How to make a paper boat

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Recommendations

Fifteen non-fiction books to inspire you

Book, Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood, standing upright against a bright red background

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Extracts

Margaret Atwood: A Writing Life

Tiled jackets of fiction books that have changed the world, in Vintage Earth-themed colour scheme

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Reading lists

10 times fiction changed the world

A blue-and-black portrait of Margaret Atwood against a background of green and blue shapes with the quote 'Storytellers have always been attached to their world'

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Features

Margaret Atwood on literature and the environment

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12 poetry collections to help you understand the world

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9 of our favourite mothers in classic books

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Must-read books by women, as chosen by our readers

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‘I was in love with Sherlock Holmes’: 21 Questions with Margaret Atwood

Best dystopian books

The best dystopian books of all time

The words 'tomorrow is a new day' written in white on a black, pink and mauve backgound

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Comforting quotes to read before you go to bed

The 1980s was a decade of massive social, political and cultural change. 

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Books that shaped the 1980s

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The essential Margaret Atwood reading list

Brave New World, Slaughterhouse 5 and The Handmaid's Tale photography

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Dystopian classics that make timely reading

Margaret Atwood and her Booker-award-winning The Testaments

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News

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo jointly awarded 2019 Booker Prize

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‘Is The Testaments a dystopia? Let’s hope so…’

Margaret Atwood on the real-life events that inspired The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments

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Summer fiction reading list from VINTAGE

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Elisabeth Moss reads The Handmaid’s Tale audiobook

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7 iconic scenes from The Handmaid’s Tale graphic novel

6 books about truth and freedom of speech

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Margaret Atwood: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale is being read very differently’ 

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Margaret Atwood: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale is being read very differently now’

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What to read after The Handmaid’s Tale

How much do you know about The Handmaids Tale?

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Quizzes

How much do you know about The Handmaid’s Tale?

9 quotes from The Handmaid's Tale that will teach you about the world

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9 quotes from The Handmaid’s Tale that will teach you about the world

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Podcasts

Dystopias: Trump’s First 100 Days

Margaret Atwood on why we should all read Brave New World

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Nine brilliant pieces of gender-bending fiction

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9 brilliant pieces of gender bending fiction

Margaret Atwood on Brave New World

New and Selected Poems 1961-2023

Paper Boat

What a book of magic Paper Boat is . . . a bright and cornucopic life force of a book . . . It resounds with the acuteness of Atwood’s wisdom, the warmth of her cold eye, her uniquely lit courage

Atwood is celebrated for her entertaining and electrifying prose works… Now, with the magnificent Paper Boat…it’s time to take note of her uniquely fascinating poetic voice… Beguiling and unsettling

Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*

By turns deeply introspective and outward looking, Atwood’s poetry is as clear-eyed, uncompromising and masterly as her prose

Atwood at the height of her poetic powers: her imagery made tangible with sound

Read these poems aloud, read them carefully, read them with joy and tears

She’s one of the few contemporary writers whose poetry and prose receive equal amounts of praise

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and shared the Booker Prize. Her most recent publications are the poetry collections Dearly and Paper Boat; Burning Questions, a selection of essays; and Old Babes in the Wood, a volume of short stories. 
 
Atwood is a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

*A Times Literary Supplement and Financial Times Book of the Year 2024* 
 
An extraordinary career-spanning collection from one of the most revered poets and storytellers of our age 
 
Tracing the legacy of Margaret Atwood – a writer who has fundamentally shaped our contemporary literary landscapes – Paper Boat assembles Atwood’s most vital poems in one essential volume. 
 
In pieces that are at once brilliant, beautiful and hyper-imagined, Atwood gives voices to remarkably drawn characters – mythological figures, animals and everyday people – all of whom have something to say about what it means to live in a world as strange as our own. ‘How can one live with such a heart?’ Atwood asks, casting her singular spell upon the reader, and ferrying us through life, death and whatever comes next. Walking the tightrope between reality and fantasy as only she can, Atwood’s journey through poetry illuminates our most innate joys and sorrows, desires and fears. 
 
Spanning six decades of work – from her earliest beginnings to brand new poems – this volume charts the evolution of one of our most iconic and necessary authors. 
 
‘We should regard Atwood as a poet first and foremost – just one who happens to be a highly regarded novelist’ Sunday Herald

The Handmaid's Tale

Vintage Quarterbound Classics

the book that inspired the hit TV series

Margaret Atwood (Author) Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and shared the Booker Prize. Her most recent publications are the poetry collections Dearly and Paper Boat; Burning Questions, a selection of essays; and Old Babes in the Wood, a volume of short stories. 
 
Atwood is a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada. Naomi Alderman (Introducer) Naomi Alderman is the bestselling author of The Power, which won the the Women's Prize for Fiction, as well as Disobedience, The Liars' Gospel, and The Lessons.

** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER ** 
 
Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon. 
 
Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford &ndash; her assigned name, Offred, means &lsquo;of Fred&rsquo;. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs. 
 
'A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist' Bernadine Evaristo 
 
&lsquo;As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it&rsquo; Guardian

Old Babes in the Wood

Vitality and virtuosity have been the hallmarks of Atwoods literary career - and, as Old Babes in the Wood, published in her 84th year, shows, triumphantly continue to be so... Mortality shadows the book. Vivacity makes it shine

If you consider yourself and Atwood fan and have only read her novels: Get your act together. You've been missing out

Atwood shows mastery of the short form . . . [The] stories unwrap what TS Eliot called the gifts reserved for age. There are chips and fragments of lives, full of sass and sadness

A gripping read... Old Babes in the Wood is further evidence of a writer in full possession of her powers. Atwood will never struggle to find readers, but this collection really is worth their attention

Atwood... is a brilliant and spiky storyteller who can seamlessly turn big issues into page-turners... These are Atwood's most personal tales so far

The Booker winner writes beautifully about ageing and death . . . the silence after the best stories here is akin to how she describes the aftermath of a calamitous event

Nell and Tig are the ageing couple whose small dramas and deep feelings bookend this new story collection... brought achingly to life and sharpened by Atwood's dry wit and wily wisdom

To be honest, we would read anything this woman writes, but Old Babes in the Wood is one of her best

This set of interweaving short stories is a perfect way to get a more bite-sized read... There's a story in here that everyone can relate to

The inimitable author of The Handmaid's Tail is spectacular at short stories

Atwood...writes infectiously... page after page proving that...[her] lavish literary talents remain wholly undiminished

[Old Babes in the Wood] showcase[s] Atwood's spiky wit and imagination

The 15 stories in this collection from the stellar Margaret Atwood are book-ended by the touching, tender, grief-tinged tales of Tig and Nell

There are authors we turn to because they can uncannily predict our future; there are authors we need for their skillful diagnosis of our present; and there are authors we love because they can explain our past. And then there are the outliers: those who gift us with timelines other than the one we're stuck in, realities far from home. If anyone has proved, over the course of a long and wildly diverse career, that she can be all four, it's Margaret Atwood . . . Long may she reign

As affecting as any of Atwood's strongest work

In Old Babes in the Wood, Margaret Atwood delivers her signature sci-fi with a human heart. It is a story collection that teems with playfulness and invention... reminding us of her skill in the short form

The Tig and Nell stories... are subtle and poignant, written in grief and from the heart

Devastating and thought-provoking in equal measure, you will find yourself thoroughly entertained - and we're sure you'll return to these again and again

Atwood brings her trademark wit and invention to bear on subjects as diverse as a pandemic, cancel culture, female friendship, witchcraft - and cats

Old Babes in the Wood... [is] a clear demonstration of her prevailing skill as a writer

As her short story collection Old Babes in the Wood debuts at the top of the fiction chart, Margaret Atwood can rest assured that she has reached literary legend status. It was one thing for The Handmaid's Tale to make it to No 1, but quite another for stories narrated by snails and aliens to do it

Her latest collection of short stories... proves once again she's also an impassioned observer of everyday people and their struggles, with a hilarious sense of humour

Each [story] is interesting in its own right...Atwood's imagination and mastery of storytelling is evident

[A] writer who is still so sparky and brilliant in the sudden ways she tips you into despair or delight. Whatever she's up to, I'll take more if it's going

Any new publication by the estimable Atwood...is an event and this collection of 15 short stories is no exception

Bracing, darkly funny and cheerfully unsentimental

Atwood’s lavish literary talents remain wholly undiminished

The new collection from the legendary Atwood is led by the story of a married couple as they travel the road together, the moments big and small that make up a long life of love -- and what comes after 
 
My heart is broken, Nell thinks. But in our family we don’t say, ‘My heart is broken.’ We say, ‘Are there any cookies?’ 
 
In this dazzling collection of stories we meet beloved cats, George Orwell, a daughter whose mother may or may not be a witch, a cabal of elderly female academics, and an alien tasked with retelling human fairy tales. And we meet and re-meet Nell and Tig, a long-married couple, and see the moments big and small that make up a life of love – and what comes after. 
 
 
'She's Margaret Atwood, and she can do anything' Ann Patchett 
 
'There is no greater living writer' Daily Telegraph 
 
'The outstanding novelist of our age' Sunday Times 
 
'A living legend' New York Times Book Review

Essays and Occasional Pieces 2004–2021

Burning Questions

The Sunday Times bestseller from Booker prize winner Margaret Atwood

Atwood aims her constant curiosity and impish humour at our world and reports back to us on what she finds, in this frank, generous gift of a book. 
 
In it she seeks answers to Burning Questions such as:<ul><li>Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories?</li><li>How can we live on our planet?</li><li>What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism?</li></ul>The roller-coaster period covered in the collection brought an end to the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom; from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) to how to define granola, we have no better questioner of the many and varied mysteries of our human universe. 
 
INCLUDES NEW MATERIAL FOR PAPERBACK 
 
‘A wonderfully written insight into everything from zombies to the climate crisis’ Stylist 
 
‘The mighty Margaret Atwood writes about everything from granola to Trump' The Times

This isn't just a collection of essays for Atwood fans. Rather, this is an attempt to make sense of the world, taking in with characteristic verve everything from Anne of Green Gables to Donald Trump, zombies to censorship . . . While the tone skates from surreal off-kilter wit to impassioned gravity, Atwood always makes the idea of big questions a little more digestible . . . The collection is polyphonic, enthusiastic, illuminating

Margaret Atwood was recently described in a Guardian interview as "arguably the most famous living literary novelist in the world", and she is undoubtedly the most venerable . . . It's fascinating to read Atwood's reflections on her own novels and their continued relevance . . . but equally striking to see how many pieces she has included here generously celebrating other writers

If there's one person in the world from whom you'd want a hot take on the most pressing issues, it would surely be Margaret Atwood . . . She answers our burning questions on climate change, the rise of Trump and on to debt and tech

With her bold imagination, calm insight, and wit, Atwood gathers diverse strands into a marvellous collection ranging from the history of forests to the nature of science fiction and beyond. Burning Questions is a delicious antidote to intellectual fragmentation that left me inspired

Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life

A compilation of essays that pick the brain of Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood, this is a wonderfully written insight into everything from zombies to the climate crisis

I drank in the book this past weekend, in two warm slugs

[Atwood's] intelligence shines off the page with such intensity it makes you blink

The mighty Margaret Atwood writes about everything from granola to Trump

Atwood's third collection of essays...does not fail to impress... This is one to dip into again and again, and is likely to remain relevant many years into the future

Atwood...always...gets right to the heart of the matter... More than 50 pieces display her astonishing range... Each is written with her trademark wit

Atwood is generous and unguarded - exactly what you would hope of her... frank, honest and good company

A kaleidoscope look at life and literature from the perspective of one of our finest writers... Her humour and breath of knowledge make this a collection to open your mind - and make you laugh

[Atwood's] prescience, her wicked sense of humour, her generosity and her appetite for work at all on flamboyant display in Burning Questions

Atwood's third volume of essays... [is] shot through with wisdom and wit

This week, the Supreme Court nominated Margaret Atwood for a Nobel Prize in Prescience

The Sunday Times bestselling collection of funny, endlessly curious and uncannily prescient essays from cultural icon Margaret Atwood. 
 
In it she seeks answers to Burning Questions such as: 
 
Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories? 
How can we live on our planet? 
What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism? 
 
In Burning Questions Atwood aims her prodigious intellect and impish humour at our world, and reports back to us on what she finds. The roller-coaster period covered in the collection brought an end to the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom; from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) to how to define granola, we have no better questioner of the many and varied mysteries of our human universe. 
 
 
INCLUDES NEW ESSAYS FOR PAPERBACK 
 
'Brilliant and funny' Joan Didion 
 
'She's taken our times and made us wise to them' Ali Smith 
 
'Lights a fire from the fears of our age . . . Miraculously balances humor, outrage, and beauty' New York Times Book Review 
 
'All over the reading world, the history books are being opened to the next blank page and Atwood's name is written at the top of it' Anne Enright, Guardian 
 
'The outstanding novelist of our age' Sunday Times

Bodily Harm

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE HANDMAID’S TALE

One of the most richly entertaining novels I've read for years

A beautifully written, witty and often poignant account of a brave woman's attempt to come to terms with her situation and recover her spirits

What makes her book so considerable an achievement is the mature, informed accuracy of its view of life. What makes it so exhilarating is the profusion of tough wit and precise poetry that everywhere transforms its black bulletins from documentary into art

The only way to describe my response to Bodily Harm is to say that it knocked me out... She tosses off perfect scenes with a casualness that leaves you utterly inprepared for the way these stories seize you

Atwood's vivid prose, tough wit and acute insight turn a scenario that would suit a beach-read thriller into a complex and compelling novel

A clever and addictive thriller from the bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments 
 
 Rennie Wilford is a young journalist running from her life. When she takes an assignment to a Caribbean island she tumbles into a world where no one is quite what they seem, least of all ‘Yankee’ Paul. 
 
Is Paul a drug smuggler? A CIA operative? Either way he’s trouble and his offer to Rennie of a no-hooks, no strings affair, will suddenly draw her into in a lethal web of corruption. 
 
'As swift-moving as the best thriller, clipped and laconic, yet deeply and richly sensitive' Sunday Telegraph

Bluebeard's Egg and Other Stories

From the international bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale, Bluebeard's Egg and Other Stories represents some of Margaret Atwood's most witty, wise short stories.

An acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women

If anyone has better insight into women and their central problem - men -  than Margaret Atwood, and can voice them with as much wit, impact and grace, then they haven't started writing yet

Sophisticated, reticent, ornate, stark, supple, stiff, savage or forgiving...they are stories from the prime of life

An outstanding correspondent on the war between the sexes writes as wittily as ever on the hopes and shortcomings of women who bake for poets, sleep with their accountants, attribute their preference for awful men to fearlessness, and don't know how much they scare their own mothers

Discover this sharp, funny short story collection from the bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments 
 
A man finds himself surrounded by women who are becoming paler, more silent and literally smaller; a woman's intimate life is strangely dominated by the fear of nuclear warfare; a melancholy teenage love is swept away by a hurricane, while a tired, middle-aged affection is rekindled by the spectacle of rare Jamaican birds... 
 
In these exceptional short stories, by turns funny and searingly honest, Margaret Atwood captures brilliantly the complex forces that govern our relationships, and the powerful emotions that guide them. 
 
‘An acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women’ The Times

Margaret Atwood

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