L'Engle, Madeleine

American author of children's, young adult, and adult fiction and non-fiction.

American author of children's, young adult,and adult fiction and non-fiction.

Madeleine L’Engle is the award-winning author of over forty books for children and adults. As a young woman she attended boarding school and then graduated from Smith College. She began her career working in theatre, but was always interested in writing. She became a full-time writer who is perhaps best known for her Time Quartet, a series of YA novels about time travel, and the 1963 Newbery Award winner A Wrinkle in Time . In addition to her science fiction and fantasy novels about time travel, L'Engle writes coming-of-age, suspense, and mystery novels for young people, mainstream adult novels, poetry, and plays.

Author; interviewee married Hugh Franklin.

Madeleine L'Engle, nee Madeleine L'Engle Camp, was born November 29, 1918 in New York, New York. She attended Smith College, graduating with an A.B. in 1941, and married Hugh Franklin in 1946, and had three children. Ms. L'Engle was active in the theater during the 1940s as an actress and playwright and published her first play, 18 Washington Square South, in 1944. She also began writing children's and adult fiction during the 1940s, publishing her first adult novel, Ilsa, in 1944 and her first children's book, And Both Were Young, in 1949. Ms. L'Engle continued to write children's and young adult fiction, introducing the Austin family in 1960's Meet the Austins. In 1962 her best known book, A Wrinkle in Time, was published and won the Newbery Award the following year. A provocative story that mixes science fiction and fantasy with a Christian message, along with a strong emphasis on family love and responsibility, the book established Ms. L'Engle as an author capable of presenting complex themes and scientific theory as well as an able portrayer of realisitic family relationships and interactions. Ms. L'Engle continued to explore themes in her other Time Fantasy novels, several of them sequels to A Wrinkle In Time. The themes of good versus evil and the need for strong family relationships and personal responsibility are crucial elements of Ms. L'Engle's books, as is often an understated Christian message. Ms. L'Engle also moves some of her characters from book to book, providing a unique sense of character development and continuity. Ms. L'Engle has continued to publish works for children and young adults, as well as verse, fiction and non-fiction for adults. In 1990, Ms. L'Engle was awarded the Kerlan Award, given by the Children's Literature Research Collection at the University of Minnesota in recognition of her achievements in children's literature.

American author of children's, young adult, and adult fiction and non-fiction; Newbery Award winner, 1963 and Kerlan Award winner, 1990.

Born in New York City on November 29, 1918 to Charles and Madeleine Camp, Madeleine L'Engle grew up, in America and Europe, surrounded by a piano and a house full of artists, her father was a writer and her mother a pianist. Ms. L'Engle attended boarding school in Europe and eventually graduated from Smith College in 1941. From there she moved to New York and worked in the theatre and as a writer; she would meet her future husband, Hugh Franklin, while acting in Chekhov's Cherry Orchard. After their marriage they moved to Connecticut to run a general store. This removal from the city afforded Madeleine a chance to write. Her first work of national noteriety, A Wrinkle in Time, was rejected by numerous publishers before it was accepted. The success brought many more. Ms. L'Engle regularly speaks at conferences, retreats and seminars. Despite a full schedule, she still found time to write, authoring over 40 books. Ms. L'Engle has also served as the librarian and writer-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.

Author, illustrator, daughter of painters William and Lucy L'Engle; Truro, Mass. Born ca. 1915.

Madeleine L'Engle (b. ca. 1915), was an author, illustrator, of Truro, Mass.

She was the daughter of painters William and Lucy L'Engle.