It’s the birthday of novelist Leslie Marmon Silko, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico (1948). She grew up on a Pueblo reservation, where her community was made up of matrilineal families: Women owned the houses and the fields and were the authority figures, and men did much of the child rearing. Her first novel, Ceremony (1977), was one of the first novels ever published by a Native American woman, and many critics consider it a masterpiece.
The Writer’s Almanac (2007)
It’s also the birthday
… of Penn Jillette. Penn of Penn & Teller is 54.
… of Adriana Barraza. The 2007 supporting actress Oscar nominee is 53 today.
… of Kevin Connolly of Entourage. He’s 35.
Patsy Cline died in a plane crash on this date in 1963. She was 30. John Belushi was found dead from a drug overdose on this date in 1982. He was 33.