Margaret Atwood

Margaret Eleanor Atwood is a highly acclaimed Canadian novelist, poet, and environmental activist. She was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on November 18, 1939, and still resides in the country. Atwood has won numerous awards and accolades for her work, including being named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 1987. She has also authored more than sixty-five books of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, children's books, and critical essays, which have been published in over 35 countries.

Atwood grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto and received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College. She has received numerous awards and honorary degrees throughout her writing career and is perhaps best known for her novels, including "The Edible Woman," "The Handmaid's Tale," "The Robber Bride," "Alias Grace," and "The Blind Assassin," which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. She has also expanded her work into other areas, including television scripts, poetry, non-fiction, children's literature, and critical essays.

Atwood's novels often explore themes of feminism, gender, and power. Her work has been translated into more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic, and Estonian. She is also an inventor and co-invented the Long Pen TM. In addition to her work as a writer, Atwood has been an active member of various literary associations. She was the President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986, and is currently a Vice-President of PEN International. She currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.