A Room of Their Own: Home Museums of Extraordinary Women Around the World

The frigidity of the Torontonian winters-not to mention shyness-led to becoming a life-long bibliophile. And, like most voracious readers, at the pinnacle of my bucket list was the dream of seeing my name on the spine of a book. However, until I could pen the Great Canadian Novel, there was the matter of economic survival. After reading The Great Gatsby, I decided to become an English teacher, and to that end, I attended York University where I received an Honors B.A. followed by teacher’s college at The University of Toronto.

I made the great sacrifice of leaving my winter wonderland when I moved to San Diego and currently am an English teacher in National City, California. I always tell my students that dreams do not just have to be for sleeping and several times, in the quest to pursue my own, I sent out my novels to literary agents. The result: enough rejection notices to wallpaper my home. And then serendipity stepped in.

In 2008, I read Peyton Place and became intrigued by its Dedication Page: To George for all the reasons he knows so well. I turned to Google and discovered that George was Grace Metalious’ long-suffering husband, and their marriage was as tempestuous as the ones in the novel. I then had my Eureka moment—a book that explored the backstories of the world’s literary masterpieces.

Fired with enthusiasm, I told my husband my idea, and he responded, “Don’t think you're quitting your day job.” Undaunted, I sent out query letters, and after signing up with a literary agent, three days later I had a contract with Penguin Publishers. One of the great moments of my life was seeing Joel’s jaw drop when I showed him my advance check.

Currently, I am working on my 12th book.

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Website

https://marlenewagmangeller.com

A native of New Hampshire, Joyce Maynard began publishing her stories in magazines when she was thirteen years old. She first came to national attention with the publication of her New York Times cover story, “An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life,” in 1972, when she was a freshman at Yale.

Since then, she has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist whose “Domestic Affairs” column appeared in over fifty papers nationwide, a regular contributor to NPR and national magazines including Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, and many more, and a longtime performer with The Moth.

Maynard is the author of seventeen books, including the novel To Die For and the bestselling memoir, At Home in the World—translated into sixteen languages. Her novel, To Die For was adapted for the screen by Buck Henry for a film directed by Gus Van Sant, in which Joyce can be seen in the role of Nicole Kidman’s lawyer. Her novel Labor Day was adapted and directed by Jason Reitman for a film starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, to whom Joyce offered instruction for making the pie that appeared in a crucial scene in the film.

The mother of three grown children, Maynard runs workshops in memoir at her home in Lafayette, California. In 2002 she founded The Lake Atitlan Writing Workshop in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala, where she hosts a weeklong workshop in personal storytelling every winter. She is a fellow of The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo.