Margaret Gibson
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Margaret Gibson (June 4, 1948 - February 25, 2006) was a Canadian novelist and short story writer who lived in Toronto, Ontario.
Born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, Gibson began writing in the early 1970s to document her struggle with mental illness. (Biographical references are, however, in conflict as to whether Gibson suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.)
Gibson was married in the early 1970s to Stuart Gilboord, with whom she had one son. Following their divorce, Gibson moved in with her longtime friend Craig Russell. Gibson wrote the short story "Making It", published in her 1976 debut collection The Butterfly Ward, based on her experiences living with Russell. That story was later made into the feature film Outrageous!. "Ada", another story in the collection, was the basis of a CBC Television movie directed by Claude Jutra.
The Butterfly Ward was a winner of the City of Toronto Book Award in 1977, shared with Margaret Atwood's novel Lady Oracle.
Gibson published three further collections of short stories before releasing her first novel, Opium Dreams, in 1997. Opium Dreams was a winner of the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and Gibson subsequently published one more book.
Margaret Gibson died in 2006 of breast cancer, aged 57.
