Burning Questions: Margaret Atwood announces visionary new non-fiction collection

“How can we live on our planet”, “Is it true? And is it fair?” and “Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories?” are among the dozens of questions Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood explores and seeks to answer in a forthcoming collection of non-fiction, titled Burning Questions.

The author, whose last book was the global bestselling novel The Testaments, has turned her attentions to recent events that have shaped the world we live in, from the rise of Donald Trump to the financial crash and the climate crisis.

“It’s been a wild ride so far, the 21^st Century,” Atwood said of the collection. “Many of the questions that have been smouldering for decades have now burst into flames. Unless we can answer them, quickly and effectively, so will we.”

The collection of essays are not only tackling the vital issues of our time, but also capture the best of Atwood’s writing: funny, erudite, endlessly curious and – like much of her fiction – uncannily prescient.

Becky Hardie, Deputy Publishing Director at Chatto & Windus, said: “These are troubling times, but at least we have Margaret Atwood to help us try and make some sense of them.”

“Her lectures, criticism, obituaries and political and cultural commentaries are as entertaining as they are edifying, as down-to-earth as they are visionary. This is a book to keep close at hand for many years to come.”

Burning Questions will be released on March 1, 2022.