Dear Ones, On the way to work, I pass a house with a sign out front: “REMEMBER: Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” The sign’s a common enough sight in the Midwest every December … but I wonder as I drive by: Wouldn’t Madeleine have found that yard sign lacking? For Christians, Jesus certainly […]
Dear ones, Few seasons have us as toss’d and torn in different directions as the holidays do. If you’re already tired (or just anticipating the fatigue), allow us to offer you, um, A Circle of Quiet (see what I did there?). Today I’m so happy to share a reflection from Barbara Braver, Madeleine’s friend and […]
Dear Ones, Well, after more than a year of planning, Walking on Water: The Madeleine L’Engle Conference is behind us. Envisioned not as a fan conference but rather a gathering of seekers looking to deepen their creative lives, about 150 attendees, 30 panelists and session leaders, and a dozen or so volunteers came together at […]
Fans could be forgiven for feeling as if they personally know Madeleine L’Engle. Maybe their bookshelves are lined with a trove of her non-fiction titles; maybe the voices and characters from L’Engle’s fiction books are stuck in their minds. We fans may even have read Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of a Wrinkle […]
Coming to the Walking on Water Conference next month? Let me introduce you to our generous host and co-sponsors: All Angels Church, the artistic faith community on the Upper West Side. The church’s site is perfect for the conference for a few reasons. One, it’s where Madeleine worshiped during the last years of her life […]
By RuthAnn Deveney When I was a senior in high school, a friend in my English class told me, “I found something at a yard sale over the weekend, and I got it for you. You like Madeleine L’Engle, right?” The question was more of a formality than out of necessity; in my circle of […]
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 a girl to her deceased mother. I found it powerful and moving, as did […]
Dear Ones, Last month, PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program announced the creation of the L’Engle/Rahman Prize for Mentorship. As part of that program’s month-long reading series, the September 16th event featured the performance of the prize-winning writers’ works, and also a dramatic dialogue I arranged from the letters Madeleine exchanged with Ahmad Rahman […]
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 […]
For many of her readers, Madeleine’s exploration of the inner life both fed their understanding of different traditions and prompted deeper self-reflection. It’s why when some of us read her work, we’re often underlining long passages, nodding, yes, I feel that, too. We’re creating space for more of those yes, I feel that, too moments at […]