Alum Margaret Lynch, who wrote about her near-death bout with leukemia, donates $50,000 to support would-be writers
With the deep belief that it is never too late to go back to school, Toronto writer Margaret Lynch, MFA’20, has become King’s first MFA alum to create a named financial award for students in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction and MFA in Fiction programs. Her gift of $50,000 ($10,000 per year over five years) is part of the Welcoming: The Future King’s campaign to create opportunities for people to make the leap. “In the face of this ‘upside down world’ we’re living in now, it’s important that I stay connected to my humanity and do things that help other people,” says Margaret, who entered the Creative Nonfiction program at age 61.
“King’s was one of those life-changing moments for me…. I found my voice at King’s through the writing and also verbally, and so that’s a real gift later in life.” The year she graduated, Margaret won the 2020 Penguin Random House Best Nonfiction Book Proposal Prize for best book proposal by a King’s Creative Nonfiction student. Winning the prize “gave me a boost. It gave me encouragement to keep going.”
When My DNA Changed, So Did I, her book-length manuscript, details her journey to “become a better person” after a rare leukemia invaded her body. Margaret, who was hospitalized for six months at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital in 1988 when she was 30, nearly died from experimental leukemia treatments. She was saved by a bone marrow transplant that “should not have worked,” impelling her to prioritize her health and take more risks. “I thought, okay, if I get a second chance, I’m going to turn this ship around.”
Margaret, who worked in the banking industry and later the non-profit sector, never planned on becoming a writer. In fact, in the late ’70s, she received an F for an essay writing course, part of a computer studies program she left after a year. “Stringing words together was not easy for me at the time. I didn’t trust my own voice.”
For the most part, Margaret avoided talking about her experience with cancer, let alone writing about it. That changed in 2008, the 20th anniversary of her transplant, when she rode in The Princess Margaret Ride to Conquer Cancer. To reach her $20,000 fundraising goal, she had to reveal her story to longtime friends and acquaintances who knew nothing about her cancer experience.
After retiring in 2015, she began taking writing courses, mostly to help her understand “this bonus life” she had been given. Although her stories resonated with people, Margaret hesitated to apply to King’s MFA program because she had no undergraduate degree. Eventually, she composed a winning application letter. “I wrote my heart into it and then I waited until the day before the deadline to apply because I thought, there’s just no way they’re going to accept me—absolutely no way.”
“As someone who rebuilt her life after a terrifying health situation and who trained as a professional writer so she could write about it, Margaret’s story is inspiring to everyone, especially to writers,” says Gillian Turnbull, King’s Director of Writing and Publishing. She is grateful to Margaret for helping make the Creative Nonfiction and MFA in Fiction programs more accessible to those from different economic situations.
With her gift, Margaret hopes to help another writer find their voice. “I hope it gives them confidence as a writer…. I hope it gets them closer to whatever dream they have for themselves.”
Beginning in 2025, the Margaret Lynch MFA Award will be given annually to students entering the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction and the Master of Fine Arts in Fiction. Each of the two awards is worth up to $5,000 and preference is given to students with demonstrated financial need.
