Under the direction of Dr. Maria Lester and with the support of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, the inaugural Summer Creative Writing Workshop concluded—after perhaps giving a boost to a new generation of writers who got to spend a week thinking and writing inside the house where a young John Updike said his own “creative eggs were hatched.” Here are some scenes from the week. We’ll all look forward to seeing what these young talents will publish in the future.
Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Updike Childhood Home now has three new media screens that loop in Updike interviews, so people can hear the author’s voice as they enjoy ten rooms of unique exhibits that tell the story not only of one of America’s most important writers of his generation, but of the 1930s and ’40s Shillington he loved.
As part of their “One Tank Trips” series, Philadelphia’s ABC Action News 6 featured The John Updike Childhood Home, with director Maria Lester on camera, leading the way. The station posted Bill Hartung’s video story on June 23, 2026. Here’s the link.
As part of their “One Tank Trips” series, Philadelphia’s ABC Action News 6 featured The John Updike Childhood Home, with director Maria Lester on camera, leading the way. The station posted Bill Hartung’s video story on June 23, 2026. Here’s the link.
“I had a special link to John Updike, the celebrated writer who died in 2009. I once served as his muse,” began William Ecenbarger, who has won 17 writing awards from the Society of American Travel Writers. His latest feature, “John Updike’s Muse,” was published on April 3, 2026 by In The Know Traveler.
“It happened in 1983 when I was a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and sought an interview with Updike, whose publisher informed me never gave interviews. But a chance encounter with Linda Updike, his mother, broke the ice, and I ended up spending a full day with the author; mostly we drove around his boyhood haunts in Pennsylvania that served as settings for so much of his fiction.
“Several months after the interview a short story appeared in the New Yorker titled, ‘One More Interview,’ by John Updike. In it the main character, a famous actor, drives around his hometown with a journalist. Many of the events, even verbatim dialogue, were taken exactly from the real interview between me and Updike.
“Over the next four decades, I would learn as an Updike fan that he consistently used his experiences and surroundings as wellsprings for his fiction. And thus I was not surprised this year when I visited the recently opened John Updike Childhood Museum in Shillington, Pennsylvania.”
His guide this time was James Plath, president of The John Updike Society, who took him through the house that left a lasting impression on Updike and now contains many of his treasures, small and large. Upstairs, for example, Updike’s “tiny bedroom has his toys and books, ranging from Dumbo to the Lone Ranger, and some of the clothing he wore as a toddler.
A bowl of marbles was found under the floor boards here. A childhood friend had no recollection of playing marbles and said he and John would use slingshots to shoot them out the bedroom window.”
Photos: Loose floorboards in young Updike’s bedroom removed during renovation, and the marbles that had been carefully placed in a “nest” beneath them.
WFMZ, which covers the Lehigh Valley and Berks County, published a piece today by historian Frank Whelan on “History’s Headlines: John Updike of Berks County.” Like Adam Begley’s biography, it begins with a story about journalist William Ecenbarger following the Updike trail in order to write a feature. Whelan’s article recounts how Ecenbarger went to the local library to ask for suggestions and ideas, only to encounter “an elderly woman in tortoise shell glasses” who told him, “I know all about him . . . . He’s my son.”
Whelan notes how that meeting led to his driving around Berks County with the author’s mother and getting the kind of tour freelancers can only dream about . . . which in turn led to his actually getting to take the same drive with Updike, whom he let drive his Volkswagen Rabbit.
Maria Lester, director of The John Updike Childhood Home that is owned and operated by the 501c3 John Updike Society, received word recently that the museum at 117 Philadelphia Ave. in Shillington, Pa. was awarded a $25,000 Chairman’s Grant from the head of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
In her grant proposal, Lester outlined programs beyond annual operating expenses (which grants do not cover) that will be funded by the grant. “Though rich in artifacts and objects, the museum currently lacks technological tools to fully engage modern audiences. Our signage is outdated and does not reflect the new materials we amassed over the last decade. In addition, we face storage challenges supporting a growing student-led Victory Garden initiative. As we expand programming to include a writing camp and continued speaker series, we also recognize the need for better collection management, security upgrades, and volunteer support. This grant will help us modernize, grow, and preserve the museum for future generations.”
This is, of course, wonderful news for The John Updike Childhood Home, which the society hopes will continue to be an important part of the community that helped to shape one of America’s best writers of the 20th century—a museum The Wall Street Journal called “a worthy site of literary pilgrimage.”
John Updike’s children recently donated more one-of-a-kind objects to The John Updike Childhood Home & Museum, among them two still life paintings that their father and mother had painted side-by-side while Updike was a student at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, England. Michael Updike said that as a trailing spouse who majored in art as an undergrad, his mother talked her way into sitting in and participating in John’s classes. Mary sat to his father’s right, Michael pointed out, given the placement of objects on each canvas. The paintings are referenced in Updike’s short story “Still Life” (from Pigeon Feathers, reprinted in The Early Stories):
“At the greengrocer’s on Monday morning they purchased still life ingredients. The Constable School owned a great bin of inanimate objects, from which Leonard had selected an old mortar and pestle. His idea was then to buy, to make a logical picture, some vegetables that could be ground, and to arrange them in a Chardinesque tumble. But what, really, was ground, except nuts? The grocer did have some Jamaican walnuts.
“Don’t be funny, Leonard,” Robin said. “All those horrid little wrinkles, we’d be at it forever.”
“Well, what else could you grind?”
“We’re not going to grind anything; we’re going to paint it. What we want is something smoothe.”
“Oranges, miss?” the lad in charge offered.
“Oh, oranges. Everyone’s doing oranges—looks like a pack of advertisements for vitamin C. What we want…” Frowning, she surveyed the produce, and Leonard’s heart, plunged in the novel intimacy of shopping with a woman, beat excitedly. “Onions,” Robin declared. “Onions are what we want.”
John gave his still life to his mother, who displayed it at the Plowville house, while Mary kept hers. Now the paintings are together again, above the bed that John painted with his mother—John’s on the left, Mary’s on the right . . . just as in Oxford.
Visit and look at the paintings up close and vote: Who did it best? John (left) or Mary (right)?
The John Updike Childhood Home & Museum, 117 Philadelphia Ave. in Shillington, Pa., is owned and operated by the 501c3 John Updike Society. It is open most Saturdays from 12-2 p.m. For questions about visiting the museum, contact director Maria Lester, johnupdikeeducation@gmail.com.
If you’ve been accustomed to getting your Updike Society and John Updike Childhood Home news through Facebook, you might want to bookmark our webpages for future use instead. Yesterday Facebook suspended both sites because it was determined that they were guilty of celebrity “impersonation.” This, even after an appeal.
Seriously? A non-profit literary organization largely composed of academics, along with a museum that’s on the National Register of Historic Places and has a Pennsylvania Historic Marker?
Clearly, Facebook “Meta” is more omnipotent than it is omniscient.
If you’re planning on visiting The John Updike Childhood Home this summer, be aware that the museum just announced summer hours, restricted because of volunteer availability. The museum, which formally opened in October 2021, has been favorably reviewed and recommended by The Wall Street Journal. It was where Updike lived from “age zero to thirteen” and where he famously said his “artistic eggs were hatched.” Questions about the house at 117 Philadelphia Avenue in Shillington, Pa. should be directed to John Updike Childhood Home director Maria Lester, johnupdikeeducation@gmail.com. The museum is owned and operated by the 501c3 nonprofit John Updike Society.
Maria Lester, director of The John Updike Childhood Home that is owned and operated by the 501c3 John Updike Society, received word recently that the museum at 117 Philadelphia Ave. in Shillington, Pa. was awarded a $25,000 Chairman’s Grant from the head of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“At the greengrocer’s on Monday morning they purchased still life ingredients. The Constable School owned a great bin of inanimate objects, from which Leonard had selected an old mortar and pestle. His idea was then to buy, to make a logical picture, some vegetables that could be ground, and to arrange them in a Chardinesque tumble. But what, really, was ground, except nuts? The grocer did have some Jamaican walnuts.
