Literary Lunch

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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Eudora Welty was born on April 13, 1909 in Jackson, Mississipi. She was the oldest of three children and the only girl. She was educated at Mississipi State College for Women, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (from which she graduated in 1929), and Columbia Business School (where she studied advertising for a year). She worked as a photographer in the 1930s for the Works Progress Administration.

Eudora Welty’s first short story, The Death of a Traveling Salesman was published in 1936. Her first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green was published in 1941. Among the short stories included was Why I Live at the P.O. She went on to publish 10 more short story collections. In 1942, she published her first novel which was called The Robber Bridegroom. She wrote 5 more novels. Eudora Welty wrote an autobiography of her childhood in 1983. One Writer’s Beginnings was based on three lectures she gave in the William E. Massey lecture series at Harvard University. Her last published work was a collection of essays called 3 Minutes or Less in 2001.

Eudora Welty died in 2001 of pneumonia at the age of 92.