logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2021
46m 31s

Margaret Atwood

Intelligence Squared
About this episode

Samira Ahmed speaks to the acclaimed author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments Margaret Atwood. They speak about her life and career, from her experiences as a young schoolgirl in Canada and her prolific writing career of novels and poetry to the impact of the Handmaid becoming a symbol of resistance against the disempowerment of women and her playful love for puppeteering. Margaret Atwood is the bestselling author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, went back into the bestseller charts with the election of Donald Trump and with the 2017 release of the award-winning Hulu TV series. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy.Atwood has won numerous awards including the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. IF YOU ENJOY THIS PODCAST PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW US ON APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/how-i-found-my-voice/id1455089930 How I Found My Voice is an Intelligence Squared podcast that explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators. The Executive Producer is Farah Jassat. Follow us on Twitter for updates of upcoming episodes @intelligence2 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up next
Apr 2023
David Schwimmer & Nick Mohammed
Samira Ahmed is joined by Friends star David Schwimmer and comedy writer Nick Mohammed. David Schwimmer is one of the most recognisable faces on television. His iconic role as Ross Geller in all 236 episodes of Friends has made him TV royalty. And beyond the global cultural impac ... Show More
1h 1m
Apr 2023
Russell Kane
Samira Ahmed speaks to award-winning comedian Russell Kane. They speak about his life and career, growing up in Essex, his break into comedy at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe, and his relationship with class and identity as a comedian. The recording for this episode took place ... Show More
46m 25s
Apr 2023
Kate Mosse
Samira Ahmed speaks to best-selling author Kate Mosse. Together they discuss her life and career, the success of her historical fiction novels - including Labyrinth which won Best Read of the Year at the 2006 British Book Awards - and her contribution to the recognition of female ... Show More
46m 9s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2023
Tayari Jones: How I Found My Voice
Samira Ahmed speaks to the novelist and author of An American Marriage, Tayari Jones. They speak about her life and career from growing up in Atlanta and taking a stand on ethical issues as a child to developing her voice as a writer, the role that children's author Judy Blume pl ... Show More
49m 52s
Aug 2023
Adam Buxton: How I Found My Voice
Samira Ahmed speaks to one of Britain's most popular podcasters - Adam Buxton. From experimenting with early video recorders to his David Bowie impressions and comedic use of Star Wars figurines on national television, Buxton talks about the moments that shaped and inspired his v ... Show More
39m 26s
Dec 2013
Terry Eagleton in conversation with Roger Scruton
What really divides the left and the right? To answer this question, Intelligence Squared brought together two giants of British intellectual culture for an ideological reckoning: Terry Eagleton, literary critic and long-time hero of the radical left, and Roger Scruton, right-win ... Show More
1h 29m
Dec 2015
Terry Eagleton in conversation with Roger Scruton
What really divides the left and the right? To answer this question, Intelligence Squared brought together two giants of British intellectual culture for an ideological reckoning: Terry Eagleton, literary critic and long-time hero of the radical left, and Roger Scruton, right-win ... Show More
1h 7m
Aug 2023
Dickens vs Tolstoy: The Battle Of The Great 19th-century Novelists PART 1
Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence ... Show More
37m 54s
Mar 2021
BONUS: International Women's Day Special with Margaret Atwood, Bernardine Evaristo, Rose McGowan and more
For International Women's Day we bring to you a special bonus episode of our award-winning podcast, How I Found My Voice presented by the BBC journalist Samira Ahmed. This episode features clips from some of our favourite female interviewees including novelists Margaret Atwood, B ... Show More
51m 8s
Dec 2022
Cultural Favourites from the Archives – The Power of Poetry, with Helena Bonham Carter and Jason Isaacs
Continuing our series of cultural highlights from the Intelligence Squared archive, we revisit the event The Power of Poetry, which saw actors Helena Bonham Carter and Jason Isaacs bringing the words of the great poets alive onstage. The event also featured William Sieghart telli ... Show More
1h 32m
Jul 2023
Daniel Kahneman on Making Intelligent Decisions in a Chaotic World - Part 1
Daniel Kahneman shot to fame in 2002 when he won the Nobel prize in economics for his work on the psychology of human judgment and decision-making. In 2022 he joined us on the Intelligence Squared, alongside with his co-author Olivier Sibony, to discuss how businesses and governm ... Show More
33m 50s
Sep 2021
Salman Rushdie: Touchstones with Razia Iqbal
Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie joins journalist Razia Iqbal to take us back in time and discuss three influential touchstones of his life: a silver ingot engraved with an unpartitioned map of India, Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine man’, and James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’, a slightly int ... Show More
58m 47s
Apr 2024
Finding the Story within Ordinary Human Failings, with Megan Nolan
Megan Nolan is an Irish journalist and author who has made a name for herself by cutting to the quick of the most uncomfortable facets of the human experience. She first appeared on Intelligence Squared to discuss her widely acclaimed debut, Acts of Desperation, back in 2022 and ... Show More
38m 32s