NPR's Book of the Day

Episode: Margaret Atwood on what finally made her agree to write a memoir

Date: November 17, 2025
Host: Sacha Pfeiffer
Guest: Margaret Atwood

Episode Overview

This episode features legendary author Margaret Atwood discussing her newly released memoir, Book of Lives. Atwood and NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer engage in a candid conversation covering the motivations behind finally writing a memoir, the unique challenges and freedoms of recollecting one's life, her Canadian identity, the evolution of Canadian literary culture, the chilling prescience of her dystopian fiction, the lasting effects of childhood cruelty, and the importance of personal relationships and “story borrowing” in her work.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Memoir vs. Autobiography (02:26–03:12)

• Atwood's Initial Reluctance: Atwood admits she was initially uninterested in writing a memoir, saying she first thought, “Who wants to read about someone sitting at a desk messing up blank sheets of paper?” (02:26–02:35).
• What Changed Her Mind:

  “They wore me down. I thought about the difference between a memoir and a biography and an autobiography. And a memoir is what you remember. So what you remember usually is stupid things you did, near death events, catastrophes, and surprising highlights and jokes. So that appealed to me. Not just I wrote a book.” (02:39–03:12)

Mining the Past: Emotional & Ethical Complexities (03:12–04:13)

• Researching Her Own Life: Atwood describes the process of writing as unearthing relics from unpublished writings, triggering “strange dreams” and “conversing with the dead.” (03:12–03:31)
• Family as Sensitivity Readers:

  “My sister and my daughter acted as sensitivity readers and said, you can't say that.” (03:31–03:41)

• On Speaking Candidly After Loss:

  “As Robertson Davies said… once people have died, you can say things that you might not say when they were still alive for fear of hurting their feelings or for fear of libel suits.” (03:44–04:13)

Canadian Identity and Literary Infrastructure (04:13–07:36)

• Different Viewpoint:

  “Well, I think these days it gives you a different view of the United States... Canada has been the place you escaped to. And things went pear shaped south of the border.” (04:26–04:55)

• Lack of Early Support for Writers:

  “We were told two things at that time. Number one, there isn't a Canadian identity. And number two, your book is too Canadian. Try putting those two things together. They don't fit.” (05:39–06:28)

• DIY Publishing: Atwood discusses publishing poetry on a mimeograph or hand-setting type, highlighting the lack of infrastructure pre-1970. (06:28–07:06)
• Cultural Shift and Atwood’s Role: She reflects on the transformation in the 1960s:

  “A lot of things changed in the 60s… young writers stayed in the country rather than going to the United States or England... They created little publishing companies.” (07:11–07:36)

Literary Career and Sociopolitical Relevance (07:49–09:43)

• Dystopian Fiction Becoming Reality:

  “When you write a book like the Handmaid’s Tale in 1985, what you’re hoping as a citizen is that it will become obsolete... but then things turned around and went in the other direction. So it’s been quite frightening to watch those kinds of changes.” (08:09–08:54)

• Historical Perspective: Atwood sees cyclical dangers:

  “People of my age and older… have died out, and younger people don’t remember what totalitarianisms were really like… when you do remember… you’re quite appalled by what’s going on in Ukraine … and by the polarization in American society...” (08:54–09:43) “I didn’t put anything into the Handmaid’s Tale that has not happened sometime, somewhere before.” (09:40–09:43)

Political Cycles and Democracy (09:43–11:08)

• On Extremes and the Loss of Democracy:

  “When the pendulum swings and it reaches an extreme on either side, you’re going to get a totalitarianism, no matter what it starts out calling itself... The hallmark [of American democracy] was peaceful transfer of power... when you see that starting to be shut down and going away, rule of law goes out the window...” (09:51–11:08) “…you’re not going to get a fair trial and you’re probably gonna get a bullet in the back of the neck.” (11:06–11:08)

Childhood Cruelties and Resilience (11:08–13:02)

• Revisiting Cat’s Eye themes: Atwood’s depiction of girlhood cruelty is based on her own experiences.

  “Are little girls, sugar and spice and everything nice?” (11:16–11:20)
  “No.” (11:22–11:23)
  “They’re Byzantine. So it’s psychological torture rather than slugging it out.” (11:27–11:34)

• Lasting Impact:

  “You did not get support from... the teacher, the other parent, any of those kinds of things. You were just on your own and you had to deal with it yourself... I think that’s pretty strengthening. But I got lots of mail about that book... some people did not deal with it. It just ruined them.” (12:06–13:02)

Personal Reflection and The 'Inner Advice Columnist' (13:02–13:51)

• On Writing About Personal Issues: Atwood employs a second-person approach ("inner advice columnist") for especially personal moments:

  “I think it can sound sort of moany and whiny if you do it in the first person, don’t you?... We all have those two people, the moany, whiny one and the other one that says pull up your socks.” (13:30–13:39, 13:51)

Partnership and Collaboration (14:03–14:42)

• On Graham Gibson:

  “Very, very meaningful. I don’t rank meaningful relationships, but let’s just say that there’s a lot of things that we did that I would never have done on my own, including all of the organizational work that we did... We organized the writers union... kicked off PEN Canada... and did a lot of bird conservation work.” (14:03–14:42)

Story Borrowing and Creative Credit (14:42–15:26)

• Thanking ‘Story Donors’: Atwood acknowledges borrowing and transforming friends’ stories:

  “My favorite was my friend Bev, who had this horrible aunt ... I said to Bev, could I use your aunt in one of my novels? And she said, go ahead. She might as well be useful for something.” (15:01–15:26)

Notable Quotes

• “A memoir is what you remember. So what you remember usually is stupid things you did, near death events, catastrophes, and surprising highlights and jokes. So that appealed to me.” — Margaret Atwood (02:39–03:12)
• “When you write a book like the Handmaid’s Tale… what you’re hoping as a citizen is that it will become obsolete.” — Margaret Atwood (08:09–08:24)
• “When the pendulum swings and it reaches an extreme on either side, you’re going to get a totalitarianism, no matter what it starts out calling itself.” — Margaret Atwood (09:51–10:05)
• “They’re Byzantine. So it’s psychological torture rather than slugging it out.” — Margaret Atwood, on girls’ bullying (11:27–11:34)
• “We all have those two people, the moany, whiny one and the other one that says pull up your socks.” — Margaret Atwood (13:39–13:51)
• “She might as well be useful for something.” — Atwood quoting her friend Bev (15:25–15:26)

Timeline of Key Segments

• 02:26 — Starting the memoir: initial reluctance and unique appeal
• 03:12 — Revisiting the past: dealing with sensitive material, dreamlike reflection
• 04:13 — Canadian origins: impact on worldview and literature
• 05:39 — 1960s literary culture: absence of industry, poetry as an outlet
• 07:11 — Building Canadian literary infrastructure
• 08:09 — Dystopian warnings: Handmaid's Tale then and now
• 09:43 — Political cycles: history repeating, threats to democracy
• 11:08 — Childhood cruelty and Cat’s Eye: personal roots and reader reactions
• 13:02 — The ‘inner advice columnist’ and personal disclosure
• 14:03 — Partnership and literary activism with Graham Gibson
• 15:01 — Borrowing stories, gratitude, and candor

Memorable Moments

• Atwood’s pithy distinction between memoir and autobiography sets the tone for a book focused on the “texture” of remembered life.
• Reflections on the bleakness and resilience of Canadian literary culture, and her hands-on involvement in reshaping it.
• The candid admission that dystopian fiction ideally becomes obsolete—but hasn't—and her concern for repeating historical cycles.
• Understated humor in Atwood’s description of bullying: “They’re Byzantine. So it’s psychological torture…” (11:27)
• Deep emotional resonance when discussing her partner Graham Gibson and their joint contributions, both literary and environmental.
• Lighthearted acknowledgment of appropriating friends’ stories for fiction—“She might as well be useful for something.” (15:25)

Summary

Margaret Atwood’s Book of Lives is as much about the act of remembering and the nature of narrative as it is about revealing personal milestones. In this episode, she shares how life's mundane, catastrophic, and humorous events shaped her story, the profound impact of her Canadian heritage, the collaborative building of literary culture, and her prescient warnings on society’s drift—revelations delivered with Atwood’s trademark wit and gravitas. The conversation provides an intimate companion to her memoir, blending insight, historical perspective, and moments of levity in equal measure.