I Am Meg: The Life of American Author Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007)

FAIN: FT-270783-20

Abigail Santamaria
CUNY Research Foundation, Graduate School and University Center (New York, NY 10016-4309)

Research and writing leading to a literary biography of the American writer Madeleine L’Engle (1918–2007).

My narrative literary biography of Madeleine L’Engle (1918–2007) is the first fully-sourced adult life of one of the most beloved, prolific, and honored writers of twentieth century American letters. Author of nearly 60 books across genres, L’Engle received a National Book Award, the National Humanities Medal, and 17 honorary doctorates, among other recognitions. She will always be best known, however, for her 1963 Newbery Medal-winning classic, A Wrinkle in Time—the iconic novel that changed the lives of generations of readers and transformed the landscape of possibility for women writers and female protagonists. With that book and its sequels, L’Engle shattered the science fiction glass ceiling, influencing and making way for major women authors to come: Ursula Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, and J.K. Rowling, to name just a few. Under contract with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, my biography benefits from exclusive access to private correspondence, journals, and unpublished manuscripts.