Today we are joined by legendary writer Margaret Atwood! We begin with her new collection of essays, Burning Questions (4:18), which wrestle with catastrophe (4:59), growing up in the wilderness (7:05) under egalitarian parents (10:00), and how she circumvented the traditional roles for women of the 1950s (12:20). She also shares some personal stories: her first book signing event (15:40), the day she met her late husband Graeme Gibson (17:20), and the innumerable ways in which he'd shape her life (20:11).
On the back-half we discuss the historical antecedents behind The Handmaid’s Tale (24:11), its renewed relevance amid threats to Roe v. Wade (25:43), the debate around ‘the writer as political agent’ (29:53), patriarchal gatekeeping inside the publishing industry (32:42), the limits of art-making (34:20), and why she continues to write at age 82 (39:17).
To close, Margaret reads from both her elegiac poem Dearly (40:05) and her essay “Polonia” (45:27).
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03/06/22 • 52 min
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Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso - Author Margaret Atwood’s Burning Questions
Transcript
Pushkin. This is Talk Easy. I'm Sanfordgo, so welcome to the show. Today. I'm joined by writer Margaret Atwood. Atwood is the author of over fifty books of poetry, critical essays, graphic novels, and fiction. Most notably, as you've probably read, Cat's Eye, The Blind Assassin, The Testament, and of course The Handmaid's Tale, which was published back in nineteen eighty five. Her latest offering is called Burning Questions, a collection of essay
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