NOV 8: The fourth time proved to be a charm for Margaret Atwood, Canada's most celebrated author and poet, who won The Booker Prize, Britain's top fiction award on Tuesday for her novel, "The Blind Assassin."Best known for her novels "The Edible Woman" in 1969, "Surfacing" (1972) and "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985), Atwood has written more than 36 books, including novels, short stories, children's books, works of literary criticism and social history.Her works have been published around the world and translated into more than 33 languages.It was the fourth time Atwood has been nominated for the 21,000 pound ($29,980) prize that guarantees the author instant literary cult status and a place on bestseller lists around the world."This is all about books and reading and writing," she told a glittering dinner at London's Guildhall after accepting the prize, one of the most renowned in the world.The book, about an 82-year old woman who reflects on her far from exemplary life including the events surrounding her sister's tragic and early death, was picked from 120 entries. Atwood was the bookmakers' favourite to land the coveted prize with her 10th novel.Noted for her feminist and mythological themes, Atwood's novels tend to revolve around a female protagonist and have often captured important issues of her time.A winner of Canada's most prestigious literary prizes, the Governor General's Award and a Giller Award - Atwood was also said to be a contender for this year's Nobel Prize for Literature."The Blind Assassin" received scathing reviews in the New York Times, where Atwood was criticised for crafting similes more obscure than what they were describing.But in Canada her reviews were predominantly laudatory. The National Post described Atwood's prose as "so clear and unimpeding, that not for a moment does one escape the feeling of being in the author's supervising company."Born in Ottawa, 60-year old Atwood - "Peggy" to her friends- credits her fondness for words to a childhood divided between summers in the wilds of Quebec and winters in various Canadian cities. "I became a reading addict and remained so ever since," she told Reuters in an 1997 interview.She said she writes not for critical acclaim but because the stories choose her, often against her better judgment."You do not write in order to win prizes. You write for the reader, whoever that reader may be. As I said to my English publisher, I've gotten more flowers for not winning the Booker than I would have got if I had won it."Atwood lives in Toronto with novelist Graeme Gibson. She was educated at the University of Toronto and at Radcliffe and Harvard.Atwood has persistently championed the rights of writers as vice-chairman of the Writers' Union of Canada from 1981-82 and as president of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre, from 1984-1986. She has also been interested in civil rights and was active for several years in Amnesty International.
