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Margaret Atwood
Novelist, poet and critic · Canada[1]
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian novelist, poet and critic whose best-known work is the 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale. She has won the Booker Prize twice, and her memoir Book of Lives was published on 4 November 2025.
- Born
- November 18, 1939
Life phases1
One octagon for each phase of the life of Margaret Atwood. Each of the eight axes is scored 0 to 5 against a written rubric from documented evidence, with its source; an axis without evidence is a gap, not a zero. There is no total and no ideal shape: it is a profile, not a ranking. Appearance and personality are not axes, because they cannot be scored from evidence.
No total and no ideal shape: a longer spoke means more of that axis, so a long Misconduct spoke is more documented misconduct.
Scores, rubric and sources
- 01Education4 of 5
- High confidenceMA, Radcliffe, 1962; no doctorate completed.[1]Highest attainment by then: 1 secondary school, 2 some college, 3 bachelor's degree, 4 master's or professional degree, 5 doctorate.
- 02WealthNo evidence
- Net worth or income against the national thresholds of the time: 1 below the median household, 3 top 5%, 5 top 0.1%.
- 03Position3 of 5
- Low confidencePresident of PEN Canada (mid-1980s; exact years not given), founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada; national-level literary institutions rather than a top role of a major institution.[1]Scope of the role held: 1 entry level, 3 senior manager or legislator, 5 head of state or government, or the top role of a major institution.
- 04Public standingNo evidence
- Public approval or favourability where it was measured: 1 under 20%, 3 35 to 50%, 5 over 65%.
- 05HealthNo evidence
- Documented health where an examination or disclosure exists: 5 no documented concern, 1 a serious documented condition.
- 06MisconductNo evidence
- The documented legal and ethics record within the phase, as in the misconduct meter: 0 none documented, 1 only matters resolved in their favour, 2 an open matter, 3 one finding, 4 two or three, 5 four or more. More is more documented misconduct.
- 07Social goodNo evidence
- Assessed effects of what they did in the phase on health, safety, education, rights and the environment, from official statistics or peer-reviewed evidence: 0 clearly harmful, 2.5 mixed, 5 clearly beneficial.
- 08Economic goodNo evidence
- Assessed effects of what they did in the phase on efficiency, growth and fiscal sustainability, from CBO and peer-reviewed evidence, as in the good-for-society reading: 0 clearly harmful, 2.5 mixed, 5 clearly beneficial.
Work and contributions6
Awards2
- Booker Prize 2019 (joint winner)[2]AuthorOctober 14, 2019The Testaments shared the 2019 Booker Prize with Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other.
Health, weight and religion appear only where the person, their physician or a reputable outlet has published them; each links to its source.