Margaret Atwood and Ayad Akhtar on This Wonderful, Terrible World

Welcome to Beyond the Page: The Best of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference. Over the past 25 years, SVWC has become the gold standard of American literary festivals, bringing together contemporary writing’s brightest stars for their view of the world through a literary lens.

Margaret Atwood—author of more than 60 books in almost every conceivable genre, recipient of more than 100 literary prizes—is a global icon. Like Kafka and Orwell before her, she and her writing have become part of the public discourse, wherever we live and whatever our age. Her intelligence is that vital and exacting, her wit that mischievous, her concerns – feminism, environmentalism, dystopian societies – that urgently relevant. The author is fond of quoting a Polish resistance fighter from the Second World War who once told her: “Pray that you will never have the occasion to be a hero.” As it’s turned out, in her long and singular literary career, Margaret Atwood has indeed had the occasion to be a hero, numerous times, and always risen to the moment. After receiving the 2024 Sun Valley Writers Conference Writer in the World Prize, she spoke to Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ayad Akhtar about her life, her work, and some of the wonders and terrors of the world we are living in.

To listen to other talks from the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, subscribe now on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever else you find your podcasts!