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Margaret Atwood Interview

“I believe women are human beings. Pretty radical, that. I don’t believe women are angels, or that every woman is morally superior to every man . . . Women come in as many different varieties as men do, and are as subject to circumstance.” This writes Margaret Atwood in an interview with Elissa Schappell featured in the summer issue of Tin House. This was in response to Shrappell’s question, “Do you consider yourself a feminist writer? Is it possible to be a writer and a feminist, without being a feminist writer?” Atwood says that when using terms such as “Christian writer” or “Communist writer” or “feminist writer,” people often “flounder around” for an answer as to what the terms mean. “So how can you put up your hand for something that is so fuzzy in the minds of those who are asking the question?”

In the interview, Atwood discusses female characters, speculative fiction, political bias, writer’s “moral obligation to society,” and her forthcoming book MaddAdam as the third book in a trilogy.

The Summer Reading issue of Tin House also includes a new story by Stephen King, two new poems by Tom Sleigh, pieces by Katie Arnold-Ratliff, Jennifer Gilmore, and Jodi Angel, and more.

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