Margaret Laurence: the Making of a Writer
is published by the Dundurn Group and distributed by the University of Toronto Press

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Margaret Laurence (1926-1987) is one of Canada’s most loved and respected writers. Born Jean Margaret Wemyss, and known for many years as Peggy, she spent her
youth in the prairie town of Neepawa, Manitoba, northwest of Winnipeg. Both parents died before she was nine years old, but she was fortunate in being raised by her aunt. Soon after graduating in 1947 from United College, Manitoba, she married Jack Laurence, a civil engineer. The couple moved abroad, living in England for several months and then for seven years in Africa, first in the British Somaliland Protectorate, and then in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). A daughter and son were born while the Laurences lived in Africa. When they returned to Canada in 1957, they lived in Vancouver until 1962, when the couple separated. Margaret and the children then moved to England, finally returning permanently to Canada in 1974. Margaret Laurence wrote fifteen books and a memoir that was published posthumously. She as also well-known for her work as a peace activist and as one of the founders of the Writers’ Union of Canada. Her encouragement of fellow writers is legendary.

Neepawa, The Margaret Laurence Home
(house of her grandfather John Simpson)

For a long time Margaret Laurence’s reputation in Canada rested on five works of fiction, often referred to as the “Manawaka novels” because the fictional town of Manawaka appears in them. However, she also merited attention because of her writings about Africa: A Tree for Poverty (the first translation into English of Somali tales and poems); This Side Jordan (a novel dealing with the Gold Coast on the verge of independence from England); The Prophet’s Camel Bell (a remarkable travel memoir about her time in the British Somaliland Protectorate); The Tomorrow-Tamer and other stories ( a collection of short stories set in the Gold Coast); Long Drums and Cannons ( a study of Nigerian dramatists and novelists 1952-1966). In addition, Laurence wrote a collection of essays Heart of a Stranger, as well as several children’s books. More information about her life and work may be found here.