Margaret Laurence facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margaret Laurence
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| Born | Jean Margaret Wemyss July 18, 1926 Neepawa, Manitoba, Canada |
| Died | January 5, 1987 (aged 60) Lakefield, Ontario, Canada |
| Pen name | Steve Lancaster |
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| Alma mater | United College |
| Genre | Canadian Literature Children's literature |
| Literary movement | CanLit Feminism |
| Notable works | The Stone Angel The Diviners |
Jean Margaret Laurence (born Wemyss; 1926–1987) was a famous Canadian writer. She wrote many novels and short stories. Margaret Laurence is known as one of the most important writers in Canadian literature. She also helped start the Writers' Trust of Canada, which is a group that supports Canadian writers.
Contents
About Margaret Laurence
Her early life
Margaret Laurence was born Jean Margaret Wemyss on July 18, 1926. Her hometown was Neepawa, Manitoba. Her father, Robert Wemyss, was a lawyer. Her mother was Verna Jean Simpson. Everyone called her "Peggy" when she was a child.
When Margaret was four, her mother passed away. Her aunt, Margaret Simpson, came to live with them and help. A year later, her aunt married her father. In 1933, they adopted a son named Robert. When Margaret was nine, her father also passed away from pneumonia. She then moved to her grandfather's house with her stepmother and brother. She lived in Neepawa until she was 18 years old.
Her education
In 1944, Margaret Laurence went to United College in Winnipeg. This college is now called the University of Winnipeg. She got scholarships to help pay for her studies.
In her first year, she studied English, History, Ethics, and Psychology. Margaret loved English literature even in high school. She was also very interested in writing her own stories and poems.
Soon after starting college, she had poems published in The Manitoban, which was the University of Manitoba's newspaper. She used the pen name "Steve Lancaster." She later said this name was a nod to the Lancaster bomber, a powerful plane from World War II.
Margaret also joined the English Club. This was a group of older students who talked about poetry. It was led by a professor named Arthur L. Phelps. This was the first time she was with other young people who loved literature as much as she did. It helped her learn more as a student and a writer.
There was a place called "Tony's" in the college basement. It was a cafeteria and coffee shop. Margaret often met friends there to talk about books. Writers in the group would share their new works. Her college years helped her grow as a student and as a creative writer.
During this time, Margaret became interested in the Christian socialist movement, called the Social Gospel. This idea was important to her for the rest of her life.
In her last year of college, Margaret had more responsibilities. She was an associate editor for Vox, the college's literary magazine. She was also the publicity president for the Student Council. These roles helped her improve her writing skills. They also gave her experience in journalism, which she would do after graduating. She was very successful in her early writing. While in college, she had at least eighteen poems, three short stories, and one essay published.
Margaret Laurence finished college in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.
Her adult life
After college, Margaret worked for two newspapers, The Westerner and the Winnipeg Citizen. She wrote about many social and political topics. She also wrote a radio column and reviewed books.
Soon after graduating, she married Jack Fergus Laurence, who was an engineer. Because of his job, they moved to England in 1949. Then they lived in British Somaliland (now part of Somalia) from 1950 to 1952. After that, they moved to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) from 1952 to 1957.
Margaret loved Africa and its people. This love showed up in her writing. She was so impressed by the stories and poems of Somalia that she started writing them down and translating them. These were later put into a book called A Tree for Poverty: Somali Poetry and Prose (1954).
She spent two years in Somalia watching people try to find water in the desert. She also learned about the lives of both foreign workers and Somalis. She wrote about these experiences in her 1963 book, The Prophet's Camel Bell.
In 1952, her daughter Jocelyn was born while they were visiting England. Her son David was born in 1955 in the Gold Coast. The family left the Gold Coast just before it became the independent country of Ghana in 1957. They moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and lived there for five years.
In 1962, she separated from her husband and moved to London, England, for a year. Then she moved to Elm Cottage in Penn, England, where she lived for over ten years. She often visited Canada. Her divorce was finalized in 1969.
That same year, she became a writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto. A few years later, she moved to Lakefield, Ontario. She also bought a small cabin on the Otonabee River near Peterborough. She wrote her novel The Diviners (1974) there during the summers from 1971 to 1973.
In 1978, a documentary about her was made by the National Film Board of Canada. It was called Margaret Laurence: First Lady of Manawaka. Margaret Laurence was also the Chancellor of Trent University in Peterborough from 1981 to 1983.
Her passing
Margaret Laurence passed away on January 5, 1987. She was buried in her hometown of Neepawa, Manitoba. Her childhood home in Neepawa is now a museum. Her writings and papers are kept at York University in Toronto and McMaster University in Hamilton.
Margaret Laurence's Writing Career
Margaret Laurence became one of Canada's most respected writers. She started writing short stories when she was a teenager in Neepawa. Her first published story was "The Land of Our Father." She submitted it to a contest by the Winnipeg Free Press. This story was the first time she used the name "Manawaka." This is a made-up Canadian town that appears in many of her later books.
After she got married, Margaret started writing even more. Both she and her husband published stories in magazines while they lived in Africa. Margaret kept writing and tried different styles. Her early novels were influenced by her time as a white person living in a colonial country in Africa. They show her strong Christian beliefs and her thoughts on being a white person in that setting.
After she returned to Canada, she wrote The Stone Angel (1964). This is her most famous novel. It takes place in the fictional town of Manawaka, Manitoba. The story is told by Hagar Shipley, who is ninety years old. She tells about her present life and remembers her past. For a while, this novel was required reading in many schools and colleges in North America. Margaret Laurence wrote four more novels that were also set in Manawaka.
Her books were published by McClelland and Stewart, a Canadian company. She became a very important writer in the growing field of Canadian literature.
The Stone Angel, a movie based on her novel, came out in 2007. It was written and directed by Kari Skogland and starred Ellen Burstyn.
Awards and recognition
Margaret Laurence won two Governor General's Awards for her novels. She won for A Jest of God (1966) and The Diviners (1974). In 1972, she was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. This is a very high honor in Canada.
The Margaret Laurence Memorial Lecture is a yearly talk series named after her. It is organized by the Writers' Trust of Canada.
The Stone Angel was chosen as one of the books for Canada Reads in 2002. This is a popular book competition in Canada.
The University of Winnipeg named a Women's Studies Centre and a yearly speaker series in her honor.
At York University in Toronto, one of the student residence floors is named after her.
In 2016, she was named a National Historic Person in Canada.
Her books
Novels
- This Side Jordan (1960)
- The Stone Angel (1964)
- A Jest of God (1966)
- The Fire-Dwellers (1969)
- The Diviners (1974)
- The Loons
Short story collections
- The Tomorrow-Tamer (1963)
- A Bird in the House (1970)
Children's books
- Jason's Quest (1970)
- Six Darn Cows (1979)
- The Olden Days Coat (1980)
- The Christmas Birthday Story (1982)
Non-fiction books
- A Tree for Poverty (1954) — a collection of Somali poetry and folk stories
- The Prophet's Camel Bell (1963) — a true story about Margaret Laurence's life in British Somaliland
- Long Drums and Cannons: Nigerian Dramatists and Novelists 1952-1966 (1968)
- Heart of a Stranger (1976) — a collection of essays
- Dance on the Earth: A Memoir (1989)
Images for kids
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Marker for Margaret Laurence at Neepawa, Manitoba
