L’Engle was born in New York City—“the nicest place in the world to be born in,” she declares—and grew up on East 82nd Street.  As a young woman, she was an actress and met her actor-husband in the theatre.

She had no trouble at all getting her first novels published, but then went through ten years of rejection. Twenty-six publishers rejected A Wrinkle in Time—which went on to win the Newbery Award and today is one of the best-selling children’s books in the world.

“I am not all convinced that life without conflict is desirable.  There’s not much conflict in the grave,” explains L’Engle.  “But I’m not sure how much failure the human psyche can take…In that decade, I was protected by my worse faults—stubbornness, pigheadedness.”  When one interviewer told her that God doesn’t send more trouble than a person can stand, L’Engle replied that she sometimes asks God, “Why are you overestimating my capacity to this extent?”