Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing

Atwood is a much-lauded Canadian writer, noted primarily for her feminist concerns and her ability to write in wide ranging genres. She is a Royal Society of Canada fellow and has been awarded sixteen honorary degrees as well as numerous writing awards. She is famous for being a feminist writer, due to the success of her 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, but this is a role which she has alternately resisted and embraced. Although she most often writes from a female perspective, she gives her characters complex feelings and actions that do not always fit into a particular category. Similarly, while she critiques toxic masculinity in her work, Atwood does not shy away from the complexity of women and how they treat one another. Atwood cares deeply about sexual politics, class inequity, the environment, and other social problems. Her poetry and fiction often touch on societal repression, the trampling of human rights, and environmental harm. She writes about these subjects in every style, including poetry, essays, Gothic romance, historical epics, spy thrillers, and speculative fiction. She also retells myths and fairytales, or classic literature. Upending known tales allows writers to discuss contemporary concerns in a new way.