http://www.bookswelove.com/donaldson-yarmey-joan/
Manitoba
Margaret Laurence was born Jean Margaret Wemyss in the small town of Neepawa, Manitoba, on
July 18, 1926. He mother died when she was four and her father remarried a year
later. Her father and step mother adopted a boy. Unfortunately Margaret’s
father died of pneumonia in 1935 so the three of them moved in with her
grandfather.
When Margaret was eighteen
she moved to Winnipeg to attend United College, an arts and theology college
associated with the University of Manitoba. She quickly had some poems
published in the university’s student newspaper, The Manitoban, under the name Steve Lancaster. She said she got the
name from the Lancaster bomber, an airplane used during WWII.
During her first year she
joined the English Club, a student organization for writers. She also met with
other students who were as enthusiastic about writing as she was at a place
called Tony’s in the basement of the
United College. She was also the associate editor of Vox, the college’s literary journal. She had more of her works
featured in local publications as well. While pursuing her undergraduate studies
she had one critical essay, three short stories and eighteen poems published.
After her graduation Jean
Margaret Wemyss married Jack Fergus Laurence, an engineer. Because of Jack’s
job they moved to England for a year, then British Somaliland for two and onto
the Gold Coast for five years. During this time Margaret grew to love Africa,
its peoples, and its land and began recording and translating their folk tales
and poetry. A tree for Poverty: Somali
Poetry and Prose was published in 1954.
Margaret and Jack had a
daughter in 1952 and a son in 1955. The family moved to Vancouver,
B.C. in 1957 where they lived for five years. During this time Margaret’s first
novel, This Side Jordan, was published
in 1960. This book plus, The Prophet’s
Camel Bell (1963) and The Tomorrow
Tamer (1963), were all based on her time in Africa. After her return to
Canada she wrote The Stone Angel (1964),
her best known novel. It is set in Manawaka, a fictional small town in
Manitoba. The novel is about a ninety-year-old woman whose story alternates
between her memories of the past and her present activities. For years the
novel was required reading in many North American schools and colleges.
Margaret filed for divorce from her
husband in 1962 and moved to London, England for a year and then to Penn,
Buckinghamshire. During this time she wrote A
Jest of God (1966) for which she won a Governor General Award. The couple’s
divorce was finalized in 1969 and Margaret returned to Canada to be
writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto. After a few years she moved
to Lakefield, ON and bought a cabin on the Otonabee River, near Peterborough,
ON.
In 1972 she was invested as a Companion of
the Order of Canada. While at the cabin she wrote The Diviners which was published in 1974 and which won her, her
second Governor General’s Award. On March 3, 1976, Margaret, along with five
fellow Canadian writers, founded the Writer’s Trust, a charitable organization
which provides financial support to Canadian writers. After completing Heart of a Stranger, a collection of
essays, (1977), Margaret began writing children’s stories.
The National Film Board of Canada filmed a
documentary titled Margaret Laurence:
First Lady of Manawaka. It aired 1978. She served as Chancellor of Trent
University in Peterborough from 1981 to 1983.
In 1986, Margaret Laurence, one of Canada's most esteemed and beloved
authors, was diagnosed with lung cancer. The disease had spread to other organs
and there was no treatment offered except palliative care. All her novels were
about strong women and rather than put herself and her family through needless
suffering, Margaret Laurence took a drug overdose on January 5, 1987. She
documented her decision in writing. She was buried in the Neepawa Cemetery, in Neepawa,
Manitoba.
Her novel, The Stone Angel, was made into a feature-length film staring
Ellen Burstyn. It premiered in the fall of 2007
In 2016, Jean Margaret Wemyss Laurence was named a National Historic
Person.
