title: The Life Of Margaret Laurence
author: James King
description: "A moving portrait of a troubled, passionate individual." -<i>The Toronto Star<br /><br /></i>"King has created a Laurence who is reminiscent of her own fictional heroes--strong, vulnerable and full of life-affirming spirit." -<i>The Calgary Herald<br /><br /></i>"A fascinating story, emotional and perplexing, and one sharply etched by both tragedy and triumph." -<i>The London Free Press<br /><br /></i>"King's stirring, compassionate biography will inspire many readers to return to the unforgettable characters and moments Margaret Laurence left behind in her fiction." -<i>The Hamilton Spectator<br /><br /></i>"King's is a full and fascinating book: as a narrative; as a rich view of the landscape of Canadian writing and publishing; and as an account of the complex forces that shaped Laurence's remarkable body of fiction and its tormented heroines." <i>Quill &amp; Quire<br /><br /><br /></i>
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  # THE AUTHOR
  
  
  **MARGARET LAURENCE** was born in Neepawa, Manitoba, in 1926. Upon graduation
  from Winnipeg’s United College in 1947, she took a job as a reporter for the
  _Winnipeg Citizen_.
  
  
  From 1950 until 1957 Laurence lived in Africa, the first two years in Somalia,
  the next five in Ghana, where her husband, a civil engineer, was working. She
  translated Somali poetry and prose during this time, and began her career as a
  fiction writer with stories set in Africa.
  
  
  When Laurence returned to Canada in 1957, she settled in Vancouver, where she
  devoted herself to fiction with a Ghanaian setting: in her first novel, _This
  Side Jordan_ , and in her first collection of short fiction, _The Tomorrow-
  Tamer_. Her two years in Somalia were the subject of her memoir, _The
  Prophet’s Camel Bell_.
  
  
  Separating from her husband in 1962, Laurence moved to England, which became
  her home for a decade, the time she devoted to the cr