Margaret Atwood

Biography:

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec and Toronto. Atwood received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College. As the daughter of a forest entomologist, Atwood spent a good part of her childhood in the Canadian wilderness. Since 1961, Atwood has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, 9 collections of short fiction, 8 children’s books, 2 graphic novels, and several small press editions of both poetry and fiction. Atwood is the recipient of numerous awards, and her work encompasses a variety of themes, such as, gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and power politics.

Link to audio of Reading: https://shu.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_c75a26a6-8721-4924-a480-b8e2eac2880c/

Link to Gallery of Programs: https://shu.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_973affbd-af67-484f-b6ae-5b34f2d3198b/

Pictured: Margaret Atwood. Born 18 November 1939 (age 80), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

List of Notable Works:

  • The Edible Woman
  • Surfacing (1972)
  • Lady Oracle (1976)
  • Life Before Man (1979)
  • Bodily Harm (1981)
  • The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
  • Cat’s Eye (1988)
  • The Robber Bride (1993)
  • Alias Grace (1996)
  • The Blind Assassin (2000)
  • Oryx and Crake (2003)
  • The Testaments (2019)

List of Notable Awards

  • 1985 winner of the 1987 Arthur C Clarke Award and 1985 Governor General’s Award for The Handmaid’s Tale 
  • 1986 Finalist for the Booker Prize for The Handmaid’s Tale 
  • 1988 Finalist for the 1988 Governor General’s Award and 1989 Booker Prize, for Cat’s Eye
  • 1993 Finalist for the 1994 Governor General’s Award and shortlisted for the James Tiptree Jr. Award, for The Robber Bride
  • 1996 Winner of 1996 Giller Prize, finalist for the 1996 Booker Prize, and the 1996 Governor General’s Award, shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction, for Alias Grace 
  • 2000 winner of the 2000 Booker Prize and finalist for the 2000 Governor General’s Award, shortlisted for the 2001 Orange Prize for fiction, for The Blind Assassin