- Had 11 children (6 sons and 5 daughters) with wife Louisa Powell, four of whom died during MacDonald's lifetime.
- His book "The Princess and the Goblin" has been shortened and spoofed on several television shows including Fractured Fairy Tales on "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" (1959) and "Shirley Temple's Storybook" (1958).
- One of his children shares a name with one of his most popular characters: Irene. This same daughter also appears in several famous photos by Carroll, Lewis (a.k.a. Rev. Charles Dodgson).
- Son Greville Macdonald also became a writer.
- Traveled in many literary circles. In his life, MacDonald knew John Ruskin, Lady Byron (widow of the famed poet; she even left MacDonald money in her will), Thomas Carlyle, and Tennyson, Alfred. He also was friend and mentor to Charles Dodgson, better known as Carroll, Lewis. Carroll used to photograph MacDonald's children and they were given the "Alice's Adventures Underground" manuscript to read before giving it to Alice Liddell (the girl the stories were written for). Thanks to their insistence, Carroll had the book published.
- His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors, including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit, G.K. Chesterton and Madeleine L'Engle. C.S Lewis described MacDonald as his greatest inspiration, calling him his "master", and G.K Chesterton described MacDonald's book The Princess and the Goblin as changing his existence.
- He was appointed minister of Trinity Congregational Church, Arundel, in 1850 but his sermons, which preached God's universal love and the possibility that none would, ultimately, fail to unite with God, met with little favor and his salary was cut in half.
- He was a mentor to Lewis Carroll.
- He was friends with Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.
- He is considered a pioneering figure in the genre of Fantasy literature.
- He was an advocate of Christian Universalism and the doctrine of Universal Reconciliation and spoke about both in his sermons and writings on Christianity.
- Due to his influence on other authors and his pioneering use of creating mythologies for his works, he is considered by many to be the founder of modern fantasy.
- W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Yates and Roger Lancelyn Green have all cited him as an influence.
- Richard Adams, L Frank Baum, TH White, Peter S Beagle, Lloyd Alexander, JM Barrie, Robert E Howard and Neil Gaiman have all named MacDonald as a major influence.
- CS Lewis has cited MacDonald as his greatest influence.
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