Margaret Eleanor Atwood

Look!  Look!  Look!  I got to meet Margaret Atwood. 

She presented a speech at Butler on Wednesday as part of their Visiting Writer Series.  I was so excited when I randomly discovered this event on Sunday and I was super glad I didn't miss it.  I immediately posted a link on Facebook and I also sent an email to all my book club friends.  To my dismay, NO ONE was interested in going with me. NO ONE!  I had no idea why.  I feel like she is a fairly well known and important writer.  

I have so many friends and acquaintances who are book lovers and they missed out.  She wasn't an especially eloquent speaker and I could hardly see her from behind the giant podium but she was funny and interesting.  I liked the way she put together her speech and expressed her ideas.  She made me laugh out loud several times with her references to sparkly vampires and bad movies on airplanes.  I was also very impressed at how patient and thorough she was when she answered questions from the audience.

The line wasn't that long for autographs and she was kind enough to pose for pictures while she autographed my two books.  One well loved, and passed about copy of "A Handmaid's Tale" and a new copy of "In Other Worlds:  SF and the Human Imagination"

Great event and another great night!