Margaret Atwood is one of the most famous and prolific authors of the modern era. Though best known for her 1985 hit novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” her dozens of works span literary genres — poetry, novels, children's books, essays, short stories — and often defy neat categorization. Now, at 86, Atwood has written her first memoir. At roughly 600 pages, it’s an intimate look at the ways her personal life inspired and shaped her writing.

Kara and Atwood talk about her lifelong passion for the outdoors, how she decided to become a poet when she was just a teenager, and her reputation for having an eerie prescience about major world events. They also talk about Atwood’s fears about the Trump administration’s use of power, and why she still considers herself to be a hopeful person despite her predilection for dark stories.

00:53 Intro
03:58 Margaret Atwood’s new memoir
12:21 How Margaret Atwood became a poet and novelist
19:37 Career themes
28:07 How Atwood’s personal life has influenced her writing
33:54 Can Margaret Atwood predict the future?
39:28 The state of politics today
48:32 Attacks from the right and left
52:21 Swedish Death Cleaning
58:38 Why Margaret Atwood loves birding

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