BIOGRAPHY OF MARGARET LAURENCE
Jean Margaret Wemyss (Laurence)
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Jean Margaret (Peggy) Wemyss was born in Neepawa, Manitoba on July 18, 1926 to Robert Harrison Wemyss, a lawyer, and his wife, Verna Jean, nee Simpson. Verna died when Peggy was 4 years old, and Robert later married her sister, Margaret Campbell Simpson, a teacher and librarian, who was throughout the years one of Peggy’s “greatest encouragers”. After Robert Wemyss’ death, when Peggy was 9 and her brother still a baby, the family went to live with Grandfather Simpson in his big brick house on First Avenue.
Peggy’s first “professional” writing job was as 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 high 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. She graduated from United College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947, and married John Fergus Laurence in the same year on September 13, in the Neepawa United Church.
In 1950, after living for a year in England, Margaret and her husband, a civil engineer, moved to British Somaliland. It was then that she “began seriously to write”. They moved to Accra, Ghana in 1952, with their two-month-old daughter, Jocelyn, who was born in England. During their subsequent five years in Africa, Margaret produced her first novel, This Side Jordan, which won the 1961 Beta Sigma Phi Award for 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 contemporary 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 graduating from high school in 1944, Margaret attended United College (now the University of Winnipeg), and was assistant editor of the college paper, Vox. She graduated from United College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947, and married John Fergus Laurence in the same year on September 13, in the Neepawa United Church.
In 1950, after living for a year in England, Margaret and her husband, a civil engineer, moved to British Somaliland. It was then that she “began seriously to write”. They moved to Accra, Ghana in 1952, with their two-month-old daughter, Jocelyn, who was born in England. During their subsequent five years in Africa, Margaret produced her first novel, This Side Jordan, which won the 1961 Beta Sigma Phi Award for 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 contemporary 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.
Margaret Laurence
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A very difficult and lonely time followed the fall of 1962 when Jack Laurence went to Pakistan and Margaret went to England with their children. The marriage was ended. “I felt guilty and worried sick about what the separation might do to them (the children),” she writes in Dance on the Earth. “I was also very much aware that within a year I would have to be self-supporting, although Jack would give me an allowance to help support the kids.- I can never be that frightened again.” Like most women of her time, she had never been on her own, and now she was, with two young children. But then she writes, “I found strengths I never knew I possessed, strengths that had probably been given to me by all my mothers.”
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There followed seven years in England, and the purchase of her home, Elm Cottage, in Penn Buckinghamshire, thirty miles from London. In the ten-year period, 1964 – 1974, the Manawaka books were published:
Margaret 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. Margaret 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- 1983.
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. 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 – peace, social justice, the equality of women, environmental protection – through letters, lectures, essays and fundraising campaigns.
The last lines of the “Prayer for Passover and Easter”, are a timeless plea for peace, tolerance, and the unity of all peoples:
- The Stone Angel (1964)
- A Jest of God (1966), which received the 1967 Governor General’s Award, and was the basis for the movie, entitled Rachel, Rachel, starring Joanne Woodward;
- The Fire Dwellers (1969)
- A Bird in the House (1970)
- The Diviners (1974), 1975 Governor General’s Award
Margaret 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. Margaret 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- 1983.
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. 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 – peace, social justice, the equality of women, environmental protection – through letters, lectures, essays and fundraising campaigns.
The last lines of the “Prayer for Passover and Easter”, are a timeless plea for peace, tolerance, and the unity of all peoples:
May we lean
One upon another
Give and receive loving strength
And may we learn
We are one
People in our only home
Earth
~Amen
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 Cemetery, 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.
