Biography

Attended and graduated from Radcliffe College of Harvard University with her Master of Arts degree (1962) and pursued doctoral studies for two years.

Is a huge fan of George Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner (1982).

She was awarded the OC (Officer of the Order of Canada) on December 17, 1973 and the CC (Companion of the Order of Canada) on June 21, 1981 for her services to literature.

She was awarded the CH (Member of the Order of the Companion of Honour) in the 2019 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to literature. She is a Canadian author.

Has one daughter: Eleanor Jess Atwood Gibson (born 1976) with her companion Graeme Gibson (1934-2019).

All fat women look the same; they all look 42.

Nobody dies from lack of sex. It's lack of love we die from.

[on childhood] Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.

[on growth] Time is compressed like the fist I close on my knee...I hold inside it the clues and solutions and the power for what I must do now.

[on writing] If I waited for perfection...I would never write a word.