Marian Engel (1933-1985) published her first novel, No Clouds of Glory, in 1968. Engel's Bear, a tale of erotic love between a librarian and a bear, won the Governor General's Literary award in 1976. Joanne: The Last Days of a Modern Marriage was originally commissioned in 1973 as a radio-novel by CBC for the program This Country in the Morning and was later adapted to print.