Today’s post is about Margaret Atwood.
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian novelist, non fiction writer and poet, born in Toronto. She has written about fifty books, but the one best known - and I admit, the only one I have read so far - is The Handmaid’s Tale. I haven’t even read the sequel, The Testaments yet. I suppose it’s time to read some more of Margaret Atwood’s work.
However, popular as The Handmaid’s Tale has been since it was published in 1985, it has sold even better since Donald Trump came to power in the US. The Handmaid’s red costume with white headdress has been used in many protests. I will talk more about this book in a later post.
Margaret Atwood was born in 1939. She got a degree in English, having her poetry published at school and university. She is still interested in poetry, as a founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize. She decided she wanted to be a professional writer when she was sixteen and has definitely succeeded there!
Margaret has written about seven works of speculative fiction. I wouldn’t mind checking out her novel about Greek myth, The Penelopiad.
She said that the dystopian Handmaid’s Tale didn’t have anything in it that hadn’t happened somewhere in the world. Looking around the world now, there are still plenty of things happening that were in her novels. It’s all the more scary for being so real; SF doesn’t have to be set in the distant future with spaceships and ray guns, after all.
Time for me to read The Testaments.
Tomorrow I will be writing about Lois McMaster Bujold.
6 comments:
I'm a big fan of Margaret Atwood. In December, I attended her public lecture here in Edmonton while she was on her current book tour. I haven't read "The Handmaid's Tale" but I've seen the series. I have, however, read "The Penelopiad" and seen its play version performed twice on stage.
Not spec fic, but I recommend her novel Cat's Eye, which is about childhood bullying.
Ooh, I am so glad you are doing A to Z again! I couldn't see you on the master list for some reason. And a great theme too! :) Penelopiad had been on my TBR forever...
Happy A to Z!
The Multicolored Diary
Hi Debra! It’s fascinating that you have read her other work, but not her most famous one! 😁 I do recommend it, if you are okay with dystopian fiction.
Thanks, Kate, I will check it out.
Hi Zalka, I haven’t got around to officially signing up for A to Z yet. I need a quiet time to do it.
I must admit I enjoyed The Handmaids Tale more the second time round, after watching the TV series. I’ve also read The Testaments which was enjoyable but didn’t have the same impact for me. I’ve read a few other books by Margaret Atwood but not her sci fi ones so must look into them again.
Hi Linda! Well, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments ARE speculative fiction. They are a “what if…?” SF doesn’t have to be spaceships and rayguns. Or do you mean you haven’t read her other SF?
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