NOW IN PMC: Margaret Laurence’s first novel now in Penguin Modern Classics.

INTERNATIONAL SETTING: While most of Laurence’s novels were set in Canada, This Side Jordan is based in Ghana.

Margaret Laurence was born in 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 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 and wrote five books about the fictional town of Manawaka, patterned after her birthplace, and its people: The Stone Angel, A Jest of God, The Fire-Dwellers, A Bird in the House, and The Diviners. Laurence settled in Ontario in 1974. She complemented her fiction with essays, book reviews, and four children’s books. Her many honours include two Governor General’s Awards for Fiction and more than a dozen honorary degrees. Margaret Laurence died in 1987.

Author Hometown: Neepawa, Manitoba

PRAISE FOR THIS SIDE JORDAN:

“Artistically and expertly written and constructed, this novel is of unusual and noteworthy calibre.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Highly recommended as a good and timely read.”—Library Journal