the 1971 National Book Award.

It's the birthday in Prague, 1883, of Franz Kafka, author of The Trial, The Castle, and other books.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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