Margaret Atwood, author of great books like The Handmaid’s Tale and (personal fave) The Penelopiad, came to speak at Emory as part of our Ellmann Lectures series.

She was a great speaker with a sharp wit and good insights. She cracked a lot of jokes, shared stories of her childhood growing up in Canada, and even sang a song from one of her books!

Atwood was all about the juxtapositions, which I loved. My favorite insight from her was about our human spirit: “We want excitement and adventure. We want safety and security.”

One of her lectures centered on cartography: how every map has an edge, the border between real and unreal. Where the known is finite, but the unknown is infinite. And she poses the question: are ‘utopias’ and ‘dystopias’ a yin and yang? Do each contain parts of the other?

Food for thought.

My favorite part, ‘course, was getting her to sign my book. ;D

Atwood: “Here’s my advice to you. Read and read and read and write and write and write.”