Margaret Atwood

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination is Margaret Atwood's account of her relationship with the literary form we have come to know as "science fiction." This relationship has been lifelong, stretching from her days as a child reader in the 1940s, through her time as a graduate student at Harvard, where she worked on the Victorian ancestors of the form, and continuing as a writer and reviewer. This book brings together her three heretofore unpublished Ellmann Lectures of 2010 — "Flying Rabbits," which begins with Atwood's early rabbit superhero creations, and goes on to speculate about masks, capes, weakling alter egos, and Things with Wings; "Burning Bushes," which follows her into Victorian otherlands and beyond; and "Dire Cartographies," which investigates Utopias and Dystopias. In Other Worlds also reprints some of Atwood's key reviews of other practitioners of the form and thoughts about SF. She also elucidates the differences — as she sees them — between "science fiction" proper and "speculative fiction," as well as "sword and sorcery/fantasy" and "slipstream fiction." For all readers who have loved the work of Margaret Atwood, especially The Handmaid's Tale, The Blind Assassin, Oryx and Crake, and The Year of the Flood, In Other Worlds is a must.

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Available October 2011

"Atwood's non-fiction graceful dives into the discussion of genre and literature are beyond sharp. They're revelatory ... The point is, it's hard to talk about this book without simply saying: READ ALL OF IT." -Ryan Britt, Tor.com

"In Other Worlds is a meditative love letter to science fiction, a scrapbook of decades' work and passion for this divisive genre." -Torie Bosch, Slate Magazine

"Margaret Atwood has collected her writings and talks on science fiction and is speculative cousins into a smart and often playful book." -Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Margaret Atwood on Q with Jian Ghomeshi.

Margaret Atwood in the National Post: "How a love of comics started a love of reading."

Five Questions for Margaret Atwood - Slate.com

Margaret Atwood and George Stroumboulopoulos

Margaret Atwood on NPR

Margaret Atwood in the Atlantic on Sci-Fi, Religion, and Her love of Blade Runner.

Listen to Margaret on BBC Radio 3.

"This often witty blend of the individual and the universal, autobiography and archetype, gives Atwood's criticism its distinctive flavour." -Alex Good, Star.com

"In Other Worlds is a delightful read full of Atwood's well-honed prose and sly sense of humor." -John Williford, The Miami Herald