Margaret Atwood: Autumn 2025 Biography Flash - New Memoir, Prize, Protest
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Margaret Atwood: Autumn 2025 Biography Flash - New Memoir, Prize, Protest
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Margaret Atwood remains a major presence in the literary world this September, with her life and work intersecting the news, publishing, and even protest. The most significant biographical update concerns the shortlist announcement for the 2025 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, named partly in her honor along with Graeme Gibson. Writers’ Trust of Canada, in a landmark move, expanded the award purse to $100,000, further cementing Atwood’s impact on Canadian literature and making the prize one of the richest in the country. This year’s finalists—Tim Bowling, Robert McGill, Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, Maria Reva, and Aurora Stewart de Peña—were chosen from 120 submissions for works pushing narrative boundaries, with the winner to be announced November 13 in Toronto. Atwood’s enduring legacy as a supporter and co-founder of vital literary institutions ensures her constant relevance in Canadian letters, according to Open Book.
On the publishing front, anticipation is high for her own new memoir, Book of Lives, coming out November 4. AOL calls it “one-of-a-kind,” promising readers an intimate glimpse into the mind of a prolific novelist and poet just as the fall book season kicks into gear.
Margaret Atwood continues to be invoked as a touchstone in cultural debates. Earlier this month at Washington DC’s National Book Festival, a protestor dressed as a character from The Handmaid’s Tale—one of Atwood’s most iconic works—was removed from a session featuring Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. WTOP reports the woman wore the red cloak and white bonnet as a silent statement about threats to women’s autonomy, once again highlighting the ongoing resonance and symbolism of Atwood’s dystopian warning.
Upcoming, fans on the west coast can look forward to her public appearance at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre on December 9 for the Vancouver Writers Fest, with tickets set to go on sale next month, as detailed on the festival’s official event page. Her works also continue to influence classroom and workshop syllabi: The Word Barn in New Hampshire features Margaret Atwood on its September 29 reading list for a creative writing workshop, signifying her continuing importance as a literary role model.
On social media, Margaret Atwood herself has not posted anything notable in the past 24 hours. However, conversations invoking her name persist. Threads saw mentions last week, including one calling for her insight in debates about women’s accomplishments and another thread confirming she is very much alive and iconic as ever.
For a bit of context, earlier in September, the ongoing banning of The Handmaid’s Tale in Canadian schools made headlines according to Lit With Amy Makechnie, where Atwood’s own words on censorship and literature’s risks were quoted to underscore the seriousness of the issue.
That’s all for this edition of Margaret Atwood Biography Flash. Thank you for listening—please subscribe to never miss an update on Margaret Atwood and search the term Biography Flash for more great biographies.
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