MARGARET ATWOOD, author of The Handmaid Tale has announced an Australian tour for February 2020.
In Conversation with Margaret Atwood will see the Canadian writer live on stage discuss The Handmaid's Tale and its recently published sequel The Testaments for which she jointly won Britain's prestigious Booker Prize.
The Handmaid's Tale is a work of dystopian fiction written in 1985. It tells the story of the totalitarian state of Gilead, set in the US, during a time when birthrates have collapsed due to pollution and disease and in which the few woman (handmaids) who can have children are subjugated, raped and forced to bear children for the childless rulers of the state and their wives.
The red robes and white caps the handmaids wear have become a symbol of continuing global misogyny, violence against women and control over reproductive rights.
The story was recently serialised and televised to major public acclaim. Sales of the English language edition have now topped 8 million copies worldwide.
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam Trilogy.
Atwood has won numerous awards including the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.
"I am so happy to be returning to Australia, where I have spent much time in the past, and where readers have always been so warm and welcoming," said Atwood.
Margaret Atwood's Australian tour dates are: Sunday, February 16 - Sydney Darling Harbour Theatre Monday, February 17 - Sydney Darling Harbour Theatre, Wednesday, February 19 - Canberra Theatre, Saturday, February 22 - Brisbane QPAC, Sunday, February 23 - Melbourne Hamer Hall, Monday, February 24 - Hobart Wrestpoint, Sunday, March 1 - Perth Riverside Theatre.
Tickets pre-sales will commence at noon Monday, November 25 with the general public on sale from noon Friday, November 29.
Ticket information: www.margaretatwoodlive.com.au
Eileen Wood
I'm a senior news journalist at The Senior newspaper, the leading publication bringing targeted news on issues affecting older Australians. We cover NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, SA and WA. If you have a story idea I would love to hear it. You can email me: eileen.wood@thesenior.com.au or phone The Senior 02-4355-5000, mob. 0487 495 805
I'm a senior news journalist at The Senior newspaper, the leading publication bringing targeted news on issues affecting older Australians. We cover NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, SA and WA. If you have a story idea I would love to hear it. You can email me: eileen.wood@thesenior.com.au or phone The Senior 02-4355-5000, mob. 0487 495 805
