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 […]
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