Elizabeth Enright
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Enright was an American children's author and illustrator. She was born in Oak Park, Illinois
.
In her later life, Maginel also was a shoe designer for Capezio, and she wrote a memoir of her mother's family, The Valley of the God-Almighty Joneses. The Enrights divorced after World War I, when Elizabeth was still a child; her mother remarried and thereafter was known as Maginel Wright Barney.
Enright studied at the Art Students League of New York
in 1927-28, and at the Parsons School of Design. Like her mother, Enright began a career in illustration for magazines and children's books; she illustrated Marion King's Kees in 1930, and Nellie Marie Rowe's The Crystal Locket in 1935. As her career progressed, she shifted her focus primarily to writing. She wrote and illustrated her own children's books in the 1930s and '40s, though after 1951 her children's books were illustrated by other artists. She was awarded both the Newbery Medal
, for Thimble Summer
in 1939, and the Newbery Honor, for Gone-Away Lake
in 1958. She also reviewed children's literature for The New York Times
.
Thimble Summer, her Newbery Medal book, draws upon her summers spent on Frank Lloyd Wright's farm in Spring Green, Wisconsin
, and incorporates family background from her mother and grandmother. Gone-Away Lake received the New York Herald Tribune
's Children's Spring Book Festival Award in 1957, in addition to the 1958 Newbery Honor. In 1963 the American Library Association
named Gone-Away Lake as the U.S. nominee for the international Hans Christian Anderson Award. Tatsinda was an Honor Book in the 1963 New York Herald Tribune's Children's Spring Book Festival.
Perhaps her most beloved books, however, are the Melendy Quartet, a series of four children's novels published between 1941 and 1951: The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two. Among the many writers who cite Enright's books as childhood favorites are film critic Roger Ebert and Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park.
Enright also wrote short stories for adult readers, published in The New Yorker
, The Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan
, The Yale Review, Harper's Magazine
, and The Saturday Evening Post
. Her stories were reprinted in the anthologies The Best American Short Stories (in 1951 and 1952) and O. Henry Prize Stories (in 1946, 1949, 1950, and 1960), and were collected in Borrowed Summer and Other Stories (1946), The Moment Before the Rain (1951), and The Riddle of the Fly (1956). Her final book, Doublefields: Memories and Stories (1966) is a combination of short fiction and tales from her own life experiences.
Elizabeth Enright married Robert Gillham on April 24, 1930, and they had three sons: Nicholas, Robert and Oliver. She taught creative writing at Barnard College
from 1960 to 1962. Enright died at her home in Wainscott, Long Island in 1968. She is buried near Spring Green in the Wyoming Valley region of Wisconsin.
Oak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...
.
Life
Her father, Walter J. Enright, was a political cartoonist; her mother, Maginel Wright Enright, was a book and magazine illustrator and the younger sister of renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.In her later life, Maginel also was a shoe designer for Capezio, and she wrote a memoir of her mother's family, The Valley of the God-Almighty Joneses. The Enrights divorced after World War I, when Elizabeth was still a child; her mother remarried and thereafter was known as Maginel Wright Barney.
Enright studied at the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
in 1927-28, and at the Parsons School of Design. Like her mother, Enright began a career in illustration for magazines and children's books; she illustrated Marion King's Kees in 1930, and Nellie Marie Rowe's The Crystal Locket in 1935. As her career progressed, she shifted her focus primarily to writing. She wrote and illustrated her own children's books in the 1930s and '40s, though after 1951 her children's books were illustrated by other artists. She was awarded both the Newbery Medal
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
, for Thimble Summer
Thimble Summer
Thimble Summer is a novel by Elizabeth Enright that won the 1939 Newbery Medal. It is set in Depression-era rural Wisconsin.-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in a dried-up riverbed near the farm where she lives, the drought that has threatened her family's financial future is broken with a...
in 1939, and the Newbery Honor, for Gone-Away Lake
Gone-Away Lake
Gone-Away Lake is a 1957 children's book by Elizabeth Enright, set in that time period. In Return to Gone-Away, a sequel published in 1961, the Blake family buys a house in Gone-Away.-Plot:...
in 1958. She also reviewed children's literature for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Thimble Summer, her Newbery Medal book, draws upon her summers spent on Frank Lloyd Wright's farm in Spring Green, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and incorporates family background from her mother and grandmother. Gone-Away Lake received the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
's Children's Spring Book Festival Award in 1957, in addition to the 1958 Newbery Honor. In 1963 the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
named Gone-Away Lake as the U.S. nominee for the international Hans Christian Anderson Award. Tatsinda was an Honor Book in the 1963 New York Herald Tribune's Children's Spring Book Festival.
Perhaps her most beloved books, however, are the Melendy Quartet, a series of four children's novels published between 1941 and 1951: The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two. Among the many writers who cite Enright's books as childhood favorites are film critic Roger Ebert and Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park.
Enright also wrote short stories for adult readers, published in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
, The Yale Review, Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, and The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
. Her stories were reprinted in the anthologies The Best American Short Stories (in 1951 and 1952) and O. Henry Prize Stories (in 1946, 1949, 1950, and 1960), and were collected in Borrowed Summer and Other Stories (1946), The Moment Before the Rain (1951), and The Riddle of the Fly (1956). Her final book, Doublefields: Memories and Stories (1966) is a combination of short fiction and tales from her own life experiences.
Elizabeth Enright married Robert Gillham on April 24, 1930, and they had three sons: Nicholas, Robert and Oliver. She taught creative writing at Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
from 1960 to 1962. Enright died at her home in Wainscott, Long Island in 1968. She is buried near Spring Green in the Wyoming Valley region of Wisconsin.
Children's Books
- 1935 Kintu: A Congo Adventure
- 1938 Thimble SummerThimble SummerThimble Summer is a novel by Elizabeth Enright that won the 1939 Newbery Medal. It is set in Depression-era rural Wisconsin.-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in a dried-up riverbed near the farm where she lives, the drought that has threatened her family's financial future is broken with a...
- 1940 The Sea Is All Around
- 1951 A Christmas Tree for Lydia (published by Holt as a small-format gift book illustrated by the author; originally published in Woman's Home Companion magazine as the story "A Tree for Lydia")
- 1957 Gone-Away LakeGone-Away LakeGone-Away Lake is a 1957 children's book by Elizabeth Enright, set in that time period. In Return to Gone-Away, a sequel published in 1961, the Blake family buys a house in Gone-Away.-Plot:...
- 1961 Return to Gone-AwayReturn to Gone-AwayReturn To Gone-Away is a children's book written by Elizabeth Enright, which is the sequel to the book Gone-Away Lake and discusses how the Blake family buys a house in Gone-Away...
- 1963 Tatsinda
- 1965 Zeee
Melendy Series
- 1941 The SaturdaysThe Saturdays (Elizabeth Enright novel)The Saturdays is a children's novel by Elizabeth Enright, the first of her four books about the Melendy family, followed by The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze...
- 1942 The Four-Story MistakeThe Four-Story MistakeThe Four-Story Mistake is a children's novel by Elizabeth Enright, the second of her four books about the Melendy family, preceded by The Saturdays, and followed by Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze. The four Melendy children live with their father, a widowed professor...
- 1944 Then There Were FiveThen There Were FiveThen There Were Five is a children's novel by Elizabeth Enright, the third of her four books about the Melendy family, preceded by The Saturdays and The Four-Story Mistake, and followed by Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze. The four Melendy children live with their father, a widowed professor of...
- 1951 Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy MazeSpiderweb for Two: A Melendy MazeSpiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze is a children's novel by Elizabeth Enright, the last of her four books about the Melendy family, preceded by The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake and Then There Were Five. The four Melendy children live with their father, a widowed professor of economics, and...
Collections of Short Stories for Adults
- 1946 Borrowed Summer and Other Stories
- 1951 The Moment Before the Rain
- 1956 The Riddle of the Fly and Other Stories
- 1966 Doublefields: Memories and Stories