Overview
- Atwood says the 1985 novel would likely be “sitting on a shelf” without recent restrictions on reproductive rights, including the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade.
- She underscores her research rule that nothing goes into her fiction unless it has happened somewhere at some time.
- Atwood explains the handmaid costume drew on Old Dutch Cleanser packaging, with red chosen for its Mary Magdalene and Scarlet Letter associations and blue for the Wives.
- Her new memoir, Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, was released this past week as she revisits the experiences and influences that shaped her work.
- PEN America reports her books have been banned in 135 U.S. school districts, and she also warns of democratic erosion marked by media control and subservient courts.