I'm Alan Olga and this is Clear In Vivid. Conversations about connecting and communicating.

I start in handwriting and then I start typing that, revising as I'm going while I'm writing

the next part in handwriting. So think of the handwriting as moving along like this and

the typing coming along behind it sort of mopping up as it were while the handwriting

keeps on going in front.

That's Margaret Atwood, author of course of the Handmaid's Tale and it's sequel to

The Testaments. Her dazzling literary career includes dozens of works of fiction, nonfiction

and poetry. In our conversation we talked about the origins of the dystopian world of

the Handmaid's Tale as well as how she approaches storytelling and the art of writing itself.

I'm so happy to be able to talk to you today. I'm such an avid fan of yours. I just love

you writing. Thank you for being on the show with me.

And thank you and I've always enjoyed your movies.

Oh, that's very nice.

And you just told me a funny story about Toronto.

And it's a true story. We were shooting in Toronto to make it look like New York and

we shot in an alleyway and dirty did it up so it would look like New York with orange

peels all over the place and empty trash can.

We went to lunch and when we came back some kind Canadian had cleaned it up for us.

Well, I had heard that story but I didn't hear that it was you. So I thought maybe somebody

just made it up as a joke but you're telling me it really happened. It became completely

a urban legend.

I don't know. You know, I don't think I've ever met anybody from Canada I didn't like.

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