Poet Conrad Aiken and his daughter Joan… “gifted and enchanting”!
Joan Aiken’s Pulitzer prize winning father didn’t hand out compliments lightly, so it was wonderful to discover a letter that he wrote in which he sings her praises to the moon. Conrad writes to introduce his daughter to Charles Schlessiger, his own literary agent at Brandt & Hochman in New York, who not only took her on, but went on to become her life-long friend and supporter.
A genuine case for Thanksgiving, and the letter was also a celebration of Joan Aiken’s remarkable, funny, short stories, or as he calls them ‘fairy stories of the twentieth century’ – two lovely editions of which have been recently been re-published in both her home countries – England and America.
Here is his letter:
* * * * *
Joan Aiken’s first published books were collections of magical stories
which she continued to produce all her life.
Find them all here on her website
Two new collections of these unforgettable stories are now out
The People in the Castle
Celebrated as a book of the year in The Washington Post
and from Virago Modern Classics
The Gift Giving – Favourite Stories
Written, as her proud Pa describes,
‘For the young of all ages’
* * * * *
Joan Aiken 
The best tag of all: “she writes for the young of all ages.” What a perspicacious father he was!
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