Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Canada, and attended the University of Toronto, Radcliffe College, and Harvard University. She later taught literature at several universities in Canada, the United States, and Australia. She is best known for her novels exploring power and gender relationships, including Edible Woman (1969), Surfacing (1972), The Handmaid's Tale (1985), The Robber Bride (1993), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin (2000), which won the Booker Prize in 2000. However, starting with Double Persephone (1961), which she wrote at the age of nineteen, she has also published some twenty volumes of poetry.

Major works by Atwood

The Edible Woman (1969, novel)
Lady Oracle (1976, novel)
Selected Poems (1976)
Second Words: Selected Critical Prose (1982)
The Handmaid's Tale (1985, novel)
Selected Poems II: Poems Selected and New (1986)
Cat's Eye (1988, novel)
Selected Poems 1966-1984 (1990)
Good Bones (1992, stories)
The Robber Bride (1993, novel)
Alias Grace (1996, novel)
Eating Fire; Selected Poems (1998)
The Blind Assassin (2000, novel)

Atwood and the Web

This is the homepage of Atwood's own site. Here, you'll find details about the writer's life, advice on the craft of writing, bibliographies, and more!

Would you like to read more by Atwood? Read her poem "A Visit," in etext from TheAtlantic.

This link will take you to a Salon interview with Atwood about her novel Alias Grace.