Margaret Atwood, the celebrated Canadian author, was born on November 18, 1939, just shortly after the onset of World War II. This deep historical context has powerfully shaped her outlook and literary craft for most of her life. As Atwood continues to release new works and reflect on her remarkable and prolific career, she shares her fear and wisdom when it comes to the state of the world today.
It’s no surprise. Atwood’s literary journey started at an early age. At only 16 years old, her first poem was published, a testament to her genius. This first spark of inspiration would be a catalyst for her eventual, record-creating, literary legacy. Upon finishing her education at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, Atwood found herself launched out of the academy into the working world. Her initial work for a market research firm deepened her understanding of both public education and corporate education reform. These experiences fed into her debut novel, The Edible Woman, which she published in 1969.
Atwood’s fiction and activism is inseparable from her life and this includes Atwood’s personal life. That same year, 1969, she met her lifelong love, novelist and conservationist Graeme Gibson, at the Governor General’s Award for poetry reception party. Their creative collaboration blossomed into a lifelong partnership, and in 1976 they welcomed their daughter, Jess. Jess has of course gone on to become a remarkable art historian and scholar in her own right, and a mom to a now nine-year-old little guy.
Arriving in England on a scholarship in 1983, Atwood spent a winter at a fisherman’s cottage in Blakeney, Norfolk. This experience inspired one of her most notable works, The Handmaid’s Tale, which remains relevant in contemporary discussions about women’s rights and autonomy. As Atwood reflects on the world today, she acknowledges that “World power is shifting, old certainties are no longer certain. Certainly we’ve seen tumultuous moments in history before but we conveniently remember otherwise. It is the scariest of times.
Atwood’s literary contributions extend beyond fiction. In 2022, she released Burning Questions. This diverse collection of essays candidly addresses the big issues, from censorship to acceptance towards LGBTQ+ people, that we face as a society. To illustrate the significance of freedom of expression, she penned this fictional short story. This was in reaction to a proposed bill to ban books with “explicit sexual content” in Alberta. Her passion for the written word and defense of free expression exemplifies her enduring devotion to meeting the challenges of today.
Atwood is currently touring with her weighty, memoiristic novel, Book of Lives, a sprawling, 624-page epic. This extraordinary book joins her on this journey, richly exploring her thoughts and reflections all along these decades. Her literary prowess has earned her numerous accolades, including two Booker Prizes: first for The Blind Assassin in 2000 and again for The Testaments in 2019.
Atwood has not lost interest in and connections to contemporary affairs and cultural debates. As she explained in an interview, “The States is not a totalitarianism – yet, though heading toward a concentrated-power framework. If it were a complete totalitarianism we wouldn’t be shooting The Testaments in the first place. We’d be sitting in jail, in exile, or pushing daisies. This commentary exemplifies her watchfulness to the political climate and its effect on liberty in artistic expression.
Atwood is currently in her 90s. Here, along with my desire to not freak out Delia, is where the passage of time has colored my perspective. “Your perspective changes as you move through time. How could it not? Time never stops,” she remarked, illustrating her understanding that each experience shapes an individual’s worldview.