Crossing the culture
Margaret Atwood is one of the most important and influential writers alive. Her 50 plus books — including poetry, short stories, scripts, children’s fiction, non-fiction, and 15 novels — have been translated into more than 40 languages. A Canadian literary celebrity, Atwood has won over 50 awards, including the 2000 Booker Prize, and holds numerous Honorary Fellowships. Her most famous novel, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), is a cultural phenomenon.
Rachel Thorpe
The Handmaid’s Tale is commonly described as a feminist work, but Atwood is not exclusively interested in the politics of gender. She is keenly aware of her cultural surroundings and constantly engages with multiple facets of contemporary theory and philosophy. Her work has also been critiqued in the light of environmentalism, Canadian nationalism and postmodernism. Atwood is ironic and self-aware, playing with ideas through a humorous and detached authorial voice.
