Margaret Atwood will appear at 92Y tonight with a reading of her 2009 novel, The Year of the Flood. Atwood graciously gave this GalleyCat Correspondent an interview where her personality showcases why her career has had 50 years of staying power. She displays an eagerness to connect with her readers by staying current with today’s technological trends. The embedded video shows her singing for Score: A Hockey Musical.
Q: How has social-networking changed your career?
A: I think it’s taken up a lot of my time. I have a blog. I have a Twitter account and I have a Facebook page which is however run by my publishers because I thought I couldn’t take on Facebook along with all the other things I’m doing.
Q: Do you enjoy it?
A: I enjoy it sometimes. For instance, Twitter I enjoy most of the time but Twitter has a dark side. The trolls; I don’t have very many trolls. Most of my Twitter followers, which now number 84,000 are friendly and helpful. If you want to an answer to something, just put it on Twitter and you’ll get a lot of answers.
Q: What is your opinion about eBooks and eReaders?
A: They’re another way of communicating with people. They’re another way of transmitting text. Text transmissions goes way back to clay tablets, the invention of papyrus, the use of vellum, the invention of paper, movable type; it’s all about text transmissions.
Q: Do you own an eReader?
A: Not yet. I’m going to look at them all. You have so many choices now.
Q: What can we expect next from you?
A: I never know. It’s unknown to me. I am writing a third one to go with Oryx and Crake and the Year of the Flood.