It's the birthday of National Book Award-winning novelist E.L. Doctorow, (books by this author) born in New York City (1931). He said that his parents named him after Edgar Allan Poe, because his dad was a big fan. As an adult, he once confronted his mom: "Do you realize that you and Dad named me after a paranoid, drug-addicted alcoholic with necrophiliac tendencies?" His aging mother replied, "Edgar, that's not funny."
- E. L. Doctorow (from today's Writer's Alamanac)
P.S. Just pre-ordered his new one (Andrew's Brain).
