When Margaret Laurence died on 5 January 1987, taking her own life in the face of terminal cancer, she had become one of Canada's most prolific, highly acclaimed, and beloved authors. She contributed extensively to Canadian literature and cultural memory, and her innovations in narrative style and modes of representation earned her an international reputation in addition. Laurence published five novels (This Side Jordan, 1960; The Stone Angel, 1964; A Jest of God, 1966; The Fire-Dwellers, 1969; The Diviners, 1974), two short-story collections (The Tomorrow-Tamer and Other Stories, 1963; A Bird in the House, 1970), five books of non-fiction (A Tree for Poverty, 1954; The Prophet's Camel Bell, 1963; Long Drums and Cannons, 1968; Heart of a Stranger, 1976; Dance on the Earth, 1989), and four books for children (Jason's Quest, 1970; Six Darn Cows, 1979; The Olden Days Coat, 1979; The Christmas Birthday Story, 1980). Her oeuvre also comprises numerous poems, letters, addresses, reviews, and articles, some of which were collected and published in Heart of a Stranger. Laurence received the Governor General's Award twice (1967 for A Jest of God, 1975 for The Diviners) and in 1971 was made Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest award available to a Canadian citizen. Between 1970 and 1981 Laurence received eleven honorary degrees.

Laurence was born as Jean Margaret Wemyss on 18 July 1926 in Neepawa, Manitoba, where she was raised by her aunt, both of her parents having died before she was nine. The imaginary town of Manawaka, which features prominently in five of Laurence's books as the fictional epitome of any small Canadian prairie town, is closely modeled on her home town. “The Loons” is taken from Laurence's short-story cycle A Bird in the House (1970), which is set in Manawaka and which Laurence described as the only “semi-autobiographical fiction I have ever written” (Laurence in Woodcock 1983, 5).

Before returning to the Canadian prairies and writing about the region's myths and history, Laurence went abroad. From 1950 to 1957 she and her husband lived in Africa, in what are now Somalia and Ghana, and had two children. Upon her return from Africa in 1957, Laurence lived in Vancouver until she and her husband separated in 1962, after which she moved to England for several years. Laurence's detailed observations of religious, social, and narratological aspects of African culture resulted in five books.