Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle

November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007

Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, which won the John Newberry Medal, is a critically acclaimed young adult novel. It's ending has been called one of the best moments in children's science fiction.

Born in New York City, L'Engle's childhood was split between the United States and the French Alps. In her early career, L'Engle wrote plays and worked as an actor in New York. She began writing novels in 1945, but found little commercial success for many years.

She completed A Wrinkle in Time in 1960, and after many rejections the Farrar, Straus and Giroux company published it in 1962. This novel was an instant success, winning numerous awards including a John Newberry Award in 1963, runner-up for a Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1964, and Sequoyah and Lewis Carroll Shelf Awards in 1965.

L'Engle is quoted as saying “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” She added to the Time series with sequels A Wind in the Door (1973), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978), Many Waters (1986), and An Acceptable Time (1989). L'Engle also wrote novels branching off the Time series including The Arm of the Starfish (1965), featuring the same characters a generation later.

Selected Bibliography

A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
The Arm of the Starfish (1965)
The Young Unicorns (1968)
A Wind in the Door (1973)
A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978)
Many Waters (1986)
An Acceptable Time (1989) 

TV/Film Adaptations

A Wrinkle in Time (2004)