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63-505: Annual American literary award The Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award , established in 1981, is an annual literary award presented by the National Book Critics Circle in honor of its first president, Ivan Sandrof. The award "is given to a person or institution who has, over time, made significant contributions to book culture." The Sandrof Award has also been presented as

126-434: A "belief in the rights of women" and averred that "if practical, hardline, anti-male feminists took over and became the government, I would resist them." In 2017, she clarified her discomfort with the label feminism by stating, "I always want to know what people mean by that word [feminism]. Some people mean it quite negatively, other people mean it very positively, some people mean it in a broad sense, other people mean it in

189-408: A 2016 petition calling for an independent investigation into the firing of Steven Galloway , a former University of British Columbia professor accused of sexual harassment and assault by a student. While feminist critics denounced Atwood for her support of Galloway, Atwood asserted that her signature was in support of due process in the legal system. She has been criticized for her comments surrounding

252-416: A case for evil behavior, but unless you have some women characters portrayed as evil characters, you're not playing with a full range." The Robber Bride takes place in contemporary Toronto, while Alias Grace is a work of historical fiction detailing the 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery. Atwood had previously written the 1974 CBC made-for-TV film The Servant Girl , about

315-463: A collection of poems exploring absences and endings, ageing and retrospection, and gifts and renewals. The central poem, Dearly , was also published in The Guardian newspaper along with an essay exploring the passing of time, grief, and how a poem belongs to the reader; this is accompanied by an audio recording of Atwood reading the poem on the newspaper's website. Atwood's contributions to

378-502: A discussion with science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin : "What Le Guin means by 'science fiction' is what I mean by 'speculative fiction', and what she means by 'fantasy' would include what I mean by 'science fiction'." She added that genre borders were increasingly fluid, and that all forms of "SF" might be placed under a common umbrella. In 2024 the Republican-dominated Utah Legislature passed

441-483: A few steps further down the road. So it doesn't come out of nowhere, it comes out of real life." With her novel Scribbler Moon , Atwood is the first contributor to the Future Library project . The work, completed in 2015, was ceremonially handed over to the project on May 27 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

504-663: A former dietitian and nutritionist from Woodville, Nova Scotia . Because of her father's research in forest entomology , Atwood spent much of her childhood in the backwoods of northern Quebec , and traveling back and forth between Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto . She did not attend school full-time until she was 12 years old. She became a voracious reader of literature, Dell pocketbook mysteries, Grimms' Fairy Tales , Canadian animal stories, and comic books . She attended Leaside High School in Leaside , Toronto, and graduated in 1957. Atwood began writing plays and poems at

567-552: A law mandating the removal of books deemed objectionable from all Utah public schools. On August 2, 2024, the Utah State School Board released its first list of objectionable books. One book on this list was penned by Atwood ( Oryx and Crake ). Atwood repeatedly makes observations about the relationships of humans to animals in her works. A large portion of the dystopia Atwood creates in Oryx and Crake concerns

630-2693: A long-standing board member, Carlin Romano , whom half the board members describe as a bully. Overall, the mass resignations amount to a controversy seen as part of an industry-wide reckoning concerning the lack of diversity in publishing and literary awards. Vice President Digby Diehl, Los Angeles Times Secretary Nona Balakian, The New York Times Book Review Treasurer Susan Heath, The Saturday Review John Barkham, John Barkham Reviews Alvin Beam, Cleveland Plain Dealer Alice Cromie, Freelance Critic Martha Duffy, Time Eliot Fremont-Smith, The Village Voice Elizabeth Hardwick, New York Review of Books Herbert A. Kenny, Freelance Critic John Leonard, The New York Times Book Review Thorpe Menn, The Kansas City Star Stanton Peckham, Denver Post Peter S. Prescott, Newsweek Larry Swindell, Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Yardley, Miami Herald 1974–1976:   Ivan Sandrof, Worcester Telegram-Gazette 1976–1982:   Eliot Fremont-Smith, Village Voice 1982–1984:    Richard Locke , Vanity Fair 1984–1986:    Brigitte Weeks, The Washington Post Book World 1986–1990:    Nina King, Newsday 1990–1992:    Jack Miles , Los Angeles Times 1992–1994     Herbert Liebowitz, Parnassus 1994–1996     Carlin Romano , Philadelphia Inquirer 1996–1998      Art Winslow, The Nation 1998–2000      Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal 2001–2004      Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune 2004–2006       Rebecca T. Miller, Library Journal 2006–2008       John Freeman , Freelance Critic 2008–2011       Jane Ciabattari, Freelance Critic 2011–2013       Eric Banks, Bookforum 2013–2015       Laurie Muchnick, Bloomberg News 2015–2017       Tom Beer, Newsday 2017–2019       Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe 2019–2020       Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis Star Tribune 2020-2020: Jane Ciabattari, Freelance Critic (acting) 2020–2022:  David Varno, Publishers Weekly 2022–2023: Megan Labrise, Kirkus 2023-present: Heather Scott Partington, Freelance Critic Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood CC OOnt CH FRSC FRSL (born on November 18, 1939)

693-497: A lot of new and different things." She later cautions in the acknowledgements to MaddAddam , "Although MaddAddam is a work of fiction, it does not include any technologies or bio-beings that do not already exist, are not under construction or are not possible in theory." In 2005, Atwood published the novella The Penelopiad as part of the Canongate Myth Series . The story is a retelling of The Odyssey from

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756-482: A master's degree (MA) from Radcliffe in 1962 and pursued doctoral studies for two years, but did not finish her dissertation, The English Metaphysical Romance . Atwood has a sister, Ruth Atwood, born in 1951, and a brother who is two years older, Harold Leslie Atwood. She has claimed that, according to her grandmother (maiden name Webster), the 17th-century witchcraft-lynching survivor Mary Webster might have been an ancestor : "On Monday, my grandmother would say Mary

819-479: A more specific sense. Therefore, in order to answer the question, you have to ask the person what they mean." Speaking to The Guardian , she said "For instance, some feminists have historically been against lipstick and letting transgender women into women's washrooms . Those are not positions I have agreed with", a position she repeated to The Irish Times . In an interview with Penguin Books, Atwood stated that

882-552: A paleo-anthropologist to translate some parts of her story. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Atwood said, "There's something magical about it. It's like Sleeping Beauty . The texts are going to slumber for 100 years and then they'll wake up, come to life again. It's a fairytale length of time. She slept for 100 years." In early 2004, while on the paperback tour in Denver for her novel Oryx and Crake , Atwood conceived

945-514: A precedent in real life for everything in the book. I decided not to put anything in that somebody somewhere hadn't already done." While reviewers and critics have been tempted to read autobiographical elements of Atwood's life in her work, particularly Cat's Eye , in general Atwood resists the desire of critics to read too closely for an author's life in their writing. Filmmaker Michael Rubbo 's Margaret Atwood: Once in August (1984) details

1008-552: A relationship with fellow novelist Graeme Gibson soon afterward and moved to a farm near Alliston, Ontario , where their daughter, Eleanor Jess Atwood Gibson, was born in 1976. The family returned to Toronto in 1980. Atwood and Gibson were together until September 18, 2019, when Gibson died after suffering from dementia . She wrote about Gibson in the poem Dearly and in an accompanying essay on grief and poetry published in The Guardian in 2020. Atwood said about Gibson "He wasn't an egotist, so he wasn't threatened by anything I

1071-691: A sequel to The Handmaid's Tale , in September 2019. The novel features three female narrators and takes place fifteen years after the character Offred's final scene in The Handmaid's Tale . The book was the joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize . In 2008, Atwood published Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth , a collection of five lectures delivered as part of the Massey Lectures from October 12 to November 1, 2008. The book

1134-702: A very early age. Atwood is a founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Writers' Trust of Canada . She is also a Senior Fellow of Massey College, Toronto . She is the inventor of the LongPen device and associated technologies that facilitate remote robotic writing of documents. Atwood was born on November 18, 1939, in Ottawa , Ontario , Canada, the second of three children of Carl Edmund Atwood, an entomologist , and Margaret Dorothy (née Killam),

1197-549: A view-narrowing disservice to students of Canadian literature. In Survival , Atwood postulates that Canadian literature, and by extension Canadian identity, is characterized by the symbol of survival. This symbol is expressed in the omnipresent use of "victim positions" in Canadian literature. These positions represent a scale of self-consciousness and self-actualization for the victim in the "victor/victim" relationship. The "victor" in these scenarios may be other humans, nature,

1260-691: A writer continued to grow with the publication of the novels The Robber Bride (1993), finalist for the 1994 Governor General's Award and shortlisted for the James Tiptree Jr. Award , and Alias Grace (1996), winner of the 1996 Giller Prize , finalist for the 1996 Booker Prize , finalist for the 1996 Governor General's Award , and shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction . Although vastly different in context and form, both novels use female characters to question good and evil and morality through their portrayal of female villains. As Atwood noted about The Robber Bride , "I'm not making

1323-450: Is a Canadian novelist, poet, and literary critic . Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction , nine collections of short fiction, eight children's books, two graphic novels , and a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction. Her best-known work is the 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale . Atwood has won numerous awards and honors for her writing, including two Booker Prizes ,

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1386-416: Is a founding trustee of the Griffin Poetry Prize , as well as a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada , a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada's writing community. She has called Mona Awad , a Canadian novelist and short-story writer, her "literary heir apparent". Atwood's work has been of interest to feminist literary critics, despite Atwood's unwillingness at times to apply

1449-631: Is recognized by the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing (from 1991). The NBCC also recognizes no more than one person or organization for "exceptional contributions to books" with the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award (from 1981 under more than one name).All eight awards are officially dated in the preceding year. As a professional association, NBCC also works to improve

1512-492: The Arthur C. Clarke Award and 1985 Governor General's Award and finalist for the 1986 Booker Prize ; and Cat's Eye (1988), finalist for both the 1988 Governor General's Award and the 1989 Booker Prize . Despite her distaste for literary labels, Atwood has since conceded to referring to The Handmaid's Tale as a work of science fiction or, more precisely, speculative fiction . As she has repeatedly noted, "There's

1575-717: The Arthur C. Clarke Award , the Governor General's Award , the Franz Kafka Prize , Princess of Asturias Awards , and the National Book Critics and PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Awards. A number of her works have been adapted for film and television. Atwood's works encompass a variety of themes including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and "power politics". Many of her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales which interested her from

1638-1010: The City University of New York 2021 Percival Everett 2022 Joy Harjo 2023 Judy Blume See also [ edit ] John Leonard Prize National Book Critics Circle Awards National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir and Autobiography National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing References [ edit ] ^ "The Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-27 . ^ "National Book Critics Circle Announces 2007 Award Winners" .

1701-1937: The "Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publishing" and the "Ivan Sandrof Award, Contribution to American Arts & Letters." Recipients [ edit ] Sandrof Award winners Year Recipient Ref. 1982 Leslie A. Marchand 1983 none 1984 The Library of America 1985 none 1986 none 1987 Robert Giroux 1988 none 1989 James Laughlin 1990 Donald Keene 1991 none 1992 Gregory Rabassa 1993 none 1994 William Maxwell 1995 Alfred Kazin Elizabeth Hardwick 1996 Albert Murray 1997 Leslie Fiedler 1998 none 1999 Lawrence Ferlinghetti Pauline Kael 2000 Barney Rosset 2001 Jason Epstein 2002 Richard Howard 2003 Studs Terkel 2004 Louis D. Rubin, Jr. 2005 Bill Henderson 2006 John Leonard 2007 Emilie Buchwald 2008 PEN American Center 2009 Joyce Carol Oates 2010 Dalkey Archive Press 2011 Robert Silvers 2012 Sandra Gilbert Susan Gubar 2013 Rolando Hinojosa-Smith 2014 Toni Morrison 2015 Wendell Berry 2016 Margaret Atwood 2017 John McPhee 2018 Arte Público Press 2019 Naomi Shihab Nye 2020 The Feminist Press at

1764-904: The # MeToo movement , particularly that it is a "symptom of a broken legal system". In 2018, following a partnership between Hulu 's adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale and women's rights organisation Equality Now , Atwood was honored at their 2018 Make Equality Reality Gala. In her acceptance speech she said: I am, of course, not a real activist—I'm simply a writer without a job who is frequently asked to speak about subjects that would get people with jobs fired if they themselves spoke. You, however, at Equality Now are real activists. I hope people will give Equality Now lots and lots of money, today, so they can write equal laws, enact equal laws and see that equal laws are implemented. That way, in time, all girls may be able to grow up believing that there are no avenues that are closed to them simply because they are girls. In 2019, Atwood partnered with Equality Now for

1827-584: The 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award Winners" . Book Marks . 2019-03-15 . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2019" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ Reiter, Amy (2020-03-13). "National Book Critics Circle Announces 2019 Awards" . Kirkus Reviews . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ Beer, Tom (2021-03-25). "National Book Critics Circle Presents Awards" . Kirkus Reviews . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2020" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "Announcing

1890-575: The 24 Directors who formally make nominations and alone make final selections each year. A fifth award category for books (Autobiography/Biography) was added for 1983 and divided in two for 2005. Since 2005, there have been eight awards. Six National Book Critics Circle Awards recognize "best books" published in the United States during the preceding year in six categories: fiction, nonfiction, autobiography, biography, criticism, and poetry. Annually "the most accomplished reviewer" among its members

1953-2301: The American Booksellers Association . 2008-03-07 . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2007 NBCC Winners Announced" . National Book Critics Circle . 2008-03-07 . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ Rich, Motoko (2008-03-07). "National Book Critics Circle Awards" . The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2008" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2009" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ Reid, Calvin (2010-03-12). "Mantel, Holmes, Biss Among 2009 National Book Critics Circle Winners" . PublishersWeekly.com . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2010" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2011" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2012" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ Habash, Gabe (2013-02-28). "2012 National Book Critics Circle Awards Go to 'Billy Lynn,' Solomon, Caro" . PublishersWeekly.com . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2013" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2014" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ Schaub, Michael (13 March 2015). "2014 National Book Critics Circle Award winners announced" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2022-01-24 . ^ "2015" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2016" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "NBCC Announces 2017 Finalists" . The Millions . 2018-01-22 . Retrieved 2022-01-27 . ^ Colyard, K. W. (2018-03-16). "The National Book Critics Circle Award Winners For 2017 Are All Women & You'll Want To Read All Their Books" . Bustle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "2018" . National Book Critics Circle . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ Squires, Bethy (2019-03-14). "National Book Critics Circle Winners Include New York's Christopher Bonanos" . Vulture . Retrieved 2022-01-25 . ^ "Congratulations to

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2016-1816: The Finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards" . National Book Critics Circle . 2022-01-21 . Retrieved 2022-01-27 . ^ Pineda, Dorany (2022-01-21). "Here are the finalists for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Awards" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2022-01-27 . ^ Stewart, Sophia (2022-01-20). "NBCC Awards Finalists Announced" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 2022-01-27 . ^ Alter, Alexandra; Harris, Elizabeth A. (March 21, 2024). "Lorrie Moore Is Among National Book Critics Circle Award Winners" . The New York Times . Retrieved April 4, 2024 . External links [ edit ] Official website v t e National Book Critics Circle Awards Book Prizes Biography Criticism Fiction John Leonard Prize Memoir & Autobiography Nonfiction Poetry Author Prizes Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ivan_Sandrof_Lifetime_Achievement_Award&oldid=1242928971 " Categories : Awards established in 1981 American literary awards 20th-century literary awards 21st-century literary awards Lifetime achievement awards National Book Critics Circle Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles with hCards National Book Critics Circle The organization

2079-577: The MaddAddam Trilogy. The apocalyptic vision in the MaddAddam Trilogy engages themes of genetic modification, pharmaceutical and corporate control, and man-made disaster. As a work of speculative fiction, Atwood notes of the technology in Oryx and Crake , "I think, for the first time in human history, we see where we might go. We can see far enough into the future to know that we can't go on the way we've been going forever without inventing, possibly,

2142-641: The age of 6. As a child, she also participated in the Brownie program of Girl Guides of Canada . Atwood has written about her experiences in Girl Guides in several of her publications. Atwood realized she wanted to write professionally when she was 16. In 1957, she began studying at Victoria College in the University of Toronto , where she published poems and articles in Acta Victoriana ,

2205-474: The college literary journal, and participated in the sophomore theatrical tradition of The Bob Comedy Revue . Her professors included Jay Macpherson and Northrop Frye . She graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts in English (honours) and minors in philosophy and French. In 1961, Atwood began graduate studies at Radcliffe College of Harvard University , with a Woodrow Wilson fellowship. She obtained

2268-520: The concept of a remote robotic writing technology, what would later be known as the LongPen , that would enable a person to remotely write in ink anywhere in the world via tablet PC and the Internet, thus allowing her to conduct her book tours without being physically present. She quickly founded a company, Unotchit Inc., to develop, produce and distribute this technology. By 2011, the company shifted its market focus into business and legal transactions and

2331-911: The course of the decade: The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), Procedures for Underground (1970), Power Politics (1971), You Are Happy (1974), Selected Poems 1965–1975 (1976), and Two-Headed Poems (1978). Atwood also published three novels during this time: Surfacing (1972); Lady Oracle (1976); and Life Before Man (1979), which was a finalist for the Governor General's Award . Surfacing , Lady Oracle , and Life Before Man , like The Edible Woman , explore identity and social constructions of gender as they relate to topics such as nationhood and sexual politics. In particular, Surfacing , along with her first non-fiction monograph, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (1972), helped establish Atwood as an important and emerging voice in Canadian literature. In 1977 Atwood published her first short story collection, Dancing Girls , which

2394-464: The driving question throughout her writing of The Handmaid's Tale was "If you were going to shove women back into the home and deprive them of all of these gains that they thought they had made, how would you do it?", but related this question to totalitarianism , not feminism. In January 2018, Atwood penned the op-ed "Am I a Bad Feminist?" for The Globe and Mail . The piece was in response to social media backlash related to Atwood's signature on

2457-460: The expression of Canadian identity. According to this literature, Canadian identity has been defined by a fear of nature, by settler history, and by unquestioned adherence to the community. In an interview with the Scottish critic Bill Findlay in 1979, Atwood discussed the relationship of Canadian writers and writing to the 'Imperial Cultures' of America and Britain . Atwood's contribution to

2520-878: The filmmaker's frustration in uncovering autobiographical evidence and inspiration in Atwood's works. During the 1980s, Atwood continued to teach, serving as the MFA Honorary Chair at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa , 1985; the Berg Professor of English, New York University , 1986; Writer-in-Residence, Macquarie University , Australia, 1987; and Writer-in-Residence, Trinity University , San Antonio, Texas, 1989. Regarding her stints with teaching, she has noted, "Success for me meant no longer having to teach at university." Atwood's reputation as

2583-761: The genetic modification and alteration of animals and humans, resulting in hybrids such as pigoons, rakunks, wolvogs and Crakers, raising questions on the limits and ethics of science and technology, and on what it means to be human. In Surfacing , one character remarks about eating animals: "The animals die that we may live, they are substitute people ... And we eat them, out of cans or otherwise; we are eaters of death, dead Christ-flesh resurrecting inside us, granting us life." Some characters in her books link sexual oppression to meat-eating and consequently give up meat-eating. In The Edible Woman , Atwood's character Marian identifies with hunted animals and cries after hearing her fiancé's experience of hunting and eviscerating

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2646-535: The label ' feminist ' to her works. Starting with the publication of her first novel, The Edible Woman , Atwood asserted, "I don't consider it feminism; I just consider it social realism." Despite her rejection of the label at times, critics have analyzed the sexual politics, use of myth and fairytale, and gendered relationships in Atwood's work through the lens of feminism. Before the 1985 publication of The Handmaid's Tale , Atwood gave an interview to feminist theorist Elizabeth Meese in which she defined feminism as

2709-581: The life of Grace Marks , the young servant who, along with James McDermott, was convicted of the crime. Atwood continued her poetry contributions by publishing Snake Woman in 1999 for the Women's Literature journal Kalliope. In 2000, Atwood published her tenth novel, The Blind Assassin , to critical acclaim, winning both the Booker Prize and the Hammett Prize in 2000. The Blind Assassin

2772-486: The perspective of Penelope and a chorus of the twelve maids murdered at the end of the original tale. The Penelopiad was given a theatrical production in 2007. In 2016, Atwood published the novel Hag-Seed , a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare 's The Tempest , as part of Penguin Random House 's Hogarth Shakespeare Series. On November 28, 2018, Atwood announced that she would publish The Testaments ,

2835-464: The primary purpose "to improve and maintain the standards of literary criticism in an era of diminishing and deteriorating values". At that time there were 140 members, with outreach to freelance critics planned for that year. NBCC first presented its Awards in January 1976 to books published during 1975 in four categories. Only active review editors and reviewers may be voting members; they elect

2898-419: The quality of reviews and provides services to its members. In 2020, more than half of the 24 board members resigned over conflicting views on how to address perceived racial disparities both on the board, and within the industry they represent. This demonstrative revolt has also been attributed to breaches in confidentiality stemming from leaked emails, and the dismissive, antagonistic communication style of

2961-706: The release of The Testaments . Atwood has resisted the suggestion that The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake are science fiction, suggesting to The Guardian in 2003 that they are speculative fiction : "Science fiction has monsters and spaceships; speculative fiction could really happen." She told the Book of the Month Club : " Oryx and Crake is a speculative fiction, not a science fiction proper. It contains no intergalactic space travel, no teleportation, no Martians ." On BBC Breakfast , she explained that science fiction, as opposed to what she herself wrote,

3024-530: The superhero comic book series Angel Catbird , with co-creator and illustrator Johnnie Christmas. The series protagonist, scientist Strig Feleedus, is victim of an accidental mutation that leaves him with the body parts and powers of both a cat and a bird. As with her other works, Atwood notes of the series, "The kind of speculative fiction about the future that I write is always based on things that are in process right now. So it's not that I imagine them, it's that I notice that people are working on them and I take it

3087-428: The terms interchangeably: "For me, the science fiction label belongs on books with things in them that we can't yet do ... Speculative fiction means a work that employs the means already to hand and that takes place on Planet Earth." She said that science fiction narratives give a writer the ability to explore themes in ways that realistic fiction cannot. Atwood further clarified her definitions of terms in 2011, in

3150-476: The theorizing of Canada is not limited to her non-fiction works. Several of her works, including The Journals of Susanna Moodie , Alias Grace , The Blind Assassin and Surfacing , are examples of what postmodern literary theorist Linda Hutcheon calls " historiographic metafiction ". In such works, Atwood explicitly explores the relation of history and narrative and the processes of creating history. Among her contributions to Canadian literature, Atwood

3213-554: The theorizing of Canadian identity have garnered attention both in Canada and internationally. Her principal work of literary criticism, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature , is considered somewhat outdated, but remains a standard introduction to Canadian literature in Canadian studies programs internationally. Writer and academic Joseph Pivato has criticised the continued reprinting of Survival by Anansi Press as

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3276-461: The wilderness or other external and internal factors which oppress the victim. Atwood's Survival bears the influence of Northrop Frye 's theory of garrison mentality ; Atwood uses Frye's concept of Canada's desire to wall itself off from outside influence as a critical tool to analyze Canadian literature. According to her theories in works such as Survival and her exploration of similar themes in her fiction, Atwood considers Canadian literature as

3339-429: Was "talking squids in outer space." The latter phrase particularly rankled advocates of science fiction and frequently recurs when her writing is discussed. In 2005, Atwood said that she did at times write social science fiction and that The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake could be designated as such. She clarified her meaning on the difference between speculative and science fiction, admitting that others used

3402-584: Was also nominated for the Governor General's Award in 2000, Orange Prize for Fiction , and the International Dublin Literary Award in 2002. In 2001, Atwood was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame . Atwood followed this success with the publication of Oryx and Crake in 2003, the first novel in a series that also includes The Year of the Flood (2009) and MaddAddam (2013), which would collectively come to be known as

3465-479: Was doing. He said to our daughter towards the end of his life, 'Your mum would still have been a writer if she hadn't met me, but she wouldn't have had as much fun'". Although she is an accomplished writer, Atwood says that she is "a terrible speller" who writes both on a computer and by hand. Atwood maintains a summer home on Pelee Island in Lake Erie . Atwood's first book of poetry, Double Persephone ,

3528-769: Was founded in April 1974 in New York City by " John Leonard , Nona Balakian , and Ivan Sandrof intending to extend the Algonquin round table to a national conversation". It was formally chartered in October 1974 as a New York state non-profit corporation, and the Advisory Board voted in November to establish annual literary awards. In the first newsletter three months later, President Ivan Sandrof proclaimed

3591-421: Was her ancestor, and on Wednesday she would say she wasn't ... So take your pick." Webster is the subject of Atwood's poem "Half-Hanged Mary", as well as the subject of Atwood's dedication in her novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985). At the beginning The Handmaid's Tale was named after its main character, "Offred". Atwood married Jim Polk, an American writer, in 1968, but they divorced in 1973. She formed

3654-486: Was producing a range of products, for a variety of remote writing applications, based on the LongPen technologies. In 2013, the company renamed itself to Syngrafii Inc. In 2021, it is cloud-based and offers electronic signature technology. As of May 2021, Atwood is still a director of Syngrafii Inc. and holder of various patents related to the LongPen and related technology. In November 2020 Atwood published Dearly,

3717-543: Was published as a pamphlet by Hawkshead Press in 1961, and won the E. J. Pratt Medal. While continuing to write, Atwood was a lecturer in English at the University of British Columbia , Vancouver, from 1964 to 1965, Instructor in English at the Sir George Williams University in Montreal from 1967 to 1968, and taught at the University of Alberta from 1969 to 1970. In 1966, The Circle Game

3780-459: Was published in 1969. As a social satire of North American consumerism, many critics have often cited the novel as an early example of the feminist concerns found in many of Atwood's works. Atwood taught at York University in Toronto from 1971 to 1972 and was a writer in residence at the University of Toronto during the 1972/1973 academic year. Atwood published six collections of poetry over

3843-490: Was published, winning the Governor General's Award . This collection was followed by three other small press collections of poetry: Kaleidoscopes Baroque: a poem , Cranbrook Academy of Art (1965); Talismans for Children , Cranbrook Academy of Art (1965); and Speeches for Doctor Frankenstein , Cranbrook Academy of Art (1966); as well as The Animals in That Country (1968). Atwood's first novel, The Edible Woman ,

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3906-673: Was released in anticipation of the lectures, which were also recorded and broadcast on CBC Radio One 's Ideas . In March 2008, Atwood accepted a chamber opera commission. Commissioned by City Opera of Vancouver , Pauline is set in Vancouver in March 1913 during the final days of the life of Canadian writer and performer Pauline Johnson . Pauline , composed by Tobin Stokes with libretto by Atwood, premiered on May 23, 2014, at Vancouver's York Theatre. In 2016, Atwood began writing

3969-475: Was the winner of the St. Lawrence Award for Fiction and the award of The Periodical Distributors of Canada for Short Fiction. By 1976, there was such interest in Atwood, her works, and her life that Maclean's declared her to be "Canada's most gossiped-about writer." Atwood's literary reputation continued to rise in the 1980s with the publication of Bodily Harm (1981); The Handmaid's Tale (1985), winner of

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