Margaret Atwood to come up with a new poetry collection after a decade

The Canadian author had published her first collection of poems in 1961. It was titled Double Persephone. She had even designed the covers of the book.

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The Canadian author had published her first collection of poems in 1961. (File Photo)

Margaret Atwood, whose literary genius needs no retelling, is about to publish her collection of poetry after more than a decade. According to a report in The Guardian, the poems will explore absence and presence, with possibly aliens, werewolves and sirens featuring in them.

Atwood has been both a recorder and soothsayer of our times. Her 1985 celebrated dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale reads more true with each passing day. Her follow-up to it, The Testament (which won the Booker last year) already ranks as a seminal work.

The same report informs that her next book will be called, Dearly. It will be out in November.

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As per the publishers, quoted by the report, the work is supposed to be “by turns moving, playful and wise” and will explore “bodies and minds in transition, as well as the everyday objects and rituals that embed us in the present”.

“Every poem in Dearly rings with all Margaret Atwood’s characteristic curiosity and energy. It is a pure delight which stretches heart and mind,” Chatto’s Becky Hardie, Deputy Publishing Director at Chatto & Windus commented.

The Canadian author had published her first collection of poems in 1961. It was titled Double Persephone. She had even designed the covers of the book. In 2003, she was quoted by The Guardian saying, “I wrote a poem in my head and then I wrote it down, and after that writing was the only thing I wanted to do.”