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Peggy's first 'professional' job as a writer was a
reporter for
The Neepawa Press in the summer of 1943. Miss Mildred Musgrove, her English
teacher, gave her valuable criticism and encouragement during her school
years.
In a letter written in 1983, Margaret stated "I
was an extremely fortunate child. As someone who has always been
interested in reading and in writing (which I began to do in about Grade 2
or 3), I always had someone there who encouraged me."
After graduating from high school in 1944,
Margaret attended United College (now the University of Winnipeg), and was
assistant editor of the college paper,
Vox
.
Jean Margaret Wemyss graduated form United College
with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947, and married John Fergus Laurence
on September 13, 1947, in the Neepawa United Church. She then worked for a
time as a reporter for the
Winnipeg
Citizen
.
In 1950, after living for a year in England,
Margaret and her husband, a civil engineer, moved to British Somaliland.
Where there, she wrote a translation of Somali prose and poetry,
A
Tree for Poverty.
Mrs
Laurence said that it was at the time that she "began seriously to write".
A travel book,
The Prophet's Camel
Bell,
written some years
later, describes the Laurences' experience in Somaliland.
They moved to Accra, Ghana in 1952, with their
2-month-old daughter, Jocelyn, who was born in England. During their
subsequent 5 years in Africa, Margaret produced her first novel,
This Side Jordan,
which won the 1961 Beta Sigma Phi Award for the best first novel by a
Canadian. A collection of short stories,
The Tomorrow
Tamer
, written a few years
later, is also set in West Africa. Out of her African years came an
interest in contemorary literature by Africans, which resulted in her
study of Nigerian fiction and drama,
Long Drums and
Cannons
. The Laurences' son,
David, was born in Ghana in 1955.
After leaving Africa, the family lived for five
years in Vancouver, and during this time, Margaret wrote
The
Christmas Birthday Story,
a
children's book later rewritten.
After Vancouver, there followed seven years in
England, and the purchase of her home in Elm Cottage, in Penn,
Buchinghamshire, 30 miles from London. In the ten year period, 1964 -
1974, the Manawaka books were published:
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The Stone Angel
(1964);
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A Jest of God (1966), which she received the
1967 Governor General's Award, and was the basis for a movie
entitled Rachel, Rachel, starring Joanne
Woodward;
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The Fire Dweller's
(1969);
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A Bird in the House
(1970);
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The Diviner's (1974), 1975 Governor
General's Award
winner
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A collection of essays,
Heart of a
Stranger,
was published in
1976. Mrs. Laurence received honorary degrees from more than a dozen
Canadian universities, was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in
1971, and numerous other honors were bestowed upon her.
An hour-long documentary film,
"Margaret Laurence - first lady of Manawaka" was produced by the National
Film Board of Canada, and premiered in Winnipeg on May 7, 1979.
Adaptations of many of her works have been made for radio and television
and various books of hers have been translated into other languages.
She served as Writer in Residence at the
Universities of Toronto and Western Ontario and Trent University, and was
appointed Chancellor of Trent for the years 1981 - 83.
While still living in England, Margaret
established a summer home on the Otonobee River in southern Ontario, which
she named Manawaka Cottage. Her return to Canada became permanent in 1973,
and she made her home in Lakefield, Ontario. But, despite her years away
from her birthplace, Margaret Laurence continued to consider herself "...a
Prairie person, because I have always remained deeply just that."
The last decade of her life focused on promoting
causes she passionately supported - pease, social justice, the equality of
women, environmental protection - through letters, lectures, essays and
fundraising campaigns.
Margaret Laurence died on January 5, 1987, and, at
her request, her ashes were brought by her children, Jocelyn and David, to
be interred in Riverside Cemetary, Neepawa, on June 23, the day before the
official opening of The Margaret Laurence Home, the former Simpson house
where she had lived in her
youth.
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