Download the Margaret Laurence Home audio tour:
English Audio
margaret_laurence_home_audio_tour_2021.mp3
File Size: 8229 kb
File Type: mp3
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Filipino Audio
filipino_audio_tour_of_margaret_laurence_home__2023_.mp3
File Size: 8723 kb
File Type: mp3
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Margaret Laurence, an internationally renowned author, was born and raised in Neepawa. After graduating in l947 from Winnipeg's United College, she worked as a reporter with the Winnipeg Citizen. Her years in Africa during the l950s inspired her first novel, This Side Jordan (l96l), which met with critical acclaim.

Neepawa provided the setting for five later novels set in the fictional prairie town of Manawaka. Vivid prairie imagery and assertion of human dignity suffuse these works. Laurence received two Governor-General's awards for fiction and became a Companion of the Order of Canada in l97l.
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Laurence lived here in her grandfather's house from l935 to l944. Built ca. l894, the house, and her grandfather John Simpson, figured prominently in the Manawaka novels. The house was purchased in l986 by the Margaret Laurence Home Committee and is dedicated to the literary career of "The First Lady of Manawaka."
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​"Please consider supporting the efforts of our volunteer board to promote the arts and tourism in our small Manitoba town which provided so much inspiration to one of Canada's premier literary figures and to maintain the house so that her fans have a place to come and connect."
312 First Ave, Neepawa, MB
 204-476-3612
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