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Author of ‘The Night Diary’ inspired by Madeleine’s advice

Dear Ones,

Take it from this bibliophile/ school librarian: Veera Hiranandani’s book, The Night Diary, needs to be one of your next-reads.

This 2019 Newbery Honor Award winning book is set during a tumultuous time in India’s history, told through letters written by

Author Veera Hiranandani

a girl to her deceased mother. I found it powerful and moving, as did plenty of other readers. Case in point: The Night Diary was a 2018 best book of the year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Amazon, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, the Chicago Public Library, and others.

In short, people are talking about it.

We’re excited to welcome Veera to the first Walking on Water Conference this fall in New York, to hear her perspective during the panel called, “Glorious Impossibles: Writing About Faith for Younger Readers.” Let’s get to know her a bit before then!

What excites you about the Madeleine L’Engle Conference?
I have always been an admirer of Madeleine L’Engle’s work since I was a child. I also tend to write about characters who wrestle with their own interfaith identities as I have in my personal life.

Do you have a Madeleine story/quote/moment that has inspired you?
I relate to this particular quote deeply, especially when writing The Night Diary, which is based on the complex and difficult topic of the 1947 Partition of India: “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.”

In what ways does a legacy like Madeleine’s inspire the way you create art for a new generation?
I think she was a risk-taker and a very versatile writer. She gave herself the freedom to experiment and create from a place way outside the box. I hope I can find the courage to do the same over the years.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on my next middle-grade novel called The Sound of Summer coming out in Summer 2020.

Where can we learn more about your work? 
On my website, www.veerahiranandani.com; and in an interview done on TheHindu.com.

Thanks, Veera!

Find out more about the conference here. Until then, head to your local indie bookseller or library to grab a copy of The Night Diary (so we can talk about it in November!).

Read on,

~Erin F. Wasinger, for MadeleineLEngle.com.

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Panel will muse on questions about ‘listening to the work,’ the creative process

Madeleine insisted, “The largest job of the artist is to listen to the work.”

This listening is one of the ways, she believed, that we become co-creators with God. But, practically speaking, what does it mean to listen to what the work is trying to express or be? How do artists in various mediums allow their work a measure of free will?

Four artists will reflect on those questions and share what goes into their creative processes, during the “Listening to the Work” artists panel at the first Madeleine L’Engle Walking on Water Conference in New York City.

Musician in Residence Audrey Assad, artist and writer Albert Pedulla, and visual artist Joyce Yu-Jean Lee will participate in the panel, moderated by Seth Little, who directs arts programming for All Angels’ Church in Manhattan.

 

Audrey Assad is the daughter of a Syrian refugee, an author, speaker, record producer, and critically laudedsongwriter and musician. She refers to her music as “soundtracks for prayer,” and cites Madeleine as an inspiration.

Albert Pedulla is an artist, and occasional writer and curator. Fun fact: he designed and built Madeleine’s bedroom furniture and writing desk. He’s written on art for the journals Image, Comment and Seen. He also served on the Board of Directors of Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) for 16 years.

Joyce Yu-Jean Lee is a visual artist working with video, digital photography and interactive installation. Her artwork examines how mass media and visual culture shape notions of truth and understanding of the “other.” Her project about Internet censorship, FIREWALL, garnered backlash from Chinese state authorities in 2016 and was presented at Lincoln Center in NYC and the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway. She has exhibited internationally, receiving support and press from a wide variety of publications and groups. She is based in NYC and teaches as an Assistant Professor of Art & Digital Media at Marist College.

The artists’ panel is part of the festivities on Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Walking on Water Conference. For a detailed schedule and to lock in your place at the event, check out the registration page.

Can’t wait to see you in NYC!

~Erin F. Wasinger, for MadeleineLEngle.com.

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Kiranmala series’ author, Sayantani DasGupta, shares how L’Engle inspired her stories

This week, we’re excited to get to know Sayantani DasGupta, a panelist on the We Need Diverse Books panel, which will be featured at the Walking on Water Conference this November. Writers associated with We Need Diverse Books  will talk about “The New Generation of Meg Murrys – What Fantasy & Speculative Fiction Inspire,” and will feature Sayantani, Heidi Heilig, and Karuna Riazi, with moderator Caroline Richmond.

Sayantani is the author of a series of books that finds its inspiration in L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series. Hear, in her own words, how Madeleine’s work made hers soar:

What excites you about the Madeleine L’Engle Conference?

Everything! I’m a huge fan of both the Wrinkle in Time series and the Austin Family series. Of course my own Bengali folktale and string theory inspired Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series was very much influenced by Madeleine L’Engle’s work! In fact as a physician-writer who uses lots of space science in her fantasy series, it was Madeleine L’Engle who first taught me that stories and science can go hand in hand.

Do you have a Madeleine story/quote/moment that has inspired you?

“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.”

In what ways does a legacy like Madeleine’s inspire the way you create art for a new generation?

As I mentioned above, L’Engle’s books were the first place I learned that science and stories are not opposites, but partners. My entire career is at the intersection of science and story (I teach, after all, in a program for Narrative Medicine). In addition, my fantasy series from Scholastic (The Serpent’s Secret, Game of Stars and the soon-to-come-out The Chaos Curse) is very much influenced by the space science and metaphysics of A Wrinkle in Time. To me, string theory and parallel universes seemed the perfect metaphor for the immigrant experience — immigrants are, to me, galaxy hoppers and space explorers!

What are you working on now?

A secret project, possibly a follow up to the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series. (Shhh!)

Thanks, Sayantani! Follow the links to several more fun endorsements of the links between her work and Wrinkle in Time:

1. Click here for an online interview at Booklist, in which Sayantani discusses L’Engle’s work.

2. Don’t miss this LA Review of Books Review of The Serpent’s Secret, in which they say the following: “Kiran’s journey through space, complete with moving mountains and black holes, felt like a wink to Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (1962). The reader feels a sense of connection to other stories they have loved, while also appreciating the unique qualities of characters they have never encountered before.”

3. A Barnes and Noble Blog Interview in which she mentions both A Wrinkle in Time book and film.

4. This list of nine diverse sci-fi fantasy books to read after A Wrinkle in Time. 

One more thing: Just in case you’re on the fence, early-bird pricing goes up in just a bit! Register for the Walking on Water Conference before August 31!

–Erin F. Wasinger, for MadeleineLEngle.com.

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Meet We Need Diverse Books’ Program Director before you see her at Walking on Water

This November’s Madeleine L’Engle event — the inaugural Walking on Water Conference — won’t merely a retrospective and celebration of Madeleine. Instead, organizers have a vision that the conference would also look ahead, amplifying and empowering artists and writers for a new generation.

Enter We Need Diverse Books, a grassroots nonprofit of children’s book lovers who advocate for a world in which every child would see themselves in a book. This vision is the reason Conference Director Sarah Arthur sees WNDB as an important collaborator.

(Read more from Sarah about WNDB in the latest edition of the Madeleine L’Engle newsletter!)

We’re fantastically honored that several WNDB authors will be participating in the L’Engle Conference at a panel titled “WNDB Presents: The New Generation of Meg Murrys—What Fantasy & Speculative Fiction Inspire.” Moderating that panel: WNDB Program Director Caroline Tung Richmond (The Only Thing to Fear).

We’re thrilled to feature Caroline today on the Madeleine L’Engle blog. Let’s get to know her better, shall we?

What excites you about the Madeleine L’Engle Conference?
I’m very excited to moderate a panel at this conference because A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite books when I was a girl! I’m really looking forward to celebrating the life and legacy of Madeleine L’Engle, who helped spark a deep love of science fiction in me as a kid.

Do you have a Madeleine story/quote/moment that has inspired you?
“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” I love the imagery of this quote, how reading can take us on journeys not only across our own world, but throughout the cosmos. Growing up, I often felt like I’d been born in the wrong century — I wanted to live at a time when humans could explore the galaxy. I’ll likely never be able to do that in person (never say never though!), but I can still take journeys into space via books like Madeleine L’Engle’s.

In what ways does a legacy like Madeleine’s inspire the way you create art for a new generation?
Meg Murry is one of the most inspirational characters in children’s literature. She has inspired generations of girls to dream big, to be brave, and to take pride in their intelligence. I hope that my own books will similarly inspire young women to become the heroines of their stories.

What are you working on now?
My next novel is a Cold War alternate history that’s set in Washington, D.C. and that features a lot of high-tech robots. It should be out from Scholastic in 2020!

Where can we read more? 
If you’d like to read more diverse SFF, feel free to check out the OurStory app!

 

Thanks, Caroline!

Meet her and the rest of the WNDB panel in NYC this November — Special early bird pricing ends August 31, so register today!

 

–Erin F. Wasinger, for MadeleineLEngle.com.

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