L'Engle, Madeleine (1918–)

American writer. Name variations: Madeleine Camp, Madeleine Camp Franklin L'Engle. Pronunciation: Leng-el). Born Madeleine L'Engle Camp, Nov 28, 1918, in New York, NY; dau. of Charles Wadsworth Camp (foreign correspondent and author) and Madeleine Barnett Camp (pianist); Smith College, BA (with honors), 1941; attended New School for Social Research, 1941–42; Columbia University, graduate study, 1960–61; m. Hugh Franklin (actor), Jan 26, 1946 (died Sept 1986); children: Josephine Franklin Jones (who m. Alan W. Jones); (adopted) Maria Rooney; Bion Franklin.

Author of the popular A Wrinkle in Time and "Crosswick journals," had active career in theater (1941–47); taught at St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's School, NY (1960–66); became librarian and writer-in-residence, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York (1966); was a writer-in-residence, Ohio State University, Columbus (1970) and University of Rochester, NY (1972); writings include The Small Rain (1945), And Both Were Young (1949), The Arm of the Starfish (1965), A Wind in the Door (1973), Dragons in the Waters (1976), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978), Walking on Water (1980), A Severed Wasp (1982), And It Was Good (1983), Many Waters (1986), Glimpses of Grace (1996), A Live Coal in the Sea (1996), as well as the "Austin Family" series. Won Newbery Medal (1963) and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1965), for A Wrinkle in Time; won Austrian State Literary Prize (1969), for The Moon by Night; awarded University of Southern Mississippi Silver Medallion (1978) for "an outstanding contribution to the field of children's literature"; given Smith Medal (1980) and Regina Medal (1984).

See also Women in World History.