Literary Biography

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) is the beloved author of A Wrinkle in Time, its sequels, and numerous other works for children and adults. Now, her granddaughters have written her biography with never-before-heard archival materials - including letters and journal entries - from throughout the writer's life. Becoming Madeleine will speak not only to fans of the icon's work but to anyone interested in writing, legacy, and the impact of one person on the people who love her.

"Si je vous parle aujourd'hui, c'est qu'il y a une nouveauté. [...] Je ne veux plus voler, je ne veux plus mentir. Je veux mener une vie de morte, ouvertement, sans honte. C'est ce qu'on me demande, je suppose. Je suis une personne 'en plus', mais je suis là. Si j'étais véritablement indésirable, on me l'aurait signifié, je me serais liquéfiée, dissoute. Si je suis encore là, c'est qu'il y a un sens à ce non-être. À moi de le trouver. Voilà mon travail nouveau, voilà ma tâche." (Macha Méril)

Discover how animals influenced 20 of the world's most beloved authors, from Charles Dickens to J. K. Rowling. Did you know that a dog saved Pablo Neruda's life? Or that Mark Twain had a cat named Bambino? Or that Edgar Allan Poe wrote with a cat on his shoulders? Writers and Their Pets tells these stories and many more that will delight not only children but also literary experts, history lovers, and animal enthusiasts. Writers and Their Pets features a diverse list of both male and female international authors, from the 19th to the 21st century.

Gary Paulsen’s slapstick tales capture the “wonderful madness” of growing up in a small town in northern Minnesota, when high spirits, showing off for girls, and general idiocy led Gary and his pals to attempt some amazing stunts! Wacky, daring, just plain nuts - extreme sports lead to extreme fun in new stories from Gary’s boyhood.

Walt Whitman is celebrated as an iconic American poet, but few know of the crucial and heroic role he played tending to the wounded and dying in Civil War hospitals. This nonfiction book highlights Whitman’s compassion and teaches an important lesson about empathy. New York Times-bestselling author Gary Golio and Caldecott Honor artist E. B. Lewis bring Whitman’s story and his passion for America to life.

Al nostro secolo è mancata la vocazione di costruire cattedrali. Ma c'è Raymond Isidore che costruì una cattedrale fatta di detriti. E la sorte volle che questo incongruo monumento, oggi considerato un luogo d'arte, sorgesse a Chartres. Dapprima fonditore, poi pulitore di rotaie e alla fine custode di discariche e cimiteri, Raymond Isidore, detto Picassiette, raccolse instancabilmente nella spazzatura frammenti di tazze, piatti e bicchieri, con i quali ricopriva ogni superficie e ogni suppellettile della sua casa.

"Little People, Big Dreams" erzählt von den Lebensgeschichten beeindruckender Persönlichkeiten: Ob rebellische Schriftstellerin, genialer Musiker, mutiger Bürgerrechtler oder visionäre Architektin, sie alle haben Großes vollbracht. Dabei begann alles, als sie noch klein waren – mit Mut und großen Träumen.

مجموعة من قصص الفيديو بجودة عالية وأسلوب ممتع، يتعرف من خلالها الأطفال على شخصية مشهورة تركت أثرها في التاريخ الإنساني، والظروف التي عاشتها وأثرت في نبوغها وعبقريتها، بالإضافة إلى أهم إنجازاتها وابتكاراتها والجوائز العلمية التي حصلت عليها، وأي مجالات أخرى برعت فيها بعيداً عن مجالها الأساسي.

How did Jon Scieszka get so funny, anyway? Growing up as one of six brothers was a good start, but that was just the beginning. Throw in Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, jokes told at family dinner, and the result is Knucklehead. Part memoir, part scrapbook, this hilarious trip down memory lane provides a unique glimpse into the formation of a creative mind and a free spirit.

Tomie celebrates his sixth birthday in style, dresses up as Snow White for his first Halloween, celebrates holidays with his family, suffers through a bout of the chicken pox, and gets to stay up to see the new year in!

Molière est notre plus grand homme de théâtre, celui dont nous connaissons tous une pièce, une phrase, un mot, que nous étudions en classe, et qui nous émeut, nous fait rire plus de trois siècles plus tard. Il a façonné notre manière de parler : nous nous exprimons dans la langue de Molière. Nous nous sommes emparés de lui comme d'un monument, d'un patrimoine, et pourtant sa vie fascinante, en grande partie, nous échappe. Un livre audio savoureux pour découvrir sa vie, s'immerger dans son siècle et vivre quelques minutes près de lui...

Jack the Ripper was probably the first serial killer to appear in a large metropolis at a time when the general populace was literate and the press was a force for social change. The press was also partly responsible for creating many myths surrounding the Ripper. Robin Odell's Ripperology is the first study to present a sequential history of literary investigations of Jack the Ripper's crimes and to address the seven principal phases of Ripper speculations....

Due interventi e una conversazione libera e amichevole con Susanna Tamaro su di sé, sul rapporto con la scrittura e sui suoi libri, fanno di "Verso casa" un prezioso piccolo compendio che avvicina i lettori ad un'autrice riservata eppure capace di parlare il linguaggio di tutti e soprattutto di illuminare aspetti spesso oscuri nella vita di ciascuno attraverso il semplice ma impegnativo esercizio del conoscere se stessi. Con una nuova introduzione dell'autrice.

Per Antonio Moresco "leggere non è solo leggere, è un incontro e un incrocio forte e rischioso di cromosomi, di corpi, di menti, di sogni". Da una lettura così intensa e fusionale nasce il trascinante dialogo che Moresco intreccia in queste pagine con Susi Pietri, francesista, appassionata studiosa e lettrice, che lo interroga sul suo incontro con Balzac.

August Wilson grew up open to the creative inspiration in everything he encountered: in library books, in music, in artworks, in the lively conversations overheard in the restaurants and barbershops lining the Pittsburgh neighborhood of his childhood. August paid attention. He listened. And when he got older, he got ideas about what to do with everything he’d seen and heard—ideas that would make him one of the greatest playwrights in American history.

Born into the household of a wealthy slave owner in Cuba in 1797, Juan Francisco Manzano spent his early years by the side of a woman who made him call her Mama, even though he had a mama of his own. Denied an education, young Juan still showed an exceptional talent for poetry. His verses reflect the beauty of his world, but they also expose its hideous cruelty.

"We all need a hero or two to help us stand fast and think right," says William J. Bennett, author of The Book of Virtues, the #1 best seller that millions of American families turn to for moral inspiration. A new treasury chosen for young children, presents splendid tales of the valor and indomitable spirit.

Why did Norman Mailer stab his second wife at a party? Who was Edith Wharton's secret transatlantic lover? What motivated Anais Nin to become a bigamist? Writers Between the Covers rips the sheets off these and other real-life love stories of the literati - some with fairy tale endings and others that resulted in break-ups, breakdowns, and brawls. Among the writers laid bare are Agatha Christie, who sparked the largest-ever manhunt in England as her marriage fell apart; Arthur Miller, whose jaw-dropping pairing with Marilyn Monroe proved that opposites attract, at least initially.

I traveled across the globe from Vietnam to the United States and landed in Detroit, Michigan to reunite with my family. Coming from Saigon’s tropical weather, one of my wishes was to get to experience the magical beauty of a snow day for the first time, spent alongside my family. In the book, Goodbye Tropical Weather and Hello Winter, I share some of the great memories associated with this journey.

Mirinda Kossoff took one flight in her father’s Cessna Skyhawk as he piloted and navigated by landmarks that revealed themselves through openings in the trees below. A short three years later, he was dead at age 56. Memory of that ride fueled Kossoff’s desire to understand who her father was and the forces that shaped him. And by extension, how he shaped her life. Her need to know and to understand became a life-long pursuit.