Margaret Atwood on her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, politics of fear and the climate crisis

Margaret Atwood is one of the world's most distinguished authors, most famous for her 1985 classic The Handmaid's Tale. The dystopian novel, where women's reproductive rights are entirely stripped from them, recently inspired an Emmy-award winning TV adaptation. The much-anticipated sequel The Testaments is now out and she talks to Krishnan about its release, why fear still drives people and why we need to plant trillions more trees.
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[@thelaurels13]

What a refreshing change to watch an interviewer actually letting the interviewee answer questions without interrupting. I love this lady’s mind!

[@sometimessmiley9840]

Atwood is incredibly inspiring.

[@jakespur6094]

I love Ms Atwood. I remember her support of the lgbt community in Toronto when she came to speak at the protests and the 519 church street community centre in Toronto after the bath raids. What a historian. She is a national treasure. Donald Trump take note. These are what the “best words” sound like

[@lcz4033]

Great, great woman. So brilliant and human!

[@blissiimo2064]

What an utterly brilliant and insightful person. What a mind. Of all the people you would like to travel with - share a dinner or a long walks and chat - this lady is the top of my list.

[@TH-tl6sy]

I remember meeting Ms Atwood in the early 90s and was struck by what a charming, intelligent, approachable, down to earth and unpretentious person she was. Though it was a book signing she took time to have a brief conversation with everyone in line. Perhaps because it was a small neighborhood shop and the line was not that large but it only served to make me not just a fan of the author but a fan of the person.

[@marykerrigan6462]

Approach with serious skepticism. But taking this as truth: must have been an honour

[@gamegnome]

I love her understanding of the dark parts of human nature

[@gb4375]

“Canadians don’t do proud....they do least embarrassed by...” oh how I love this woman’s mind.

[@Botwinka13]

One of the most brilliant minds of our time.

[@jackarnold2209]

She has bright green nails!! God I love her

[@annas.5894]

‘So-called religious people.” Exactly.

[@lemsip207]

She saw the writing on the wall in the early 80s.

[@marykerrigan6462]

What true intelligence. One of the greatest minds of the 20th - 21st century

[@jylyhughes5085]

The Testaments is a magnificent sequel ....

[@RussianLanguagePodcast]

My favorite author.

[@charlesbotzman5767]

What an amazingly intelligent person. And witty too! “Hunter/gatherer systems offer more freedom...Is the culprit wheat...possibly?” We have so so much to learn from her!

[@Den1tao]

"Canadians don't do proud". We have the USA for that. We are loathe to bend the knee to anyone but we are polite about it.

[@omneyaibrahim358]

I didn't read the story 👌 but I saw the three seasons 🤣 and read the consequences of living all what happened and (is happening in our life ) your ✋ maid's is part of my story for the last twenty years . Yes, our life routine is within, the serial adaptation , the surprise that Muslim brotherhood implement all what happened in the book on our lives and melitary authorities next to them , have accilerate this kind of events

[@advocacynaccountablity]

What a remarkable human.

[@ryanscarola]

She is such a cool lady!

[@gailalbers1430]

Atwood is still extremely relevant( besides being a wonderful human being) She is a great synthesizer snd presents it in a digestible and enjoyable form . Trump is doing us a service in shining a light and ( by his stupidity and arrogance) making visible how the powerstructure is working in the US and how much racism is still there. Also -many people are inspired to get involved, to vote to change the world locally .

[@danielpack7675]

Arguably, the culprit is livestock. Herding societies were more patriarchal than grain-growing cultures.

[@annas.5894]

I love her. I love her work. But what about the laws in Canada that oppressed the Indigenous people- and that clearly aren’t entirely gone. Canada has a history that should also bring some shame. And she’s aware of that.

[@IxumtheNaughty]

I just love this orator, just as good as GRRM

[@solangeboudreau6467]

I could listen to her talk all day!! Is it just me or does the dude interviewing Atwood sound just like Carl Benjamin aka Sargon. I didn't let it ruin it for me.

[@amandawright5003]

Brilliant lady x

[@miguelpazos2334]

I appreciate her ginger language but we are way advanced toward world totalitarianism. Read Chomsky.

[@dawnl6745]

I love her pin

[@canadianpsychologist]

Margaret Atwood is a far superior writer to Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News, who was incapable of paraphrasing her interviewee’s questions accurately on Jan 16, 2018. Shame on Cathy Newman. Sending negative vibes and strong criticisms to Cathy Newman.

[@frank-to7lu]

Use a word with Margaret Atwood, one needs be precise.

[@not2tees]

The Testaments is better than The Handmaid's Tale! A terrific read.

[@canadianpsychologist]

Shame on Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News for the way she interviewed on Jan 16, 2018.

[@charissseburchett8353]

She had it right about cashless society and turning us off.......it's happening now

[@ianleslie6971]

The feminists love Margaret's book of speculative fiction. The Handmaids Tale . But her follow up Trilogy of speculative fiction The MaddAddam Trilogy humanists love but the feminist are quiet as door mice. And that is increasingly being shown as coming true 👍

[@michaelmorrison8714]

I think she didn't want to list places most like handmaid's tale because she would be called islamophobic

[@andrewmartin6445]

She lacks the moral courage to be honest about which religion really does threaten a dystopian theocracy, despite the obvious evidence of repressive Islamic regimes.

[@MightySheep]

god complex

[@johnnyguitar5222]

Her net worth is 250 million dollars we better listen to her she wrote some books in her seaside castle.

[@findliza]

Johnny Guitar yep she made 250 mil off of writing books. Pretty astounding. What do you do?

[@johnnyguitar5222]

@@findliza i drive a bus. And dont preach the common people.

[@kellyprice1024]

She does not applaud the Family.

[@twilightsparkx4283]

15:30 I'm 21 3/4

[@jbagger331]

Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia...

[@jbagger331]

@karen kelly Most of which share certain beliefs involving an illiterate nomad on mushrooms in a cave.

[@TheAyeAye1]

And yet she doesn't give a single damn about actually oppressed women in Islamic regimes. She use to when she first wrote it, but that's not acceptable now.

[@wonderwoman5528]

Maybe she doesn’t want to give permission to hate filled people to take the law into their own hands

[@liorasitelman1856]

In the USA, since Trump has been elected, what rights have women lost? Working? Having their own bank account? Access to birth control? The right to vote? The right to have a driver's license? The right to pursue an education? Please do tell me. What rights have been lost?

[@nashy21green]

NOBODY wants to go back to 1885

[@lemsip207]

They want to go back to 1955. The 1950s was a rewinding of the clock to before the 1920s and 1930s.

[@joeolney2356]

I'm glad Margaret mentioned 1984 and Brave New World because they definitely echo in The Handmaid's Tale(as a Influence). As the West is Brave New World . North Korea and Soviet-Russia is 1984. And China is Both.

[@chrissnyder8108]

If one of the voices in the Testaments (handmaid sequel) is a second generation female resident of Gilead, we do know that she can only verbally tell her tale (and only to sympathetic listeners), for she would not be able to write her own story, having been raised illiterate. That is a profound condition of powerlessness.

[@bambit08]

When I read The Handmaid's Tale in the mid 1980s it had a profound affect on me. Any woman living today ... please read it (and the sequel). What she wrote 35 years ago is happening right now (2019) and we are sleep walking into the horror.

[@jbagger331]

It's happening in the Middle East, but you don't care about brown people.

[@bambit08]

@@jbagger331 Not sure how 'you' know what anyone cares about.....strange comment and so judgemental.

[@jbagger331]

@@bambit08 People who are fans of feminist literature should be careful of being judgemental.

[@bambit08]

@@jbagger331 I feel you are missing love in your life .... not being judgemental .... just sending you love.

[@jbagger331]

@@bambit08 And you are missing a dose of anger and hate, you can't know love and kindness if you don't know the opposite.

[@user-xn2hf9re8r]

'is the culprit wheat?' - such wit and insight - love this woman's plain speaking.

[@bealtainecottage]

Margaret is a most amazing and intelligent writer and so clued into the way the patriarchal world works!

[@RaxLakhani]

My wife and I were fortunate enough to see the live interview with Margaret Atwood last night which was streamed to cinema audiences around the world. Samira did an amazing job as host and we were delighted by the guest readings from Anne Dowd, Sally Hawkins and Liky James. The Testaments and The Handmaid's Tale should be on every school's reading lists as they are incredibly important pieces of literature, political storytelling and social commentary that are very relevant to contemporary audiences. I was struck by how historically learned Atwood is and that she is equally in touch with the emerging tech, cultural and political issues that younger people are facing. Moreover, we need more young men to be exposed to Margaret's body of writing, so that they grow up not dismissing the themes in The Handmaid's Tale as "feminism" and instead treat these issues with the moral universal urgency that they are.

[@jylyhughes5085]

I utterly agree!

[@UrsCurt12]

How did I miss that?

[@shelleyconnolly5065]

Rax Lakhani I’ve only just been awakened to this wonderful ladies writing ... I’m addicted to rhis story and the life’s of the people she writes about ...your words have echoed in my mind that this should be taught in schools ( I said those exact words to my partner just last night) to young women and men

[@CorneliaAmiri]

Great interview. Always great to listen to Margret Atwood talk about her books. I just started The Testaments. I love it so far. I read The Handmaid's Tale and I love the series on Hulu.

[@hunternorth8817]

She's sharp as a tack. I hope that I am as coherent, happy, and wise at that age.

[@jabbermocky4520]

A few months ago, when Trump was ranting at one of those nazi rallies, he mentioned that "women's unemployment" was the lowest in history under his regime. He invented a new, lower level category for women who must work to live ( 99% of American women must work to live ) alongside "Latino unemployment and Black unemployment". Formerly, all people who work were counted as workers and government data was compiled on that basis. No more. It may sound like a small thing, using that term "women's unemployment", but it reveals the bigger picture. Female lives have a very low value in today's America. Trump just makes them even cheaper and more disposable. Atwood knows these things. So do I.

[@71suns]

When you see it you can't UNSEE IT.

[@Silly.Old.Sisyphus]

good to see there are still people like her around

[@btakane7169]

She gives us awareness!

[@maggieadams8600]

I'd vote for her!

[@fungo44]

God bless Margaret Atwood.

[@omneyaibrahim358]

As we who lived and still living our own Egyptian adaptation , we the victims are still living this , the question how to write our vergin of the story , overwhelming; my two young men , don't believe that I lived this and still driven to this

[@MsDamosmum]

So so so with her on a trillion more trees - let every house be a tree house please 😊

[@siyeon170]

She's such a sweet, amazing woman. Both the book series and the TV Show deserve so much more attention.

[@IbrahimMuhammad_114]

Post wall af

[@larrytruelove7112]

Such convoluted thinking.

[@beccahollingsworth259]

You are totally explaining my life my God anyway I could have a conversation with you I'm working on a book I sure would love some information. My civil and human rights are so far from fucked it ain't even funny.

[@twilightsparkx4283]

10:33 because there are many types of a people's we already know what we want just ask what the beef is and focus on food drug/meds or whatever home or getting to school because I don't know about anyone here cuz I'm with team human right now and forever OK ... We need to see each other and remember the love feeling can be for anyone of .. "Ahh just what do you need? " because there is more of everything right in front of you let's get down too :) the number one on the list.. Everyone got some food!!?

[@sicilianotoronto]

Canada’s political parties are the same in number pretty much as Britain’s, I didn’t understand what she was saying there. I liked this interview though! Great series, I need to read the book too.

[@canadianpsychologist]

The interviewer of Atwood here did a far better job than Cathy Newman, who failed to listen and paraphrase interviewee statements accurately on Jan 16, 2018 and still hasn’t taken any responsibility for what she did. What a terrible indication of the times we live in. I will not hesitate to involve the journalism police if necessary. Shame on Cathy Newman for what she did on Jan 16, 2018.

[@deepark8870]

I fell asleep three times during this podcast. I’ll try it again tonight. Thanks Edward.

[@canadianpsychologist]

I condemn Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News for the way she mishandled the interview on Jan 16, 2018

[@marykerrigan6462]

What happened??

[@Greenpoloboy3]

No idea who she is. Without looking, she is a actor in a comedy series i bet

[@vilstef6988]

She's the author of the book The Handmaid's Tale. Books are still a thing you know. Unless you are just poorly attempting snark you show no self-awareness, and also no ability to use Google.

[@RaxLakhani]

@greenpoloboy3 Genuinely interested in why you would leave a comment without knowing who she is. Shows that you've not watched the video, read the synopsis directly under it or indeed interested in the content. I do hope you do take the time to watch the interview. Better still, I hope you then go on to read some of Atwood's work. It really is interesting stuff.

[@Greenpoloboy3]

@@vilstef6988 Your name is like Gina Miller. Plus yes I do own books but when this was uploaded I didn't know her but wanted to comment something so I did. I'm learning though thanks to your comments I've been reading

[@Greenpoloboy3]

@@RaxLakhani I didn't watch it, your right. I would of found out otherwise. I was genuinely interested too in if others knew who she was. Obviously some would. I do like to read, but this I don;t think would not really interest me - but i might look up some of her writings. I like commenting, which is why I wanted to say something when the video was uploaded.

[@bbdd2145]

@@Greenpoloboy3 Perhaps you should read. It will teach you how to spell You're

[@sweetmusic3821]

11:57 "Is the culprit wheat? Possibly. " Profound!