View email in your browser

This Month Marks the Centennial of the Madeleine L'Engle's Birth

November 2018

In 2016, Amazon announced that The Hunger Games had outsold Harry Potter as its all-time bestselling series—not just in the young adult category.

Both Hunger and Harry feature teenagers who battle evil and make decisions that affect the lives of others. Katniss Everdeen takes on a murderous system and Harry Potter defeats a deadly sorcerer.

Yet twenty-six publishers rejected one of my generation’s most beloved books because (quoting the author):

". . . it dealt overtly with the problem of evil, and it was really difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adults' book, anyhow?"

The idea that teenagers can’t fathom evil or that adults can't relate seems laughable now.

But almost sixty years have passed since A Wrinkle in Time, which Madeleine L’Engle wrote in her early forties, almost wasn’t published.

Click here to read the story.

November Celebrations

November 8, 1847: Birth of Bram Stoker, who worked under a soul-sucking boss for 20 years. Stoker published Dracula at age 50 while managing Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre. Some biographers think Irving provided the inspiration for Count Dracula. READ MORE

November 26, 1911: Happy birthday to cyclist Robert Marchand! He turns 107 and he's still pedaling. More on him below.

November 29, 1918: It's the centennial of Madeleine L'Engle's birth! READ MORE

November 30: David Seidler Celebrates His 81st Birthday. For fifty years, Seidler wanted to tell the story of fellow stutterer King George VI. A cancer diagnosis finally motivated him to do it. He beat cancer and won an Oscar for The King's Speech at age 74. READ MORE

Words from the Wise Ones

"If the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."

—Madeleine L'Engle

More Proof It's Never Too Late

107-Year-Old Cyclist Robert Marchand

Robert Marchand set the world’s first record in cycling’s over-100 category, doing 24.25 kilometers in 60 minutes.

"I could have gone faster but I didn't want to," Robert said. "I’m not playing at being a champion. I just wanted to do something for my 100th birthday." He has broken his own record every year since.

Last year, at age 106, Robert announced his retirement. But this year he was back on his bike trying to set another record. He needed help mounting and a spotter, but he did it!

You can click through to a nine-minute YouTube interview with Robert above.

Hope you found these stories inspiring. See you next month with more tales of late-blooming adventure!

Warmly,

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Thanks for reading! I'm Debra Eve, proud late bloomer and possessor of many passions.

At LaterBloomer.com, I've written profiles of more than 80 people in the arts, humanities, and sciences who followed their creative passions later in life. You can also find Later Bloomers on Facebook.

You're receiving this email because you signed up for Later Bloomer's monthly Good News Letter.

Mailing Address

Later Bloomer Unlimited

Mira Valle Mobile Home Park

Ojai, CA 93023

Add Later Bloomer to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.