“The Loneliness of the Military HistorianConfess: it's my professionthat alarms you.This is why few people ask me to dinner,though Lord knows I don't go out of my way to be scary.I wear dresses of sensible cutand unalarming shades of beige,I smell of lavender and go to the hairdresser's:no prophetess mane of mine,complete with snakes, will frighten the youngsters.If I roll my eyes and mutter,if I clutch at my heart and scream in horrorlike a third-rate actress chewing up a mad scene,I do it in private and nobody seesbut the bathroom mirror.In general I might agree with you:women should not contemplate war,should not weigh tactics impart”

Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and inventor

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published fiction, poetry, nonfiction, children’s books, and graphic novels, and she is best known for her 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Her work spans 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children’s books, and two graphic novels, along with small-press editions of poetry and fiction. She has received major honors including two Booker Prizes, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Order of Canada, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award for literature, and lifetime achievement awards from the National Book Critics and PEN Center USA. Several of her works have been adapted for film and television.