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Margaret Atwood will receive the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award 2024
Photo credit: Luis Mora
The eighth recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award will be the Canadian author Margaret Atwood, who has most recently penned the short story collection Old Babes in the Wood. She will receive the prestigious award at a ceremony on October 27th 2024 at the Odeon Music and Theatre Center in the city of Odense, Denmark, with participation from the mayor of the city. As the recipient of this award, Atwood joins the esteemed company of previous recipients Karl Ove Knausgård, J.K. Rowling, Haruki Murakami, Isabel Allende, Paulo Coelho, A.S. Byatt and Sir Salman Rushdie.
A great honor awaits Margaret Atwood in the fall of 2024, when she will be receiving the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award. The committee behind the award motivates their choice of recipient in the following manner:
“The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award is given to Margaret Atwood for her use of myths, fairy tales, and fantastical and speculative narratives to illuminate contemporary political issues, as well as for elevating so-called speculative fiction to a higher art form.”
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian novelist, born in Ottawa in 1939, who is also known as a critic, essayist, and poet, as well as an activist on feminist and ecological issues.
A recipient of Man Booker and National Book Critics’ Awards, among others, her novels, poetry, and essay collections have touched on a wide range of issues, though she is particularly known for her in-depth and vivid depictions of gender and climate issues.
Deeply fascinated by myth and folklore
Atwood was deeply fascinated by myth and folklore from an early age, as can be seen in works such as The Penelopiad (2005), a rewriting of The Odyssey from Penelope’s rather than Odysseus’ perspective, as well as in The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), which despite its immediate roots in the science fiction genre also clearly leans heavily on classic fairy tales.
Throughout her career, Atwood has thus managed to blend traditional myths, fairy tales, and narrative forms with genres such as science fiction to illuminate both universally valid power structures between, for example, men and women, but has also managed to bring to the fore relevant contemporary political problems such as emerging religious fundamentalism, racism, and climate issues.
Her MaddAddam trilogy (2003-2013) has thus been a weighty commentary on the cynicism of big business and the global pharmaceutical industry, but also on modern man’s overall blind faith in science as the solution to all (human) problems.
Speculative fiction – not science fiction
This universal aspect of Atwood’s work has also recently manifested itself in the wild popularity The Handmaid’s Tale, as a commentary on Trump’s politics (partly prompted by HBO’s film adaptation of the novel as a tv series), though it was originally written as a commentary on the Reagan-era’s resurgence of conservatism and misogynism.
Atwood, like Andersen, has thus managed to use traditional narrative forms, but developed them further for the present in which they were written. In this context, Atwood has actively and critically entered the discussion of genre by insisting on using the term ‘speculative fiction’ for works such as The Handmaid’s Tale and the MaddAddam trilogy rather than ‘science fiction,’ which she generally regards as male-dominated, technology fetishistic, and futuristic rather than contemporary.
Atwood – also like Andersen – is thus both critically and artistically deeply engaged with the political and ethical potential of literature through innovative hybrids of traditional and newer narrative forms.
As relevant as ever with Old Babes in the Wood
In March of 2023, her collection of short stories, Old Babes in the Wood, was published. It is a dazzling collection of short stories that look deeply into the heart of family relationships, marriage, loss, and memory, and what it means to spend a life together.
Seven of the stories are about Nell and Tig and their long marriage, which is inspired in part by Atwood’s own life with the now deceased author Graeme Gibson.
The collection has been particularly well received by critics. For instance, The Guardian wrote: “These reflections on marriage, mortality and many-tentacled aliens show Atwood’s mastery of the short form.”
Daily Telegraph stated that Atwood is “the greatest living writer”, while The New York Times gave a crystal-clear appeal: “If you consider yourself an Atwood fan and have only read her novels: Get your act together. You've been missing out.”
Four-day visit to Denmark
True to tradition, Atwood will not only receive the honor that comes with the award, but also the bronze sculpture The Ugly Duckling, created by sculptor Stine Ring Hansen, a monetary prize of DKK 500,000, and a diploma, The Beauty of the Swan.
The entire visit will last from October 26thto 29th 2024, and besides the ceremony, it will feature onstage interviews at The Black Diamond in Copenhagen, Odense Library, and The University of Southern Denmark, where Atwood will meet her readers.
The complete schedule for her visit will be revealed in 2024.
Read more about the award and past recipients on www.andersen-award.com.
Best regards
Jens Olesen, Chairman of the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award committee
For additional information, please contact:
Anja Linnet · anja@have.dk · (+45) 22 65 53 48
