Madeleine L’Engle - GalleyCat

Robert Lescher Has Died

Maryann Yin — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:23:42 +0000

Literary agent Robert Lescher has passed away. He was 83-years-old.

Lescher established his career in the publishing industry as an editor. He climbed his way up and obtained the title of editor-in-chief at Henry Holt & Company. During his tenure at Holt, he edited the works of legendary poet Robert Frost, short story writer Wolcott Gibbs and memoirist Alice B. Toklas.

Here’s more from The New York Times: “When Mr. Lescher began his literary agency in 1965, his reputation for aesthetic insight and painstaking attentiveness to writers made him highly sought after…[Lescher's] clients included Frances FitzGerald, Benjamin Spock, Paula Fox, Madeleine L’Engle, Andrew Wyeth and Georgia O’Keeffe. Isaac Bashevis Singer, having served as his own agent for many years, hired Mr. Lescher in 1972, six years before Singer would receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.” (via Shelf Awareness)

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On Madeleine L’Engle

Sarah — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:02:25 +0000

Beloved children’s author Madeleine L’Engle, whose many award-winning novels included A WRINKLE IN TIME and A RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT, died late last week at the age of 88, and many – myself included – mourned her loss. Keith Call, special collections assistant at Wheaton College in Illinois, which has a collection of L’Engle’s papers, told the Associated Press he considers her the female counterpart of science fiction author Ray Bradbury because people loved her personally as much as they loved her books. “She was tremendously important initially as a children’s book author, and then as she wrote meditative Christian essays, that sort of expanded her audience,” he said. “She spoke exactly the way she wrote, very elegant, no nonsense, crisp, and deeply spiritual.”

Other obituaries and tributes come by way of the New York Times, Monica Hesse at the Washington Post, Scott Westerfield at NY Mag, Barbara Karkabi at the Houston Chronicle, Michael Melcher at the Huffington Post, and many more.

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Revamping the Little House on the Prairie

Sarah — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:45:32 +0000

Newsweek looks at the marketing plans in store for the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE novels, the classic series by Laura Ingalls Wilder that celebrates its 75th anniversary this month. And the plans are big, and also somewhat drastic, because the first eight stories appear with photos of models as Laura instead of with the Garth Williams illustrations. (The text is unchanged.) “Girls might feel the Garth Williams art is too old-fashioned,” says Tara Weikum, executive editor for the “Little House” series. “We wanted to convey the fact that these are action-packed. There were dust storms and locusts. And they had to build a cabin from scratch.” (The new tag line: “Little House, Big Adventure.”)

And the cover art changes aren’t just limited to Laura’s world; expect new covers for upcoming editions of Madeleine L’Engle‘s A WRINKLE IN TIME and let’s not forget the reissued CHARLOTTE WEB with Dakota Fanning on the cover. “Purists are often upset. But this is also a way for publishers … to beef up sales,” says Diane Roback, children’s editor for Publishers Weekly. “The book jackets we as adults are accustomed to seeing, and love from our childhood, may look musty and dusty to today’s kids.” Allison Edheimer, 9, wants the photo version of the “Little House” series. “I’d rather read something where I can picture the person,” she says. Rachael Ross, 10, agrees: “I like seeing real people better than drawings,” she says. “Drawings look sort of fake.”

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