Margaret Atwood Receives Raymond Chandler Award 2017 at Noir in Festival

Margaret Atwood was awarded the Raymond Chandler Award 2017 at the Noir in Festival in Como, Italy. The prize, Italy's most prestigious award for crime and noir literature, was presented to the Canadian author known for her dystopian fiction. Atwood's recent prominence surged due to the television adaptation of her novel "The Handmaid's Tale," which she described as a story about human behavior and societal fears. During her acceptance speech, she joked about carrying a bag to the Emmys, sparking the hashtag #portolamiaborda. Atwood also visited Milan, meeting students at IULM University and readers at Fondazione Feltrinelli before the ceremony. She reflected on her work, stating she is not a crime writer in the strict sense but explores human behavior, including crime. Atwood emphasized the importance of not telling artists what to do, linking it to totalitarian regimes. Her novel "The Handmaid's Tale" critiques patriarchal society, while "Seme di strega" reinterprets Shakespeare's "The Tempest." She finds inspiration in the forests of Quebec and focuses on themes of environmental preservation, anti-totalitarianism, and gender equality.