“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”
– Madeleine L’Engle
Why read fantasy and science fiction?
by Jessica Kantrowitz Dear Ones, I’ve all but given up reading non-fiction lately. I’m too saturated with reality, too overwhelmed with a never-ending news cycle that keeps my mind in fight-or-flight mode constantly. There are so many good writers right now grappling with questions of faith, trauma and healing, parenting, social justice, and racial justice, Read more...
Free stories from the new collection THE MOMENT OF TENDERNESS
Dear ones, The response to the short story collection The Moment of Tenderness has been wonderful -- I knew that I loved these stories and saw something in them, and that others do too is such a beautiful thing. There have been several notable recent reviews, including from The New York Times, The Christian Science Read more...
THE IRRATIONAL SEASON, THE ORDERING OF LOVE speak to that ‘strange season’ of Lent
Earlier this week I relished a custard-filled pączki, just on time. You can set your watches to these Polish fried dough things showing up in Midwestern convenience stores, just in time for Fat Tuesday. By Wednesday they’ll grow stale (and half price!). See, Wednesday (Feb. 26) marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is the 40 Read more...
Guest Blog Post: TWO-PART INVENTION is too universal to grow stale
By RuthAnn Deveney Over the weekend, I re-read Two-Part Invention, which is my very favorite Madeleine book. This memoir is about her 40-year-marriage with actor Hugh Franklin, going back and forth in time between their early courtship and maturing marriage with Hugh’s battle with cancer. It is, as I warn people, very sad. I probably Read more...
Guest blog post: Teacher finds a kindred while reading all of Madeleine’s books (in order)
By Melissa Giggey I was a scrappy little tomboy standing in front of my fifth-grade teacher’s bookshelf, scanning all the possibilities. I remember with vivid detail the moment I laid eyes on the pink and blue spine of A Wrinkle in Time. I was intrigued. It was almost a magnetic pull. I was about to Read more...
Katherine Paterson’s moving keynote address at Walking on Water: The Madeleine L’Engle Conference
Dear Ones, Katherine Paterson gave a moving keynote address at the November 2019 Walking on Water conference. She talked about her writing process, what it means to have readers, and Birdie, the protagonist of her latest novel, still awaiting publisher's edits. She moved the audience (and herself) to tears, and reminded us, as Madeleine said, Read more...