The character arc of Margaret Atwood

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 18 November 1939 in Ottawa. Between then and now sit a Toronto degree in 1961, a Harvard master's in 1962, the Governor General's Award in 1966, The Edible Woman in 1969, the Order of Canada in 1981, The Handmaid's Tale in 1985, The Blind Assassin and the Booker Prize in 2000, Oryx and Crake in 2003 and The Testaments and a second Booker in 2019. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Margaret Atwood?

A second Booker at seventy nine.

She was born in Ottawa in 1939 and took a degree in English, with philosophy and French, at the University of Toronto in 1961, and a master's at Radcliffe College, Harvard in 1962. Her first Governor General's Award came in 1966, for poetry, when she was twenty six, and the poetry has never stopped alongside everything else.

The Edible Woman came in 1969, Surfacing in 1972 and Lady Oracle in 1976. The Handmaid's Tale, in 1985, won a second Governor General's Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987, and has never been out of print since. Cat's Eye followed in 1988, The Robber Bride in 1993 and Alias Grace in 1996.

The Blind Assassin won the Booker Prize in 2000, when she was sixty. Oryx and Crake came in 2003. Then, in 2019, at seventy nine, The Testaments shared the Booker Prize with Bernardine Evaristo, who is also in this gallery. Two Booker Prizes nineteen years apart, from a writer who published her first novel half a century earlier, is a record almost nobody has. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1981 and received the Franz Kafka Prize and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, both in 2017.

The moments

Margaret Atwood's timeline.

The 1960s

Jun 1961

Toronto, then Harvard

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Two degrees in two years, in two countries.

Jun 1966

A first national award

Milestone, and it changed everything. Canada's national award at twenty six, for poetry, three years before any novel.

Jun 1969

The Edible Woman

Milestone, and it changed everything. A first novel at twenty nine, and two more within seven years.

The 1980s

Jun 1981

The Order of Canada

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Her country's own honour, before the book everybody knows.

17 Aug 1985

The Handmaid's Tale

Milestone, and it changed everything. It has never been out of print, and it has never stopped being argued about.

Sep 1988

Cat's Eye

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Two more novels, in a decade when she might have rested on one.

The 1990s

Sep 1996

Alias Grace

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A historical novel built from a real Canadian case.

The 2000s

7 Nov 2000

The Booker Prize

Milestone, and it changed everything. The Booker at sixty, thirty one years after her first novel.

May 2003

Oryx and Crake

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Science fiction, or speculative fiction, depending on which of them you ask.

The 2010s

1 Jun 2016

Leave it, or write the sequel

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: write the sequel, taken, or leave it alone. The Testaments shared the Booker Prize in 2019, when she was seventy nine.

Jun 2017

Two European prizes

Milestone. Two prizes in one year, neither of them in her own country.

14 Oct 2019

A second Booker

Milestone, and it changed everything. Seventy nine years old, and a second Booker Prize. Almost nobody has that record.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is sixty years of work with no quiet decade in it, and a second Booker Prize won at seventy nine, which ought to be the end of any argument about being too late.

What she wrote

Books by Margaret Atwood

1969
The Edible Woman
Her first novel, published at twenty nine.
1985
The Handmaid's Tale
Governor General's Award in 1985 and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. It has never been out of print.
1988
Cat's Eye
On girlhood and memory, and the cruelty children are capable of.
1996
Alias Grace
A historical novel built from a real Canadian case of the 1840s.
2000
The Blind Assassin
Booker Prize, 2000, when she was sixty.
2003
Oryx and Crake
Speculative fiction, which is the term she prefers for it.
2019
The Testaments
The sequel written thirty four years later, which shared the Booker Prize with Bernardine Evaristo.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

Hers won the biggest prize in her trade at sixty, and again at seventy nine. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Margaret Atwood: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Margaret Atwood's character arc?

A national award for poetry at twenty six, a first novel at twenty nine, the book everybody knows at forty five, a Booker Prize at sixty, and a second Booker Prize at seventy nine for its sequel.

How many Booker Prizes has Margaret Atwood won?

Two. The Blind Assassin won outright in 2000, when she was sixty, and The Testaments shared the 2019 prize with Bernardine Evaristo, when she was seventy nine. Two Booker Prizes nineteen years apart is a record almost nobody holds.

What is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood?

Her novel of 1985, which won a Governor General's Award that year and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. It has never been out of print and has never stopped being argued about.

What is The Testaments by Margaret Atwood?

The sequel to her best known novel, published in 2019. Her first novel about that world had appeared in 1985, so the sequel came more than three decades later, and it shared the Booker Prize that year.

Where did Margaret Atwood study?

The University of Toronto, where she took a degree in English honours with philosophy and French in 1961, and Radcliffe College at Harvard University, where she took a master's in 1962.

What awards has Margaret Atwood won?

Governor General's Awards in 1966 and 1985, the Order of Canada in 1981, the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987, Booker Prizes in 2000 and 2019, and both the Franz Kafka Prize and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2017.

Is Margaret Atwood a poet as well as a novelist?

Yes, and the poetry came first. Her first Governor General's Award, in 1966 at twenty six, was for poetry, three years before her first novel, and she has kept writing it throughout.

Where does this timeline of Margaret Atwood's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Margaret Atwood isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Margaret Atwood, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
The Booker Prize Foundation, 2000 and 2019.
Publisher records for The Handmaid's Tale, The Blind Assassin and The Testaments.