Audio Book Author Spotlight: Margaret Atwood

An Extremely Talented, Often Unusual Author

Many-faceted author, Margaret Atwood, is a novelist, poet, and feminist. She has won numerous awards across multiple genres. If you are looking for something new and different, try listening to one of her audiobooks.

Awards:

The Canadian-born author has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times with one win (The Blind Assassin). Other awards include the Toronto Book Award for Lady Oracle; The Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction for The Handmaid’s Tale; The Toronto Book Award for Cat’s Eye and many more. She has also had works shortlisted for multiple international literary awards.

Poetry:

Atwood’s poetry examines alienation and solitude. Her characters suffer and grieve. In 1964, she won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry (Canada) for the poetry collection titled, The Circle Game. PoemHunter.com features several of Atwood’s poems. I encourage you to go and read A Sad Child, Is/Not, or Spelling. I am not usually a fan of poetry, but the evocative nature of these works challenges me…

Audio Book Author Margaret Atwood

Novels:

My favorite novel written by Margaret Atwood is The Handmaid’s Tale (dramatized on CD by Michael O’Brien). A bleak look at a dystopian future, this novel is gripping and compelling. In a totalitarian theocracy, a class of fertile women is forced to produce children for elite barren couples.

They have no rights and are abused if they do not cooperate. While the novel may be labeled as Science Fiction, don’t bypass it for fear of rockets and space travel. This is a twist on what society could become if certain societal dynamics were skewed.

The Blind Assassin (narrated by Margo Dionne) is two works carefully woven into one incredible novel. The narrator, Iris Chase Griffen, recounts the story of her sister’s death through flashbacks and news clippings. Atwood’s genius shines as readers are treated to a novel-within-a-novel attributed to the deceased sister, Laura.

While it may sound convoluted and confusing, Atwood makes the concept accessible and fluid for readers. This book is simply brilliant.

There are many Atwood novels that are wonderful. I suggest starting with the two I have mentioned and then trying Alias Grace (read by Diana Quick), an historical fiction tale based on the facts of two notorious murders in 1843.