Laurence, Margaret
Laurence, Margaret ( Jean Margaret Wemys ) ( 1926 – 87 ),Canadian novelist and short story writer, born in the prairie town of Neepawa, Manitoba (inspiration for the fictional Manawaka). Her mother died when she was 4, and after her father's death in 1935 she was brought up by her stepmother (her natural mother's elder sister). She attended the local high school, at which she began to write stories, and studied at United College (now the University of), Winnipeg. In 1947 she married John Laurence , a civil engineer, whose work later took them to live in Africa for five years. Her time there inspired A Tree for Poverty ( 1954 ), a translated selection of Somali poetry; The Prophet's Camel Bell ( 1963 ), a memoir of her life in Somaliland; her first novel, This Side Jordan ( 1960 ), set in Ghana; a collection of stories set in West Africa, The Tomorrow-Tamer ( 1963 ); and a critical work on...
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