Margaret Laurence Home opens for the season

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Published on Friday, June 23, 2017

Submitted By Brenda Ferguson
Margaret Laurence Home

The Margaret Laurence Home is now open for the season. It is open daily throughout the summer from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm. To keep the house going we do charge a modest admission, though youth (12 and under) are free.  Group tours are available, but please phone to make arrangements.  
Margaret “Peggy” Laurence is an internationally known author, who was born in Neepawa on July 18, 1926, the daughter of solicitor Robert Wemyss and Verna Jean Simpson.  Both of her parents died when she was at a young age and she was raised by her aunt (stepmother), Margaret Simpson and her maternal grandfather, John Simpson. She lived in the house now known as the Margaret Laurence Home from the age of nine until she left to attend college in Winnipeg.  

She started writing stories while attending elementary school and realized at a young age that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Her first professional writing job was with the local Neepawa newspaper in 1943 and she continued writing while attending Winnipeg’s United College (now the University of Winnipeg) and after graduation was employed by The Winnipeg Citizen as a reporter. 
In 1947, she married Jack Laurence, a civil engineer, and during their marriage, his profession took them to England, Somalia, Ghana and eventually back to Canada in 1957.  In 1962, she and her husband separated and she moved back to England, where she resided for several years.  In the early 1970s she returned to Canada, settling in Lakefield, Ont.  She passed away on January 5, 1987.  She is buried in the Neepawa Cemetery, a few meters away from the stone angel which inspired her novel of the same name.

During her time in Africa, she began to work seriously on her writing and in 1954, published her first book, A Tree for Poverty. This was the first of five books making up her African Series.  She is most well known for her book, The Stone Angel, which is part of her Manawaka series, so called as they each take place in the small prairie town of Manawaka, a community which is modelled after the town of Neepawa.  She also has four children’s books.  Her memoir, Dance on the Earth, was published in 1987.  Many of her books are available in the gift shop at the Margaret Laurence Home.
Like us on Facebook to keep up to date on special events.  We host a Canada Reads evening each year and this summer, we are planning a couple of events.  On July 21, we are hosting an evening of music and refreshments following the Cemetery Walks.  On July 22, we are having a Used Book Sale from 10 am until 3 pm.  We are accepting donations of gently used books and they can be dropped off at the house during our open hours, from now until July 14.
Please stop by for a visit and take a tour of this beautiful old home, built in 1895.  We look forward to seeing you!