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A Star is Born
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Atwood was the second of three children of Margaret Dorothy (née Killam), a former dietitian and nutritionist from Woodville, Nova Scotia, and Carl Edmund Atwood, an entomologist. -
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The Writing Begins
Atwood started writing plays and poems at the age of six. -
Professional Author Aspirations
At the age of 16, Atwood realized that she wanted to write professionally. -
Learning From the Masters
She began studying at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, where she published poems and articles in Acta Victoriana, the college literary journal. Her professors included Jay Macpherson and Northrop Frye. -
First Literary Award
Atwood graduated from the University of Toronto and and was awarded the E. J. Pratt Medal for her privately printed book of poems, Double Persephone. -
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Atwood's Awards 1966-1999
Governor General's Award, 1966, 1985
Companion of the Order of Canada, 1981
Guggenheim, 1981
Los Angeles Times Fiction Award, 1986
American Humanist of the Year, 1987
Nebula Award, 1986
Prometheus Award, 1987
Arthur C. Clarke Award, 1987
Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1988
Canadian Booksellers Association Author of the Year, 1989
Trillium Book Award, 1991, 1993, 1995
Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 1994
Helmerich Award, 1999 -
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17 Novels in 47 Years
The Edible Woman,1969
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 Penelopiad, 2005
The Year of the Flood, 2009
MaddAddam, 2013
Scribbler Moon, 2114
The Heart Goes Last, 2015
Hag-Seed, 2016 -
First Novel Published
The Edible Woman is about Marian McAlpin. Ever since her engagement, the strangest thing has been happening to Marian McAlpin: she can't eat. First meat. Then eggs, vegetables, cake, pumpkin seeds--everything! Worse yet, she has the crazy feeling that she's being eaten. Marian ought to feel consumed with passion, but she really just feels...consumed. -
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Atwood's Honorary Degrees
Trent University, 1973
Queen's University, 1974
Concordia University, 1979
Smith College, 1982
University of Toronto, 1983
University of Waterloo, 1985
University of Guelph, 1985
Mount Holyoke College, 1985
Victoria College, 1987
Université de Montréal, 1991
University of Leeds, 1994
McMaster University, 1996
Laurentian University, 2001
Harvard, 2004
Ontario College of Art & Design, 2009
Bard College, 2010
National University of Ireland, 2011
Ryerson University, 2012
RMC, 2012 -
First Collection of Short Fiction
, Published in 1977, Dancing Girls is a collection of short stories that won the the St. Lawrence Award for Fiction and the award of The Periodical Distributors of Canada for Short Fiction. -
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Children's Books
Atwood has also penned (or teamed up to write) seven children's books.
• Up in the Tree (1978)
• Anna's Pet (1980) (with Joyce C. Barkhouse)
• For the Birds (1990) (with Shelly Tanaka)
• Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut (1995)
• Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes (2003)
• Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda (2006)
• Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop’s Wunderground Washery (2011) -
Award-winner The Handmaid's Tale
Set in a near-future North America, in a totalitarian Christian theocracy which has overthrown the United States government, The Handmaid's Tale explores themes of women in subjugation and the various means by which they gain agency. The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award. -
Wins Giller Prize
• Published in 1996, Alias Grace won the Giller Prize and was a finalist for the 1996 Booker Prize and the 1996 Governor General's Award. It was also shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction. The book tells the story the notorious 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Upper Canada. -
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Atwood's Awards 2000-present
• Booker Prize, 2000
• Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, 2008
• Nelly Sachs Prize, Germany, 2010
• Dan David Prize, Israel, 2010
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Canada, 2012
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize "Innovator's Award", 2012
• Gold medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, 2015
• Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia, 2016 -
Her Writing Process
Learn about Margaret Atwood's writing process from this YouTube video posted in 2011.
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Contributes to The Future Library Project
With her novel Scribbler Moon (in the beribboned box), Atwood is the first contributor to the Future Library project. The work, completed in 2015, was ceremoniously handed over to the project on 27 May of the same year. The book will be held by the project until its eventual publishing in 2114. She thinks that readers will probably need a paleo-anthropologist to translate some parts of her story.
