Iconic Canadian author is more than a beloved novelist, poet, and essayist. She’s also a feminist, environmental activist, and innovator—in 2004, she invented a remote robotic writing device called the LongPen. Atwood’s works reflect her inventiveness and passions. Her writing deals with themes of feminism and gender identity, art and expression, animal rights, political activism, and environmentalism. Atwood examines these themes across many genres, including nonfiction, poetry, dystopian fiction, science fiction, and retellings of mythology.
Margaret Atwood has been incredibly prolific and influential since her first publication, the poetry book Double Persephone, released in 1961. In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Atwood has published more than 60 works, including novels, short story collections, poetry, nonfiction, children’s books, and graphic novels. In other words, there are plenty of Atwood’s works to read and listen to. But if you're seeking new authors whose work will resonate with fans of , , , and , here are a dozen well worth checking out. The 12 authors we've spotlighted explore similar themes to Margaret Atwood's favorites through speculative fiction.
Kazuo Ishiguro is a Nobel Prize-winning British novelist, screenwriter, and short story author whose works explore issues of identity, regret, and nostalgia. Like Atwood, Ishiguro's writing spans many genres, but one genre he often returns to is literary sci-fi, as he did in his most recent novel, .
Why Atwood fans will like Ishiguro: Both Atwood and Ishiguro use the literary science fiction genre to explore more conceptual themes of identity and human connection.
Must Listen: You can’t go wrong , Margaret Atwood's pick for her favorite Ishiguro novel. In a recent piece for The Guardian, Atwood described Never Let Me Go as "a brilliantly executed book by a master craftsman who has chosen a difficult subject: ourselves, seen through a glass, darkly.”
Octavia E. Butler’s works are often compared to Margaret Atwood's and vice versa, to the point where many have wondered if Butler and Atwood have influenced each other. A Hugo and Nebula award-winning author, and a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, Butler aimed to write science fiction stories that explore issues of race and class with strong women at their center.
Why Atwood fans will like Butler: If you love Atwood’s sci-fi and speculative fiction stories because they often focus on issues of feminism and social justice, then you’ll be pleased to see the same strengths in Butler’s storytelling.
