Remembering Lisa Wolfson

February 25, 2011 in Etc. | 8 comments

For any of my readers who aren’t also plugged in to the Twittersphere or other online kidlit writer and author hangouts, I just wanted to take a minute and collect some thoughts on Wednesday’s very sad passing of a phenomenal writer and ABLA agency client, Lisa Wolfson, who wrote under the name L.K. Madigan and authored two amazing books, FLASH BURNOUT (William C. Morris Debut YA Award) and THE MERMAID’S MIRROR, both from Houghton Mifflin.

She was 47 years-old, a 20-year breast cancer survivor, a mother, a wife, and taken from us too soon and too quickly by pancreatic cancer. I only had the pleasure of meeting Lisa once but am deeply saddened by her passing because she was just one of those people who shone so brightly that you couldn’t help but love her instantly. I know from the outpouring of love online that so many others felt this way. Here is a sample of their thoughts:

From Jennifer Laughran, Lisa’s agent.
From YA and adult author Sarah MacLean.
From Galleycat.
From OregonLive, her homestate news source.
From YA author Malinda Lo.
From PW Children’s Bookshelf.
From a photo album that friends made and sent to her.
From Kate Messner, fellow Jenn Laughran client.
From YA author Courtney Sheinmel, where she talks about the night in San Francisco when I met Lisa, as well.

Finally, from Lisa herself, a January blog post about her diagnosis.

Please keep Lisa’s husband, Neil, son, Nate, family, and friends in your prayers and thoughts. Neil has just posted on her blog about a trust fund set up for Nate’s college education, if you or anyone you know wants to make a difference in this family’s life and a contribution to Lisa’s memory.

Related posts:

  1. Lisa Yee Reading at Books Inc.
  2. Lisa Yee Results Coming Soon!
  1. Carolyn’s avatar

    Carolyn on February 25, 2011 at 9:21 am

    So painfully sad.

  3. Jess’s avatar

    Jess on February 25, 2011 at 9:40 am

    Heavy heart, today. My thoughts and prayers are with Neil and the rest of Lisa’s friends and family. We are all so lucky for the time we have, what an amazing and courageous woman.

  4. Krista V.’s avatar

    Krista V. on February 25, 2011 at 9:43 am

    Such sad news. Thank you for compiling this list of links, Mary. Kristin Nelson also blogged about this yesterday, and I found her post inspiring:

    http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2011/02/manuscript-that-stays-with-you.html

  5. Michael G-G’s avatar

    Michael G-G on February 25, 2011 at 9:53 am

    Thanks for posting this and sharing all these links to others’ blogs and remembrances. Lisa obviously touched a lot of people. My heart goes out to all her friends and her family.

  6. Zach’s avatar

    Zach on February 25, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    Prayers and thoughts. Life is short, guys–remember every day.

  7. Ishta’s avatar

    Ishta on February 28, 2011 at 6:35 am

    This is such sad news. I read an excerpt of Flash Burnout, and it was excellent. She was very talented.

  8. Brigetta Schwaiger’s avatar

    Brigetta Schwaiger on March 1, 2011 at 10:13 pm

    Ughhh! So sad. I just read her last post. How do you write that? My stepmom died of pancreatic cancer at that same age. It is an awful death. It’s all I could picture when reading her words. She left a legacy for her son.