Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, which won the Newberry Medal, is a critically acclaimed novel for young adults with its ending being called one of the best moments in children's science fiction.  

Born in New York City, L'Engle's childhood was split between the United States and the French Alps. In her early career, L'Engle wrote and performed plays. It wasn't until 1945 that she started writing novels, but she found little commercial success for many years.  

She completed A Wrinkle in Time in 1960, and after many rejections the Farrar, Straus and Giroux company published it in 1962. This novel was an instant success, winning numerous awards including a Newberry Award in 1963, runner-up for a Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1964, and Sequoyah and Lewis Carroll Shelf Awards in 1965.    

L'Engle continued writing fiction for youth. In fact, she is quoted saying “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.” She added to the Time series with sequels A Wind in the Door in 1973, A Swiftly Tilting Planet in 1978, Many Waters in 1986, and An Acceptable Time in 1989. L'Engle also wrote novels branching off the Time series including The Arm of the Starfish in 1965 featuring the same characters a generation later.