Andre Dubus

It's the birthday of short-story writer Andre Dubus, born in Lake Charles, Louisiana (1936). He wrote stories about regular people like bartenders, mechanics, and waitresses in collections such as The Cage Keeper and Other Stories (1989) and Dancing After Hours (1996). In 1986, after publishing several books of short stories, Dubus stopped to help a woman and a man stranded on the side of the highway, and he was hit by a passing car. He saved the woman's life by throwing her out of the way, but he lost one of his legs and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

"Some of my characters now feel more grateful about simple things - breathing, buying groceries, sunlight - because I do."

"We don't have to live great lives, we just have to understand and survive the ones we've got."

-Writer's Almanac