Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts
memoir · First published 2025
Author guide
Margaret Atwood Books in Order
Margaret Atwood (born 1939) is a Canadian writer whose work spans novels, speculative and literary fiction, short fiction, poetry, literary criticism, essays, memoir, drama, children's literature, and graphic narratives. She is best known for The Handmaid's Tale, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the MaddAddam trilogy.
Literary fictionSpeculative fictionShort fictionPoetryEssaysMemoirDramaGraphic novelsChildren's literature
Catalog record updated .
Margaret Atwood's Newest Book
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
The Handmaid's Tale
The best-known entry point into Atwood's speculative fiction and the first Gilead novel.
The Edible Woman
A concise early novel that introduces Atwood's characteristic social satire and feminist concerns.
Oryx and Crake
The opening volume of the MaddAddam trilogy and a strong entry point for readers interested in ecological and speculative fiction.
Read in order
Books by series
novel series · complete
The MaddAddam Trilogy
A connected speculative-fiction trilogy depicting humanity and its successors after a global biotechnological catastrophe.
- 1 Oryx and Crake
Book 1 · novel · 2003
Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and…
- 2 The Year of the Flood
Book 2 · novel · 2009
The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners-a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion,…
- 3 MaddAddam
Book 3 · novel · 2013
"Bringing together characters from Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, this thrilling conclusion to Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction trilogy confirms the ultimate endurance of humanity, community, and love. Months after the…
novel series · complete
The Gilead Novels
Two novels set in and around the theocratic state of Gilead, with The Testaments serving as a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale.
- 1 The Handmaid's Tale
Book 1 · novel · 1985
- 2 The Testaments
Book 2 · novel · 2019
More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of…
novella series · complete
Positron
A four-part digital fiction series later reworked into Atwood's novel The Heart Goes Last.
- 1 I'm Starved For You: Positron 1
Book 1 · novella · 2012
- 2 Choke Collar: Positron 2
Book 2 · novella · 2012
- 3 Erase Me: Positron 3
Book 3 · novella · 2013
- 4 The Heart Goes Last: Positron 4
Book 4 · novella · 2013
graphic novel series · complete
Angel Catbird
A superhero graphic-novel trilogy written by Atwood and illustrated by Johnnie Christmas.
- 1 Angel Catbird Volume 1
Book 1 · graphic_novel · 2016
- 2 Angel Catbird Volume 2: To Castle Catula
Book 2 · graphic_novel · 2017
Genetic engineer Strig Feleedus, also known as Angel Catbird, and his band of half-cats head to Castle Catula to seek allies as the war between cats and rats escalates.
- 3 Angel Catbird Volume 3: The Catbird Roars
Book 3 · graphic_novel · 2017
graphic novel series · complete
War Bears
A historical graphic-comics serial co-written by Atwood and Ken Steacy about the Golden Age of comic books during the Second World War.
- 1 War Bears #1
Book 1 · graphic_comic · 2018
- 2 War Bears #2
Book 2 · graphic_comic · 2018
- 3 War Bears #3
Book 3 · graphic_comic · 2018
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (22)
- The Edible Woman
novel · 1969
Marian is determined to be ordinary. She lays her head gently on the shoulder of her serious fiancée and quietly awaits marriage. But she didn't count on an inner rebellion that would rock her stable routine, and her digestion. Marriage a…
- Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature
nonfiction · 1972
- Lady Oracle
novel · 1976
Joan Foster is the bored wife of a myopic ban-the-bomber. She takes off overnight as Canada's new superpoet, pens lurid gothics on the sly, attracts a blackmailing reporter, skids cheerfully in and out of menacing plots, hair-raising…
- Days of the Rebels 1815–1840
nonfiction · 1977
- Life Before Man
novel · 1979
Imprisoned by walls of their own construction, here are three people, each in midlife, in midcrisis, forced to make choices--after the rules have changed. Elizabeth, with her controlled sensuality, her suppressed rage, is married to the…
- Bodily Harm
novel · 1981
A powerfully and brilliantly crafted novel, Bodily Harm is the story of Rennie Wilford, a young journalist whose life has begun to shatter around the edges. Rennie flies to the Caribbean to recuperate, and on the tiny island of St.…
- Encounters with the Element Man
fiction_chapbook · 1982
- Cat's Eye
novel · 1988
**Cat's Eye** is the story of Elaine Risley, a controversial painter who returns to Toronto, the city of her youth, for a retrospective of her art. Engulfed by vivid images of the past, she reminisces about a trio of girls who initiated…
- The Robber Bride
novel · 1993
Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride is inspired by "The Robber Bridegroom," a wonderfully grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them, one by one. But in her version, Atwood…
- Alias Grace
novel · 1996
It's 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace…
- The Labrador Fiasco: A Bloomsbury Quid
novella · 1996
- In Search of Alias Grace: On Writing Canadian Historical Fiction
nonfiction · 1997
"Margaret Atwood's novel Alias Grace is based on the murder of Thomas Kinnear and his mistress Nancy Montgomery in 1843. Kinnear's manservant was hung for the crime, but the execution of his supposed accomplice Grace Marks, owing to her…
- The Blind Assassin
novel · 2000
The bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments weaves together strands of gothic suspense, romance, and science fiction into one utterly spellbinding narrative, beginning with the mysterious death of a young woman named…
- Bottle
fiction_chapbook · 2004
- The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus
novella · 2005
- Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth
nonfiction · 2008
"Payback" is an intelligent, wide-ranging book that examines the metaphor of debt and the role it takes in our lives. 'Debt' is like air - something we take for granted and never think about until things go wrong. This is not a book about…
- I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth
fiction_chapbook · 2012
Long ago, when they were all a lot younger, Zenia stole a man from each of them. Then she died. Now she's come back. Or has she? There's a lot more than one kind of ghost. Margaret Atwood revisits her classic characters from The Robber…
- The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home
novella · 2012
- Scribbler Moon
novel · 2014
This book is part of an art initiative conceived by Scottish artist Katie Paterson, who, along with top publishers and editors, will choose one renowned writer to contribute a new story each year to the Future Library. The art initiative…
- The Heart Goes Last
novel · 2015
"Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They desperately need to turn their…
- Hag-Seed
novel · 2016
Our greatest literary innovator and beloved novelist has reimagined Shakespeare's final, great play of magic and illusion. Entertaining, gripping, emotionally rich and wise, Hag-Seed is an homage to a master, positioned for the fall…
- The Handmaid's Tale
graphic_novel · 2019
Nonfiction (1)
- Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts
memoir · 2025
Short fiction (11)
- Dancing Girls and Other Stories
short_story_collection · 1977
Dancing Girls is Margaret Atwood’s highly praised first collection of short fiction. In it she explores the dark intricacies of the mind, the complexities of human relationships, and the clashes between cultures. In the stories, the…
- Murder in the Dark: Short Fictions and Prose Poems
short_story_collection · 1983
These short fictions and prose poems are beautifully bizarre: bread can no longer be thought of as wholesome comforting loaves; the pretensions of the male chef are subjected to a loght roasting; a poisonous brew is concocted by cynical…
- Bluebeard's Egg and Other Stories
short_story_collection · 1983
- Good Bones
short_story_collection · 1992
In Good Bones, first published in 1992, Margaret Atwood has fashioned an enthralling collection of parable, monologue, mini-romance and minibiography, speculative fiction, prose lyric, outrageous recipe and reconfigured fairy tale,…
- Wilderness Tips and Other Stories
short_story_collection · 1991
- The Tent
short_story_collection · 2006
One of the world's most celebrated authors, Margaret Atwood has penned a collection of smart and entertaining fictional essays, in the genre of her popular books Good Bones and Murder in the Dark, punctuated with wonderful illustrations…
- Moral Disorder and Other Stories
short_story_collection · 2006
"Margaret Atwood has frequently been cited as one of the foremost writers of our time. Moral Disorder, her new work of fiction, could be seen as a collection of eleven stories that is almost a novel ... or a novel broken up into eleven…
- Stone Mattress: Nine Tales
short_story_collection · 2014
- My Evil Mother
short_story · 2022
Life is hard enough for a teenage girl in 1950s suburbia without having a mother who may—or may not—be a witch. A single mother at that. Sure, she fits in with her starched dresses, string of pearls, and floral aprons. Then there are the…
- Old Babes in the Wood
short_story_collection · 2023
“If you consider yourself an Atwood fan and have only read her novels: Get your act together. You’ve been missing out.” —The New York Times Book Review, Rebecca Makkai, best-selling author of The Great Believers Margaret Atwood has…
- Cut & Thirst
short_story · 2024
Three women scheme to avenge an old friend in a darkly witty short story about loyalty, ambition, and delicious retribution by Margaret Atwood, the #1 bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale. Myrna, Leonie, and Chrissy meet every…
Essays and speeches (7)
- Second Words: Selected Critical Prose
essay_collection · 1982
- Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing
essay_collection · 2002
- Moving Targets: Writing with Intent 1982–2004
essay_collection · 2004
- Curious Pursuits: Occasional Writing
essay_collection · 2005
- Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose 1983–2005
essay_collection · 2005
- In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
essay_collection · 2011
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale At a time when speculative fiction seems less and less far-fetched, Margaret Atwood lends her distinctive voice and singular point of view to the genre in a series of…
- Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces 2004–2021
essay_collection · 2022
In this brilliant selection of essays, the award-winning, best-selling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments offers her funny, erudite, endlessly curious, and uncannily prescient take on everything from whether or not The…
Children's books (8)
- Up in the Tree
childrens_book · 1978
- Anna's Pet
childrens_book · 1980
- For the Birds
childrens_book · 1990
- Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut
childrens_book · 1995
Prunella, a proud, prissy, princess, plans to marry a pinheaded prince who will pamper her--until a wise old woman's spell puts a purple peanut on the princess's pretty nose.
- Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes
childrens_book · 2003
In this story told mainly with words that begin with the letter "r," Rude Ramsay goes on an adventure with his friend Ralph the red-nosed rat.
- Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda
childrens_book · 2004
In this story told mainly with words that begin with the letters "b" and "d," Bashful Bob, abandoned and raised by dogs, meets Doleful Dorinda, who deals with dirty dishes, and the two become fast friends and eventually heroes.
- Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop's Wunderground Washery
childrens_book · 2011
- A Trio of Tolerable Tales
childrens_book · 2017
Poetry (27)
- Double Persephone
poetry_chapbook · 1961
- The Circle Game
poetry_collection · 1964
- Kaleidoscopes Baroque: A Poem
poetry_chapbook · 1965
- Talismans for Children
poetry_chapbook · 1965
- Expeditions
poetry_collection · 1965
- Speeches for Doctor Frankenstein
poetry_chapbook · 1966
- The Animals in That Country
poetry_collection · 1968
- Who Was in the Garden
poetry_chapbook · 1969
- The Journals of Susanna Moodie
poetry_collection · 1970
- Power Politics
poetry_collection · 1971
- You Are Happy
poetry_collection · 1974
- Selected Poems: 1965–1975
poetry_collection · 1976
Poems deal with death, self-image, disasters, politics, children, evolution, history, the news, language, dreams, animals, and love.
- Marsh, Hawk
poetry_chapbook · 1977
- Two-Headed Poems
poetry_collection · 1978
- True Stories
poetry_collection · 1981
- Notes Towards a Poem That Can Never Be Written
poetry_chapbook · 1981
- Unearthing Suite
prose_poem_collection · 1983
- Snake Poems
poetry_chapbook · 1983
- Interlunar
poetry_collection · 1984
- Selected Poems II: Poems Selected and New 1976–1986
poetry_collection · 1986
- Selected Poems: 1966–1984
poetry_collection · 1990
- Morning in the Burned House
poetry_collection · 1995
A collection of intimate reflections on such diverse subjects as classical history, popular mythology, love, and the fragility of nature.
- Eating Fire: Selected Poetry 1965–1995
poetry_collection · 1998
- The Door
poetry_collection · 2007
*The Door*, Margaret Atwood's first book of poetry since *Morning in the Burned House*, is a magnificent achievement. Here in paperback for the first time, these fifty lucid, urgent poems range in tone from lyric to ironic to mediative to…
- Dearly
poetry_collection · 2020
- Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems 1961–2023
poetry_collection · 2024
An extraordinary career-spanning collection from one of the most revered poets and storytellers of our age Tracing the legacy of Margaret Atwood—a writer who has fundamentally shaped the contemporary literary landscapes—Paper Boat: New…
Plays (6)
- The Trumpets of Summer
radio_play · 1964
- Oratorio for Sasquatch, Man and Two Androids: Poems for Voices
libretto · 1970
- The Servant Girl
teleplay · 1974
- Snowbird
teleplay · 1981
- Heaven on Earth
teleplay · 1986
- The Penelopiad: The Play
play · 2007
Other (3)
- A Quiet Game and Other Early Works
juvenilia_collection · 1997
- Frankenstein Monster Song
song · 2004
- Early Writings
juvenilia_collection · 2020
Frequently asked questions about Margaret Atwood
Where was Margaret Atwood born, and where did she grow up?
Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1939. She grew up partly in northern Ontario and Quebec, as well as in Toronto.
What kind of writer is Margaret Atwood?
She is a Canadian writer whose career spans novels, poetry, short fiction, essays, literary criticism, memoir, drama, children's literature, and graphic literature.
Sources: margaretatwood.ca (opens in a new tab)canada.ca (opens in a new tab)
What influenced Margaret Atwood's writing?
Her formative experiences included a childhood divided between Toronto and the northern Canadian wilderness, which helped shape her engagement with Canadian identity, nature, and survival. Myths, fairy tales, history, and popular literature are also recurring sources in her work.
Sources: cambridge.org (opens in a new tab)english.wisc.edu (opens in a new tab)
What major awards has Margaret Atwood won?
Atwood has won the Booker Prize twice: in 2000 for The Blind Assassin and in 2019 for The Testaments, which she shared with Bernardine Evaristo.
Sources: thebookerprizes.com (opens in a new tab)thebookerprizes.com (opens in a new tab)
Why is Margaret Atwood considered an important literary figure?
She is regarded as one of Canada's most influential contemporary voices. Her writing has brought issues such as misogyny, patriarchal power, censorship, and political oppression into wide literary and public discussion.
Sources: canada.ca (opens in a new tab)museumoftoronto.com (opens in a new tab)