A Wrinkle in Time: About the Author

I am currently reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle . Madeleine L'Engle started writing stories, poems and journals in school, rather than doing her assigned schoolwork. Madeleine's mother studied to be a pianist and her father was a writer. After graduating from college, Madeleine's dream was to become a playwright, and she moved to New York to pursue this career. She thought that theater was a good start to learn how to become a successful playwright. While touring with the play Uncle Henry Madeleine wrote her first book, The Small Rain. Madeleine soon married Hugh Franklin, an actor,  and had three children. Madeleine decided to leave the theater, and her family moved to Connecticut. Her next book Meet the Austins was based off her experience in Connecticut while Hugh ran a general store. Madeleine was the Newberry Medal winning author of numerous books, she has written more than sixty. One of Madeleine's most famous books, A Wrinkle in Time, took more than two years to sell.


After winning the Newberry Medal for A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine discussed children's books with the New York Times.  A Wrinkle in Time was the first of a junior novel series written by Madeleine. Madeleine says, "It's often possible to make demands of a child that couldn't be made of an adult ... a child will often understand scientific concepts that would baffle an adult." Madeleine says this is because of children's imagination. In A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine does use multiple scientific concepts, including the idea of a tesseract. Madeleine also believes this is why so many authors turn to fantasy writing, a genre generally read by children.