Margaret Atwood

One of the most respected and prolific authors of her time, Margaret Atwood began writing plays and stories at age six. She would publish articles in Victoria College's literary journal, Acta Victoriana and won the E. J. Pratt Medal soon after graduating for a privately printed book of poems entitled Double Persephone.

By 1964, Atwood won the Governor General's Award for book of poetry The Circle Game, which was followed by her debut novel in 1969, The Edible Woman. She would prove to be a prolific author, publishing novels, poetry, and eventually compilations of short stories, beginning with 1977's Dancing Girls, which won the St. Lawrence Award for Fiction.

Atwood became such a fascinating and well known contributor to literary culture that she was the subject of the documentary "Margaret Atwood: Once in August" in 1984. The following year found her publishing one of her most well known books, the speculative fiction novel The Handmaid's Tale.

She was nominated for the Booker Prize with 1988's Cat's Eye, and later won it for 2000's The Blind Assassin. While continuing to publish original works with regularity, Atwood would also branch into other areas, penning the libretto for the chamber opera "Pauline" in 2008, and contributing the novel Scribbler Moon to the Future Library project in 2015, which planned to publish it in 2114.

After the publication of the dystopian comedy The Heart Goes Last (2015) and a retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest called Hag-Seed (2016), Atwood developed a new audience when a television adaptation of "The Handmaid's Tale" (Hulu 2017- ) premiered, starring Elisabeth Moss.