Although she is credited with predicting the election of Donald Trump and its consequences for American women 30 years in advance in her dystopian novel The Scarlet MaidenCanadian writer Margaret Atwood doesn’t believe that our collective future is already mapped out.
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“The future doesn’t exist,” she recalled during a public interview with writer Marie Laberge at Quebec’s Capitole Theater this afternoon.
After Marc Levy, Amélie Nothomb, Janette Bertrand, Patrick Senécal and Nancy Huston, the 83-year-old, he is the last of six writers taking part in the series of literary meetings Auteur.e Studio at the Salon International du Livre de Québec (SILQ) participate The Canadian author prefers to look to the future with hope.
“Many futures are possible. As writers, we can explore one or two of these futures, but nothing is set in stone. »
Winning choice
Speaking in French, Ms Atwood said a Hollywood producer told her she was the only person who benefited from Donald Trump’s election in 2016.
He was right, she said. She notes that the 2017 television series adaptation of The Scarlet Handmaiden benefited from Trump’s rise to power and protest movements by American women.
“If Hillary Clinton had been elected, that would have been perceived as a fantasy, something that has already been done,” Margaret Atwood ponders.
74,000 visitors
Ms. Atwood’s visit concluded with a highlight at a 2023 book fair that her general manager, Daniel Gélinas, described as spectacular. In the past five days, 74,000 people have visited the cable publishers’ kiosks at the Center des congrès de Québec. That is 4,000 more than in 2022.
“There is an attachment to the book that fascinates me. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 17,000 school children stopped by and bought books. Despite tablets, phones and digital books, books remain popular,” says Mr. Gélinas happily.
The organizers also say they are satisfied with the attendance of Auteur.e Studio, of which 15% of viewers came from outside the Quebec region.
“We’re becoming a destination,” notes the show’s CEO, Rhonda Rioux.