Literary Lunch

William Robertson Davies was born on August 28, 1913 in Thamesville, Ontario, Canada. His father was a Canadian senator and a newspaperman. Davies attended UCC in Toronto, a private boys school. After high school, he attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1938, he graduated with a B.Lit from Balliol College in Oxford, England. After graduation, he worked as an actor. In 1940, he married Brenda Mathews and the two returned to Canada. He worked briefly as the literary editor for Saturday Night magazine. In 1942, he became the editor of the Peterborough Examiner newspaper. He and several family members got together and bought several newspaper, radio stations and television stations. He was one of the founding members of The Stratford Festival in Canada. In 1960, he taught at Trinity College, part of the University of Toronto. He became the founding master of Massey College at the University in 1963, he remained there until he retired in 1980.

Robertson Davies published his first book in 1947; a non-fiction book called Shakespeare for Young Players. In 1948, he wrote his first play Eros at Breakfast. The play went on to be named best Canadian play by the Dominion Drama Festival. He went on to write several other plays. His first novel was Tempest-Tost (1941), this book, as well as Leaven of Malice (1954) and Mixture of Frailties (1958) became known as the Salterton Trilogy. Leaven of Malice won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. In 1970, he wrote the first book in the Deptford Trilogy, Fifth Business ; other book in the trilogy were The Manticore (1970) and World of Wonders (1975). World of Wonders won the Governor General’s Award. When he retired from teaching in 1980, Davies started yet another trilogy, The Cornish Trilogy. This consists of Rebel Angels (1981), What’s Bred in the Bone (1985), and The Lyre of Orpheus (1988). What’s Bred in the Bone was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His last book was The Cunning Man in 1994.

Robertson Davies died on December 2, 1995.

Margaret Laurence was born Margaret Wemyss on July 18, 1926 in Neepawa, Manitoba. She attended Winnipeg United College where she graduated with an honours English degree in 1947.  While at college she was the assistant editor of the Vox student newspaper. After graduation, she worked as a reporter for the Winnipeg Citizen newspaper. In 1947, she married John Fergus Laurence; the couple had two children. They moved around a lot during their marriage, living in England, Somalialan and Ghana. In 1957, the family moved back to Canada. Margaret and her husband separated in 1962 and their divorce became final in 1969. After the separation, Margaret Laurence moved to England with her children. In 1969, she moved back to Canada and became the Writer in Residence at the University of Toronto. In 1986, she was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.

Margaret Laurence first had some of her short stories published while living in Africa. Her first novel, The Stone Angel was published in 1964. In 1967, her novel The Jest of God (1966) won the Governor General’s Award. Another of her well-known novels is The Diviners. In 1972, Laurence was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. Her last published work was her autobiography, Dance on the Earth: a Memoir (1989); it was edited by her daughter, Jocelyn.

Margaret Laurence died on January 5, 1987.

April 15, 1843-February 28, 1916

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