Birthdays: Hugo Gernsback (1884), T.E. Lawrence (1888), Georgette Heyer (1902), Wallace Thurman (1902), William Maxwell, Jr. (1908), Matt Christopher (1917), Charles Bukowski (1920), Diana Wynne Jones (1934), Benjamin Alire Saenz (1954), Jennifer Donnelly (1963), Valeria Luiselli (1983)
Hugo Gernsback’s contributions to science fiction were so great that the prestigious Hugo Award is named for him.
T.E. Lawrence is well known as Lawrence of Arabia. His books include “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” and “Revolt in the Desert”
Georgette Heyer essentially began the Regency romance genre of writing.
William Maxwell, Jr. won the 1982 National Book Award for “So Long, See You Tomorrow”
Benjamin Alire Saenz won the 1992 American Book Award for “Calendar of Dust”
Quote: “A library is a place full of mouth-watering food for thought.” – Diana Wynne Jones
Tip: Passive vs. active voice: active voice (preferred) is when the subject of the sentence is doing something while passive is where the thing is having something done to it. Active: John threw the ball. Passive: the ball was thrown by John. Active voice gives your writing more impact.
Jumpstart: You hate big, fancy parties but must attend one coming up because it’s in your honor. What did you do? What happens?
Sparkling Book Reviews 