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Margaret Eleanor "Peggy" Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a novelist, poet, literary critic and one of the world's best-selling authors. She was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and attended school at Victoria College in Toronto. After living in various places in North America and around the world, she returned to Toronto, which is where she currently lives. She is married to the novelist Graeme Gibson; her daughter, Jess Atwood Gibson (b. 1976) is a graduate student in art history at Yale University.

Her writing often focuses on Feminist issues and concerns, which are often examined in the guise of fiction or science fictionScience fiction generally speaking, is a form of speculative fiction which deals principally with the impact of imagined science and/or technology upon society or individuals. There are, perhaps, exceptions to (or at least, some very unusual examples of). She is also known for her deep interest in Canada and Canadian fiction, a theme that shows up both in the settings and atmosphere of her fiction and in her non-fiction and edited work. She is also a prolific poet, with several chapbookA chapbook is an item of popular literature, as would have formed part of the stock of a chapman i. a pedlar, hawker or other itinerant trader. The term itself was coined by the bibliophiles of the nineteenth century; it can cover different kinds of prints and major collections published.

She is perhaps best known for her tale of an future dystopiaThe term dystopia is often used to describe a fictional society, usually existing in a future time period, in which the condition of life is extremely bad due to deprivation, oppression, or terror. In Post-Modern social criticism the same term is used to in the science fiction novelA novel is a long or extended work of fiction written in prose, usually in the form of a story. It is longer and more complex than a short story or novella (ie. 40,000+ words), and it is not bound by the restrictions of plays and poetry. The word "novel" The Handmaid's TaleCover of The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaid's Tale is a 1985 satire science fiction novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. It describes the horrors of a United States in which a religious movement has gained ultimate power, at a time where pollution has, her Booker PrizeThe Booker Prize for Fiction is awarded each year for the best novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. It was established by the retail wholesaler Booker plc in 1968. To maintain the consistent excellence of the prize, j-winning novel The Blind AssassinThe Blind Assassin is a novel published in 2000 by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood, set in Canada. It is narrated from the present day, referring back to events that happened within a family over a period covering the twentieth century and a little be, as well as many other stories.

In 1973 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted in 1981 to Companion.