Margaret Atwood

One of the worlds’ most acclaimed and popular authors, Margaret Atwood is a Canadian novelist, essayist, poet and activist.  Her published work ranges widely and deeply but she is best-known for the classic novel of feminist, speculative fiction, The Handmaid’s Tale. First published in 1985, the novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and became a global bestseller and has gone on to sell more than 8 million copies in its lifetime. The book has recently returned to public attention - returning to bestseller lists both in the UK and in the United States - becoming a rallying symbol for protestors at women’s marches after the election of Donald Trump and inspiring an Emmy Award-winning television series.

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Biography

Variously covering the themes and genres of feminist ideology, haunting dystopia, mythical re-working, speculative science fiction and witty, contemporary drama, Margaret Atwood’s work is diverse and startlingly original.

Her first publications were poetry - a form to which she has returned throughout her career – but it was with the publication of her novel The Edible Woman that she first found literary recognition. Published in 1969 the novel, and Atwood herself, were quickly adopted as icons of the feminist movement but Atwood has always denied such over labelling of her work, saying, "novels are something else. They aren't just political messages… it's not a matter of men against women."

An Alternative History

More novels followed including Surfacing and Lady Oracle, continuing the themes of women’s relationships with their bodies and negotiations of social and sexual politics that were fast becoming her trademarks.

Then, in the spring of 1984, whilst living in West Berlin, still at that time encircled by the Berlin Wall, Atwood wrote the iconic masterpiece The Handmaid’s Tale, a twisted speculative vision of an Orwellian future where reproduction is threatened and women enslaved. Now on school syllabuses, the novel is frequently described as dystopian but although influenced by Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451, Atwood claims she only included events with real precedence, commenting, "I did not wish to be accused of dark, twisted inventions, or of misrepresenting the human potential for deplorable behaviour."

'A Future Whose Beginnings Are Already With Us'