Margaret Gibson (writer)

Born and raised in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, the middle child of Audrey and Dane Gibson, Margaret Gibson began writing in the early 1970s to document her struggle with mental illness.[1] Initially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, she learned only during her divorce from her first husband that she had been misdiagnosed and was in fact bipolar.[2]

Gibson was married in the early 1970s to Stuart Gilboord, with whom she had one son, Aaron. Following her divorce from Gilboord, Gibson moved in with her longtime friend, actor Craig Russell.

Gibson and Gilboord's custody battle for Aaron was portrayed in the 1994 television film For the Love of Aaron, in which Gibson was portrayed by actress Meredith Baxter.[2]

Gibson published her debut short story collection, The Butterfly Ward, in 1976.[3] The book included the story "Making It", based on her experiences living with Russell, which was later made into the feature film Outrageous! by director Richard Benner.[4] Hollis McLaren played "Liza Conners", the fictionalized version of Gibson, in that film. Benner also produced a sequel, Too Outrageous!, ten years later.

"Ada", another story in the collection, was the basis of a CBC Television movie directed by Claude Jutra for the drama anthology series For the Record.[5] It was Jutra's first English-language film production.

The Butterfly Ward was a winner of the City of Toronto Book Award in 1977, shared with Margaret Atwood's novel Lady Oracle.[6]

Gibson followed up with the short story collections Considering Her Condition (1978),[7] Sweet Poison (1993)[8] and The Fear Room and Other Stories (1996)[9] before releasing her first and only novel, Opium Dreams, in 1997.[9]

Opium Dreams was a winner of the Books in Canada First Novel Award,[10] and Gibson subsequently published her final short story collection, Desert Thirst, in 1998.[11]

In later years Gibson lived with Juris Rasa, her second husband.[1]

She died in 2006 of breast cancer, aged 57.[12]

Her friend Stephen Jon Postal and his wife Guia Dino Postal chronicled Gibson's teenage life in the novel, Of Margaret and Madness: A Novel Inspired By True Events (ISBN 9781434332752).

In 2011, Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater produced David Solomon's play, Margaret and Craig, in workshop. The play was based on the writing of Craig Russell and Margaret Gibson.

• The Butterfly Ward – 1976
• Considering Her Condition – 1978
• Sweet Poison – 1993
• The Fear Room and Other Stories – 1996
• Opium Dreams – 1997
• Desert Thirst – 1998

• Margaret Gibson on IMDb