Northwestern University has chosen The Handmaid’s Tale as its One Book selection for 2018-2019
Every entering freshman to Northwestern University this fall will receive their own copy of The Handmaid’s Tale and will be exposed to a year full of events related to the book. (For context, in the 2017-2018 school year, there were 91 different events on campus related to the One Book selection– this year promises to be as robust, if not more so!)
Atwood will be at Northwestern to give keynote talks on October 30, 2018, a talk each on both the Chicago and the Evanston campuses, where One Book Faculty Chair Helen Thompson also plans to ask Atwood questions about “The Handmaid’s Tale, its recent television adaptation, and its centrality to the current cultural moment.”
For more information on Northwestern’s One Book program, see its webpage here.
Margaret Atwood to receive Adrienne Clarkson Prize for Global Citizenship
Margaret Atwood will receive yet another prestigious prize, this one symbolizing her place not just as one of the most treasured and visionary writers of our time, but as an activist and environmentalist as well. This honor, the Adrienne Clarkson Prize for Global Citizenship, was established by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship in 2016 and is to be awarded each year to a leader who “has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to the societal ideals of belonging, tolerance, and respect.”
In a press statement, former governor-general and prize namesake Adrienne Clarkson said, “We want to honour this remarkable citizen of Canada for all she has done in her personal and professional life to make us aware that we are citizens of a country like Canada and a planet that is our precious Earth. In her brilliant writing career and her personal activism locally, nationally, and internationally, she is a dynamic force in the world today.”
Atwood will be presented with the prize on September 26 at the closing event of 6 Degrees Toronto, “a three-day conversation on citizenship and inclusion.” Ticket and organization information can be found here. Read more about the prize here.
Atwood to Receive Hay Medal
From Locusmag:
Margaret Atwood will receive a Hay Festival Medal for Prose for “a lifetime of ingenious and visionary fiction” during the Hay Festival event in Hay-on-Wye, Wales scheduled May 24 – June 3, 2018.
Hulu has ordered a third season of The Handmaid’s Tale
Hulu announced May 2 that the show will be returning for a third season, only two weeks into the second. Oh, June, will we ever get to see you make it to Canada?
Margaret Atwood and Dark Horse Comics Partner For Two New Projects
According to The Hollywood Reporter Margaret Atwood is extending her relationship with Dark Horse Comics, with the Oregon publisher planning two titles for fall 2018 written by the critically acclaimed author of The Handmaid’s Tale. Get details here.
Margaret Atwood to be honored at 2018 Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto
Margaret Atwood will receive the Academy Board of Directors’ Tribute for “her commitments to the growth of the Canadian media industry.” The awards will be held March 11, 2018 in Toronto. For more information and other Canadians expected to receive awards that day, see the announcement or this article in Global News.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a national, non-profit, professional association dedicated to the promotion, recognition, and celebration of exceptional achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media. Unifying industry professionals across Canada, the Academy is a vital force representing all screen-based industries.
Atwood wins PEN lifetime achievement award
The 2017 PEN Center USA Literary Awards Festival hosted by the hilarious Nick Offerman recently took place in Los Angeles.
At the event, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Margaret Atwood, saying, “When Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic a hundred years ago, she said ‘No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body.’ And those words ring just as true today and they’re the heart of everything this next honoree writes, says, and does.”
When Atwood accepted the award, the left the audience with these questions: “What is the world we live in? What is the world we want to live in?”
Read the full story at Variety.
Atwood receives Franz Kafka International Prize 2017
Margaret Atwood was presented with the Franz Kafka International Prize of 2017. On October 17 at the Old Town Hall in Prague, Atwood received the award, although she was chosen by the international jury in May. See this press release for more information and for a list of past recipients.
Atwood’s interview with Ian Willoughby for Radio Prague can be found here.
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