Margaret Laurence would have been humbled, says son

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This article was published 23/08/2018 (2987 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Author Margaret Laurence would have been humbled by being designated a person of national historical significance, her son David said.

A ceremony was held at the Margaret Laurence Home museum in Neepawa on Aug. 10 to dedicate a plaque recognizing her designation.

“It’s truly a great honour for her, and I think she would have been deeply moved by it,” David said. “I think she truly deserved it — she was quite an extraordinary human being.”

The ceremony was held at the museum, which is also the house where the author spent her formative years.

She was a prominent Canadian author whose first published work, “A Tree for Poverty,” was released in 1954. It was was the first English rendering of Somali poems and tales.

As a kid growing up, David had many memories of his mom working on whatever book she was chipping away on at the time.

“She was banging the typewriter from morning to night most days,” David said. “There is this Remington typewriter in (the museum) that she pounded so hard on that some of the keys broke.”

If she was busy at work, there were times that she used to tell him to “scram and go play outside,” he said with a laugh.

Throughout his childhood, David said that he met many interesting people who would come through the house to meet his mother.

“All kinds of people from other communities and local news dropped by,” he said.

“Other writers and just people that were in the creative arts, and people that were just interested in meeting her.”

David spent his childhood growing up in England, and many of the visitors to their house were Canadian.

“She used to joke that it was an unofficial Canada house,” he said.

Still, despite all the visitors, he said that his mom wasn’t an extrovert.

“She always was nervous when she had to talk in public, but over time she became much better at sort of doing speeches and so on,” he said.

“She learned how to develop a public persona for sure, because she had to, but it wasn’t her chosen mode.”

The author joined an impressive list of other Canadians to be designated as a person of national historical significance, which includes Terry Fox and Laura Secord.

“I think she’s been an inspiration to many people and I think she continues to be and will continue to be,” David said.

The author’s son said that having the plaque installed at the Margaret Laurence Home is fitting, since a lot of her work is based on that location.

Looking forward, David said that he hopes that the designation for his mom would keep her work and memory alive for many years going forward.

“My hope is that because she has been given that honour that it will keep her name in circulation, and you know, maybe younger generations will come out. It helps to kind of keep it all current and alive.

“I think a lot of what she wrote, it was of her time, but I think it can also be universally relevant.”

Outside of her work as an author, David said that his mother was just a nice person.

“She was a great mother, she was always there for us, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.

“She tried to do it, all she looked after her kids and did her work, and did a pretty good job of both, I’d say.”

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