Bringing the world together through books


Lynn Franklin on the porch of her Baldwin Road home.

Lynn Franklin has one very good head on which she wears a numberof very demanding hats – book scout, literary agent, writer,adoption expert, board member and part-time Islander.

But to begin at the beginning: “I’m what you call an army brat,my father was a career army officer. I went to eight differentelementary schools. In my early teens we lived in France and I wentto a school in Switzerland where I learned French and then went toa French high school for two years.

“My parents were adamant that I really appreciate the culture Iwas in. My mother’s English, she met my father in Paris when shewas working for the American army right after the liberation ofParis, so France was important to them. I’m fluent in French tothis day and I work a lot in international circles, so I would saythat really changed my life.

When the family returned to the states, Lynn returned to theAmerican school system, living in Virginia, “which was an eyeopener, and eventually attended American University “making a lotof international friends and that’s sort of been the story of mylife.

After graduation, “I worked for a French publishing company herein the states and then ended up starting out on my own as aliterary scout, helping foreign publishers buy rights for Americanbooks. This led to starting a new business, Franklin and SiegalAssociates Inc.

“It’s information-gathering at the very earliest stages of thebook process when a manuscript or proposal is just getting sold ornot even yet being sold to a publisher, so we’re tracking it very,very early. Relationships with publishers and agents yieldinformation that can give foreign publishers a competitive edge.”We’re chasing the hot books before anybody knows they’re going tobe hot.

She is also a literary agent, representing authors in the usualway. “It’s a small agency, a boutique but that’s where I spend alot of my time. Her client list includes Archbishop DesmondTutu.

“He has several new books coming out this year.‹”Made for Goodness,’ and ‹”Why ThisMakes All the Difference,’ written with his daughter, Mpho, comingout in March. He is also working on an illustrated children’sbible, ‹”Children of God,’ which features 56 Biblestories, retold by Tutu and four years in the making. I’ve beenreally fortunate to work with him, and, as it turns out, he likesShelter Island. “He’s come here to the Island quite a few times. Helikes it here, he gets to rest and we try to keep it quiet for him.He comes when there’s a little gap in his schedule. I feel honoredthat he’s happy enough here to want to come back.

Now to another hat, member of an extended family: When Lynn was19, she gave birth to a son, with whom she shared five days, andthen relinquished him for adoption through the Spence-ChapinAdoption Agency in New York City. “I gave him up for adoption whenI was 19 and then he found me when he was 27. Finding him and hisfinding me made me understand what it was all about. When Irelinquished my son it was 1966, they had two doors, the birthparents went in one door and the adoptive parents went in another,never to see each other, that’s how it was done.

“Knowing my son and his family has been the biggest blessing ofmy life. I just celebrated my granddaughter’s 16th birthday and Iwouldn’t have known her. My grandson is 13 and it’s so exciting andit’s now a big extended family.

Two more hats, writer and board member: She wrote a book abouther experience – “May the Circle be Unbroken: An Intimate JourneyInto the Heart of Adoption – and ended by joining the board of theadoption agency where she relinquished him. She’s the first birthmother ever to serve on the board, and feels she has a singularperspective to offer.

Her book looks at adoption from the perspective of the birthparents, the adoptive parents and the adoptee. Published in 1998just 5 years after her reunion with her son, she interviewed manyothers with a point of view towards openness and mutual respect.She’s now also on the board with her son’s adoptive dad, of theEvan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. The Institute is a nationalnot-for-profit organization devoted to improving adoption policyand practice.

The whole extended family now comes to Shelter Island. “I feellike a part-time Islander and it’s important to me. I care aboutthe people and I’m glad when I get to know them. First brought hereby her friend, Glory Missan, “I just loved it and a year later Ibought this house. I just never considered anything else, this wasperfect and I still feel that way. One of the things growing up asan army brat, there was no home base and this is my home base.

“It’s been 26 years since I bought the house. I met people rightaway and I didn’t even think of going anywhere else. I like thefact that it’s a small community and so different from New York. Ihave to get out of the city. Even when I travel and come home, I’mhappy to get back to my apartment but I’m home once I come backhere. Her grandchildren were baptized in the PresbyterianChurch.

She feels lucky to have found Shelter Island – Shelter Island islucky that she did.