Canadian writer Margaret Atwood in dates

Here are key dates in the life and career of award-winning Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, who won her second Booker Prize on Monday.

- November 18, 1939 -

Atwood is born in Ottawa, her father a forest entomologist and her mother a nutritionist.

- 1961-

Graduates from the University of Toronto with a degree in English. The following year she completes a Masters at Harvard-linked Radcliffe College, in the eastern US city of Boston.

- 1969-

: Publishes her first novel "The Edible Woman", a satire about a young woman unable to eat after getting married.

- 1973 -

Atwood ends her five-year marriage to writer Jim Polk and begins a relationship with fellow novelist Graeme Gibson, with whom she has her only child, Eleanor Jess Atwood Gibson (born 1976).

- 1985-

Publishes "The Handmaid's Tale", which becomes a feminist classic, about a totalitarian society of the future. It is later adapted into a film, cult television series and opera.

- 1996 -

Release of her historical novel "Alias Grace", which is also adapted for television, airing on CBC and Netflix.

- 2000 -

Wins Britain's top literary award, the Booker Prize, for "The Blind Assassin" published the same year.

- 2017-

US television streaming group Hulu airs the first "The Handmaid's Tale" series, which wins a host of top awards. In July 2019 a fourth series is announced.

- September 10, 2019 -

Release of "The Testaments", the highly anticipated sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale".

- October 14, 2019-

Wins second Booker Prize for "The Testaments", sharing the award with Anglo-Nigerian author Bernardine Evaristo.

© 2019 AFP