The Handmaid’s Tale Author Margaret Atwood Says She’s Not Afraid of Death: ‘What Comes Before Can Be Very Unpleasant’
The novelist and poet appeared on NPR’s ‘Wild Card with Rachel Martin’ podcast on Oct. 3
Margaret Atwood does not fear the great unknown.
The acclaimed novelist and poet, 84, was a guest on NPR’s Wild Card with Rachel Martin podcast on Oct. 3. On the show, Martin invites guests to play a card game and answer existential questions. Atwood, who was promoting her new poetry collection, Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems: 1961-2023, was asked how her feelings on death have changed over time.
“I’m not afraid of death, death, deathity, death, death,” Atwood said. “What comes before can be very unpleasant. I know people who’ve had horrible hospital and disease experiences. I know people who have ended up in care homes, not knowing who they were, things like that. That’s what you are worried, what I, anyway, am worried about rather than, quote, ‘being dead.’ I’m not too worried about being dead.”
The author added that she’s even thought about writing the services for her “own funeral.”
“It’s creepy, and I’ve been to ones like that. But it’s kind of fun,” the author continued, adding that, “It’s like event planning. You’re planning a party for people . . . you want them to have a good time. I used to be a great birthday party planner. So I would just think of my funeral as a fun time for kids.”
The Booker Prize winner was also asked about her best defense against despair. Atwood explained that she was “not much of a despairing person,” but after the death of her longtime partner, novelist Graeme Gibson, in 2019, she found herself faced with sorrow.
“Everyone has [sorrow] sooner or later. It’s grief,” Atwood said during the Wild Card appearance. “And since I’m now in the land of widows, I’m the person that they phone, and they say, ‘Will this ever be over? How do I get through this?’ ”
“It’s something you live through, but that’s not a defense against it,” Atwood added. “By defense, you mean it’s not getting in the door. We’re not letting it in the door. That would just be acting. You know, that would be quite fake.”
Atwood’s new poetry collection, Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems: 1961-2023, was published on Oct. 8, and compiles her poetry since the beginning of the author’s celebrated career. Atwood published her first poetry collection, Double Persephone, in 1961, prior to the publication of her novels, including The Handmaid’s Tale and 1988’s Cat’s Eye. She is now the author of over sixty books, including essay collections and children’s books.
While appearing the podcast, Atwood also shared a piece of wisdom for young writers, particularly those who have found sudden success.
“I said, ‘Within a couple of years, you will have three nasty, vicious personal attacks from people you don’t know,’ ” Atwood said.
“As a rule, that happens, particularly if you’re younger. So if you’re younger, you’ve come up with a cohort of other writers your age, you make a big success, and then your friends divide into, like, the Red Sea — people who can handle it and people who can’t handle it, and you find that out pretty quickly.”
