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Matthew Lloyd interviewed me when he was in grade six at Jules Quesnel school.
Margaret Meikle - By Matthew Lloyd -
Margaret Meikle has had a very exciting life. She lives in Vancouver, Canada with her husband Noel, son Mac , and Border Collie Rosie. Born in Victoria in 1956, and raised in Vancouver, Marg went to Maple Grove Elementary School, then Magee Secondary. She also attended the University of Alberta, the University of Washington, and UBC. That's 5 different schools! She studied everything from home economics (where she majored in, of all things, Indian sweaters) to anthropology! It took her a while to find out what she really wanted to do. Marg had already been in the radio business for a while when she heard about a spot on the Vicky Gabereau show. So she took the spot thinking "it's my only chance if I want to hit it big". At first she didn't know what to talk about on the show. So she thought, "What do I like to do?" Then she realized that she liked researching things. So she started her career answering people's weird questions. It started as just relatives sending in questions, but after a while, it caught on and she started receiving mail from people she didn't even know. At some point someone called her "The Answer Lady" and the name stuck. And so her career took off. One day, while being stuck in traffic on the Lion's Gate bridge, publisher Rob Sanders was listening to Marg and Vicky Gabereau talk about spontaneous human combustion, and whether it's really possible. Mr. Sanders found their conversation uproarious, which thereby lead to Marg publishing her first two books with Douglas & McIntyre, "Dear Answer Lady" and "Return of The Answer Lady". Both were illustrated by Sa Boothroyd. Then, the Vicky Gabereau show ended and Marg has, since then, published three more books with Scholastic Canada. They are "Funny You Should Ask", "You Asked for it", and "Ask Me Anything". These last books are for children, as her show was changed to 3:20 p.m. instead of earlier in the morning while kids were in school, so the number of letters from kids was rapidly increasing. She is proud of her writing, even more so now since she's won the "Red Cedar" and the "Silver Birch" awards. Much to her annoyance, within the last few years Marg has developed Parkinson's disease. It is, as she says "a real pain in the neck". This has slowed her down a bit, but she still manages to keep her head above the water fairly easily, for she is a very organized, and creative person. To help prevent Parkinson's, she hosts her annual "Porridge for Parkinson's", a breakfast, and silent auction to raise money for Parkinson's research. This breakfast usually raises over 30 000 dollars. To date she has written the following: Funny You Should Ask, You Asked For It, Ask Me Anything, Dear Answer Lady, Return of The Answer Lady, Garden City, Dog City, Bumbering Around Vancouver (written with Noel), and Your Plan-it, a family planning kit. Marg is a very brilliant, and creative woman and I'm sure that her knowledge of Indian sweaters will always come in handy.
My Interview - By Anna Gardiner -
I am interviewing Margaret Adelaide Meikle at the Bayview School book fair discussing her life so far. Marg was born into the world on February 15, 1956. As a child, she had three annoying brothers, she was the only girl. During her childhood she enjoyed reading, crafting and going to her Girl Guide meetings. Over the years she has had every kind of pet that you can imagine: dogs, fish, hamsters, gerbils, a chinchilla and a cat. Her most memorable pet was her cat Nosy who fell into a bucket of paint. In 1999 she won the Ontario Silver Birch Book Award for her book Funny You Should Ask. "There was a parade and everything," she said "It was probably the most exciting thing that has happened to me". She says that the best job that she has ever had was working in the Woodward’s fabric department. "It was great. I got paid in cash," she added. Nowadays she likes doing mainly the same things she did as a child but has taken on beading as well. "I like computers a lot too." She says "There wasn’t anything like that when I was a kid." Questions and Answers 1. What is your name? Margaret Adelaide Meikle 2. When were you born? February 15, 1956 3. What did you enjoy doing as a child? Reading, sewing, Girl Guides, knitting, crafting 4. What is the most exciting thing you have ever done? Winning the Silver Birch Book Award in 1999 for my book Funny You Should Ask 5. Did you ever have any pets when you were growing up? I had a cat named Nosy who fell into a can of paint. A dog or two, a chinchilla named Chinchie, fish, hamsters and gerbils. 6. What do you enjoy doing now? Mainly the same thing as a kid but I bead now. Also I like doing things on the computer but they weren’t invented when I was a kid. 7. Do you have any siblings? I had 3 brothers, 1 died.
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