The Writer's Almanac

Today's Poem and Literary Notes

• The Writer's Almanac
  Monday's Poem: "Black Umbrellas," by Rick Agran from Crow Milk. Monday's Literary Notes: It's the birthday, in Washington, D.C., 1947, of writer Ann Beattie, the author of novels and short stories about Americans who came of age in the 1960s. Her first writings appeared in the early 1970s, when The New Yorker began accepting her short stories. She became something of a legend for how fast she worked: 22 stories in a year, then a complete draft of her first novel, Chilly Scenes of Winter, in three weeks.