Margaret Hollingsworth was born in London, England and trained as a librarian at Loughborough College. She is a principally known as a playwright and a short story writer. Many of her works have been published, or produced in theatres and on CBC Radio. After emigrating to Canada from England in 1968 and settling at Thunder Bay, she spent 4 years as the Chief Librarian at the city's public library. She received a B.A. from Lakehead in 1971 and moved to Vancouver in 1972, receiving an M.F.A. from the University of British Columbia in theatre and creative writing in 1974. She also became a Canadian citizen in 1974. Since then, she has taught creative writing at the David Thompson University Centre, Concordia University, Stratford Festival Theatre, University of Western Ontario, and University of Victoria.