“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”
– Madeleine L’Engle
Flicking Silver Fins
Dear Ones, Madeleine and Hugh’s wedding anniversary is January 26, and I thought it would be a meaningful occasion to write something. A long marriage is never smooth. Madeleine and Hugh's was no exception. In The Irrational Season, she talks about it: “No long-term marriage is made easily, and there have been times when I’ve Read more...
Madeleine’s Illustrated Christmas Cards
by Jessica Kantrowitz Dear Ones, When Madeleine was first married, she began what would be a years-long tradition of drawing, printing, and painting her own Christmas cards. This is her first after her marriage to Hugh Franklin, with her beloved French poodle, Touché. I’ve been thinking a lot about these little cards lately. The detail, Read more...
“The Best School for a Writer”: Madeleine and Miss LeG
by Barrie Kreinik When my teacher announced the end of the silent reading period, I crawled out from behind the armchair in the corner of my second-grade classroom. I’d hidden there to maximize my peace and quiet. I blinked at the influx of light, feeling as though I were returning from another planet. And in Read more...
All Under One Roof: Thanksgiving, Crosswicks, and Big Family Stories
by Sarah Arthur Extended family is on my mind this time of year. Not only is Thanksgiving around the corner, but also I recently helped co-direct the L’Engle Writing Retreat in Litchfield, CT, mere miles from Madeleine’s beloved farmhouse, Crosswicks. The rambling, 250-year-old building has been the private residence for many generations of Madeleine’s family Read more...
Guest Blog Post: Madeleine’s biographer on telling family stories
by Abigail Santamaria “Tell me a story, Mother…” Madeleine begged many mornings of her childhood, climbing into her parents’ bed before breakfast. Goldilocks and nursery rhymes didn’t interest her—she wanted stories about the Madeleines who came before. The great-grandmother after whom she was named—Madeleine Saunders L’Engle, who died the year before her namesake was born—had Read more...
Guest blog post: The Practical and Transformative Act of Making a Quilt
by J. A. Nielsen On a cold day in winter, there is nothing I’d rather do than wrap up in a warm quilt with a good book. Maybe a cup of tea. Perhaps that is why I first connected with “Meg Murry” so strongly. In the first lines of A Wrinkle in Time, when the storm Read more...