Who is Margaret Atwood?

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Margaret Atwood was born on November 18, 1939. She was the second of three children. At the age of 16, Atwood began writing. Her childhood has made some important contributions to her writing. Her mother, Margaret Dorothy, was a dietitian which had little impact. Meanwhile, her father, Dr. Carl Edmund Atwood, was an entomologist who spent much time studying insects in the forests of Canada, specifically Ontario and Quebec. Therefore, Atwood, too, spent much of her youth in the wilderness of Canada. She "spent at least half of every year in the wilderness" until her family moved to Toronto where her dad accepted a position at a university ("Margaret Atwood" Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Jennifer Stock). This aspect of her childhood can be seen through the life of Elaine in her novel Cat’s Eye which is said to be her closest writing to an autobiography; it can additionally been seen in the environmental themes of her other books. 

Margaret Atwood has continued to pursue her passion to write since she began.  Atwood received her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Toronto’s Victoria College in 1961; she then furthered her studies at Radcliffe College in which she received her master’s degree in 1962. Her doctorate was in sight as she was enrolled at Harvard University for an English program, however she withdrew before completing her thesis. Atwood has continuously worked hard to become a successful writer.

Atwood's continuous success can be seen through prestigious positions she has held and the many awards she and her works have received.  She was President of the Writers’ Union of Canada, and President of the International PEN Canadian Centre. She, too, has received several awards for her novels.  The Governor General’s Award was awarded to her book The Handmaid’s Tale. The Commonwealth Literary Prize was also granted for the same book. Success continued as she was awarded the Canadian Authors’ Association Award for Novel of the Year in 1993 for The Robber Bride. She received her first Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Blind Assassin after being short-listed for The Handmaid’s Tale, Cat’s Eye, and Alias Grace, and Oryx and Crake in previous years. Again, she received Booker Prize, formerly the Man Booker Prize, for The Testaments; the award was split between her and Bernardine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other.  Atwood received honorary degrees from several universities: Cambridge, Oxford, and the National University of Ireland in Galway. Despite never completing her doctorate, Harvard awarded her the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Centennial Medal in 1990. In 1991, 1993, and 1995, Atwood received the Trillium Book Award. The Edinburgh International Book Festival awarded her the Enlightenment Award in 2005. 

Atwood’s first work, Double Persephone, introduces the contrast that she has in many books between “the flux of life or nature and the fixity of man’s artificial creations”(Hutcheon). In her poetry book The Circle Game, Atwood writes metaphorically in which she describes life as a game that can trap the man who has an instinct for symmetry and proportion with love, art and time. Similarly, she uses this metaphor to express how in life people pick and choose who to include or exclude. In her Speeches for Doctor Frankenstein, she examines the effect one has on themselves and others. In Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood writes of the life of June who is living in a dystopian setting in Gilead that has severe nuclear and chemical pollution which is being governed by a dictator. Atwood writes of the challenges June experiences living in this society as she is one of few who can reproduce due to the pollution thus making her a handmaid for a political leader named Fred. Atwood addresses the challenge of finding one’s identity in the midst of trauma through her novel Cat’s Eye with the main character Elaine. Bodily Harm is a novel that writes of the journey of sexual harassment in Toronto to the sexual and political oppression on a Caribbean island experienced by the main character. While this is a glimpse into many of Atwood's works, this is just a few of her over forty works, many of which address societal issues and environmental issues.

Not only did Atwood write novels, she also wrote poetry, short stories, children’s books, radio plays, and teleplays, assisted in the production and writing of the television adaptation of her novel The Handmaid’s Tale, and advocated for the environment outside of the advocacy aspects found in Oryx and Crake , Payback.,  The Handmaid's Tale and many of her other works.  Originally, Atwood became popular among the public because of her work in poetry with her first book, Double Persephone (1961). Atwood received first prize in Canadian Centennial Commission Poetry Competition in 1967, Union Prize for poetry in 1969, and Bess Hoskins Prize for poetry in 1969 and 1974.

Other than writing, Atwood's life has consisted of working at a marketing research firm, and teaching at colleges in Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto. She was also married to Jim Polk from 1968 to 1973. After the divorce, Atwood found her life partner, Graeme Gibson, who is also a writer. Together they moved to a farm north of Toronto, and they had a daughter, Eleanor Jess Atwood Gibson, in 1976. The two settled in Toronto 1992; however, they previously lived in Canada, Europe, and the United States.