Russia bans 100 Canadians including Atwood, Jim Carrey
November 14, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Russia's Foreign Ministry announced Monday that 100 Canadians have been added to the list of people banned from entering the country in response to sanctions against Russia by Canada.
Griffin Poetry Prize merges, and expands, annual awards
September 8, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — One of the world's most generous poetry awards is both consolidating and expanding.
Officials of Canada's Griffin Poetry Prize announced Thursday that they are combining their international and Canadian honors into a single award, worth $100,000.
‘Unburnable’ copy of Handmaid’s Tale auctioned for $130,000
June 7, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — A specially commissioned, unburnable edition of Margaret Atwood's “The Handmaid's Tale" has been auctioned for $130,000, Sotheby's announced Tuesday.
Proceeds will be donated to PEN America, which advocates for free expression worldwide.
Burn-proof edition of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ up for auction
May 24, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Margaret Atwood has imagined apocalyptic disaster, Dystopian government and an author faking her own death. But until recently she had spared herself the nightmare of trying to burn one of her own books.
Nampa school board votes to ban 22 books from libraries
May 11, 2022 GMTNAMPA, Idaho (AP) — A school board in southwestern Idaho has permanently banned 22 popular books from the district's libraries, including Margaret Atwood's “The Handmaid's Tale” and Khaled Hosseini's “Kite Runner.”
The top 10 audiobooks on Audible.com
May 4, 2022 GMTNonfiction
1. Finding Me by Viola Davis, narrated by the author (HarperAudio)
2. Atomic Habits by James Clear, narrated by the author (Penguin Audio)
Greta Thunberg aims to drive change with ‘The Climate Book’
March 31, 2022 GMTLONDON (AP) — Climate activist Greta Thunberg has compiled a handbook for tackling the world’s interconnected environmental crises, with contributions from leading scientists and writers.
Penguin Random House announced Thursday that “The Climate Book” will be published in Britain in October.
Maine island library wants your banned books
March 19, 2022 GMTMATINICUS ISLAND, Maine (AP) — There’s an “Island of Misfit Toys” in the popular holiday classic. Now there's an island for unwanted and banned books, too.
The tiny library on Matinicus Island 22 miles (35 kilometers) off the Maine coast is on a mission to fill its shelves with books that have fallen out of favor elsewhere.
Zadie Smith to receive PEN America literary service award
March 11, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Author Zadie Smith is this year's winner of the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, an honor previously given to Toni Morrison, Stephen Sondheim and Margaret Atwood among others.
Review: Margaret Atwood’s writings both funny, frightening
February 28, 2022 GMT“Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021,” by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday)
Canadian poet, novelist and literary critic Margaret Atwood's diverse and intense interests in subjects from feminism to climate change are on full display in her latest book, a collection of some 50 shorter pieces of her writing.
‘I’m so lucky’: Elton John receives prestigious UK award
November 10, 2021 GMTLONDON (AP) — Elton John has no doubt been a member of many exclusive clubs over the decades, but probably nothing quite as exclusive as the one he formally joined on Wednesday.
In an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, Prince Charles anointed the musician and charity patron as a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
Birds as revelations: Atwood writes foreword for Gibson book
March 30, 2021 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — When Margaret Atwood would receive invitations over the years to literary events around the world, literature wasn't the only factor shaping her response...
Q&A: Isabel Allende on feminism, TV series, love in pandemic
March 9, 2021 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Isabel Allende is not only the world’s most widely read Spanish-language author but also a self-declared and outspoken feminist...
Isabel Allende on feminism, TV series and love in pandemic
March 9, 2021 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Isabel Allende is not only the world’s most widely read Spanish-language author but also a self-declared and outspoken feminist...
As ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ returns, creator sees no end in sight
February 26, 2021 GMTLOS ANGELES (AP) — As “The Handmaid’s Tale” returns in April for season four, its creator is reluctant to predict when the dystopian drama will be ready for its final act...
Event organizer drops BookExpo, annual publishing convention
December 1, 2020 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — The annual publishing convention and trade show known as BookExpo, a decades-old tradition where guest speakers have ranged from Bill Clinton to Margaret Atwood, may be coming to an end...
Alexie, Pilkey books among most ‘challenged’ of past decade
September 27, 2020 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Toni Morrison is on the list. So are John Green and Harper Lee. And John Steinbeck and Margaret Atwood...
Margaret Atwood honored with Dayton Literary Peace Prize
September 14, 2020 GMTCINCINNATI (AP) — Author Margaret Atwood thinks an American defiant streak is the country's defense against the kind of nightmarish totalitarian future she depicts for the United States in “The Handmaid’s Tale...
Artists, academics defend LGBT rights in Poland
August 18, 2020 GMTWARSAW, Poland (AP) — Dozens of authors, artists and scholars — including writer Margaret Atwood and film directors Pedro Almodóvar and Mike Leigh— have expressed outrage at the hostility being directed toward LGBT people in Poland by the country's president and other politicians...
Writers warn in open letter against threat to free speech
July 8, 2020 GMTLONDON (AP) — Dozens of artists, writers and academics have signed an open letter decrying the weakening of public debate and warning that the free exchange of information and ideas is in jeopardy amid a rise in what they call “illiberalism...
`Handmaid’s Tale,′ Harry Potter on challenged books list
April 20, 2020 GMTNEW YORK (AP) —
Stories with gay and transgender themes, a spoof inspired by the family rabbit of Vice President Mike Pence, and classics by J...
It’s a tie: Atwood and Evaristo share fiction’s Booker Prize
October 14, 2019 GMTLONDON (AP) — Canadian writer Margaret Atwood and British author Bernardine Evaristo split the Booker Prize on Monday, after the judging panel ripped up the rulebook and refused to name one winner for the prestigious fiction trophy...
Sales for ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ sequel top 125,000 copies
September 12, 2019 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Sales for Margaret Atwood's "The Testaments," her highly anticipated sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale," have already topped 100,000 copies...
Margaret Atwood returns us to Gilead in ‘The Testaments’
September 4, 2019 GMTTORONTO (AP) — From a park bench on the Victoria College campus, Margaret Atwood — class of 1961 — can trace her life of the mind...
Atwood, Rushdie novels among fall highlights
August 28, 2019 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — This fall, some of the timeliest and most topical books will be found in the fiction section...
Diana Athill, literary editor and writer, dies at age 101
January 24, 2019 GMTLONDON (AP) — Diana Athill, a writer and editor who honed the work of novelists including John Updike and Margaret Atwood before finding late-life fame as a frank and fearless memoirist, has died, her publisher said Thursday...
Politics shaped the year in books in 2017
December 15, 2017 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — For book readers in 2017, the choice was often between imagining the worst, hoping for the best or escaping entirely...
Dystopian fiction is selling like there’s no tomorrow
March 10, 2017 GMTBOSTON (AP) — Save the light reading for later. In 2017, dystopian fiction is all the rage.
Gloomy classics depicting societies gone terribly wrong have shot to the top of best-seller lists like Amazon's in recent months, including George Orwell's "1984" and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," prompting publishers to ramp up production decades after the books were first released...