Margaret Atwood is a world-renowned Canadian writer. Her identity as a Canadian is important to her and is reflected in her work, especially her earlier work. However, she is a well-travelled person as well and her works don't all take place in Canada. Over the years, she has set her work in urban, suburban and rural locations around Canada but also in the Caribbean and, in The Handmaid's Tale, in the Boston area. This panel would look at Atwood's various settings. How does she use place to reflect or cause either the comfort or the alienation of her characters? Why did she choose to set her first dystopian novel in Cambridge rather than in her home city of Toronto? How does Atwood play with the idea of characters being threatened by the settings of her stories? How does Atwood present immigrants and/or travelers? How does leaving home change her characters?

This panel would be sponsored by the Margaret Atwood Society.