Words from the Wise

Margret Atwood is one of my favourite authors and I am constantly amazed by her ability to write so brilliantly on such disparate topics. I love both her old time tales and her futuristic environmental novels.

She has an incredible ability to stand outside the human world as it races on and succinctly wrap it up in words. In her futuristic works, these words don't blatantly cast aspersions on the state of modern man but are at once both so factual and absurd that one cannot help but wonder how we have got to this. The fact that "Oryx and Crake" and "The Year of the Flood" deal with a time so close and that the problems that abound in Atwood's devastated future are concepts that modern technology is already flirting with, make these scenarios potentially credible and add to the frightening accuracy of the world she speaks of.

She is a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper where she recently offered her top tips for overcoming writers' block. These practical suggestions also feature here on her blog and are apt advice for many of life's obstacles.