Born On This Day: Margaret Atwood November 18, 1939

Updated: Dec 1, 2021

Margaret Eleanor Atwood is a well-known Canadian poet, novelist, essayist, and literary critic. Recognized around the globe for her novels such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace, and The Edible Woman, Atwood has won numerous awards including two Booker Prizes, the Governor General’s Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the PEN Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award, among others.

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Atwood was the second of three children born to Carl Atwood, an entomologist, and Margaret D. Atwood, a former nutritionist and dietician. Due to her father’s work in forest entomology, Atwood spent much of her childhood in the backwoods of Northern Quebec while her family traveled back and forth between Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto. Atwood was a voracious reader from the start, devouring fairy tales and Dell Classics since she was a young girl. Atwood began writing plays and poetry at the age of 6.

For the most part, Atwood was homeschooled until the age of 12 when she attended Leaside High School in Toronto for the first time. She realized she wanted to write professionally at the age of 16 and graduated in 1957. Four years later, she would graduate from the University of Toronto with an Honours degree in English and minors in Philosophy and French. Her first publication came in the college literary journal where she submitted poems and articles.

Atwood attended graduate studies at Radcliffe College at Harvard and achieved a Master’s degree, and pursued doctoral studies for two years but did not finish her dissertation.

Her first book of poems, Double Persephone, was published in 1961 and won her the E.J. Pratt Medal. Atwood began lecturing at various universities throughout the sixties all while continuing to write. In 1966, her book, another book of poetry, The Circle Game was published, which won the Governor General’s Award. Atwood’s first novel, The Edible Woman was published in 1969.

Atwood married American writer Jim Polk in 1968 but they later divorced in 1973. Soon after, Atwood formed a relationship with Graeme Gibson, a Canadian writer, and the couple moved to a farm outside Alliston, Ontario where their only child, Eleanor Atwood Gibson was born in 1976. By 1980, the couple had returned to Toronto.

Throughout the 70s, Atwood continued to teach through York and Toronto universities all while publishing six collections of poetry.

Atwood’s most well-known book, The Handmaid’s Tale, was published in 1985, winning the Arthur C. Clarke Award and her second Governor General’s Award. Over the years, Atwood would continue to publish award-nominated books such as The Cat’s Eye, Alias Grace, and The Robber’s Bride. In 2001, Atwood was inducted into Canada’s Hall of Fame.

Atwood attributes a resurgence of interest in her book The Handmaid’s Tale to the outcome of the 2016 Federal US election, but it may also have something to do with the recent television series adaptation which premiered on Hulu in 2017 which resulted in 8 Emmy awards that same year. Amazon reported in 2017 that The Handmaid’s Tale was the most read book of the year.

A follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, titled The Testaments, was published in 2019, the same year her long-time partner Graeme Gibson died from dementia. In 2021, Atwood continues to write and make appearances all the while advocating for women’s and animal rights.