Margaret Atwood was in Ottawa yesterday to present her new book The Heart Goes Last. She was interviewed by Alan Neal from CBC at the Southminster United Church on Aylmer Avenue. The place was packed, but I managed to get a seat not too far from the stage. The audience consisted mainly of women of a certain age, even though I spotted a few men here and there. The Heart…
Category: Margaret Atwood
Esi Edugyan
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Canada Reads 2014 Winner
Congratulations to Joseph Boyden, the Canada Reads 2014 Winner for The Orenda! Canada Reads is an annual competition where 5 personalities defend their favorite book. The debates are broadcast on CBC, and panelists eliminate one book at a time until only one is left. The remaining title is proclaimed the best book of that particular year. The award was initially created in an effort to boost sales of Canadian titles….
Fiction
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MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
I arrived an hour early at Southminster United Church in Ottawa on Tuesday 24 September 2013. Already there was a line for the event One on One with Margaret Atwood. Before getting to my seat, I was given 4 buttons: “Margaret Atwood MaddAddam: See the Future, Seek the Truth”. This was the first time I was handed a gift at a literary event. I thought this was a great souvenir,…
Fiction
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The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
The Year of the Flood, the second book in the MaddAddam trilogy, came out 6 years after Oryx and Crake in 2009. It is not a sequel, but rather a companion to the first novel as it takes place on a concurrent time. Toby and Ren survived the epidemic that killed most of the human race. A series of flashbacks informs us that Toby was a therapist in a spa…
Fiction
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Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
On 24 September 2013, Margaret Atwood came to Ottawa to present the last book in the MaddAddam Trilogy. The event took place at the Southminster United Church, and the place was packed, a testament to the author’s fame. Margaret Atwood, all dressed in black with a red and gold shawl, talked about the dystopian world she imagined in the MaddAddam Trilogy. The story came to her almost in its entirety…