Various men didn't like that I was writing at all: Margaret Atwood

Gauging from previous interviews, Margaret Atwood cares little for descriptors like 'icon' and 'revered'. One can argue these befit a Booker Prize-winning author of 15 novels, 17 poetry and 10 non-fiction titles, and eight children's books, to name a few. But then Atwood, whose talents are as kaleidoscopic as her body of work, has never been one for labels.

In the 46 years between The Edible Woman and The Heart Goes Last, she has also been comic artist (Kanadian Kulture Komics and Booktour Comix, published on her site), inventor (Syngrafii LongPen), author of an opera libretto (Pauline) and video game enthusiast (Intestinal Parasites). And in a bid to raise awareness for the Nature Canada initiative Keep Cats Safe and Save Bird Lives, she's authoring the upcoming graphic novel series, Angel Catbird.

In Kanadian Kulture Komics, the '70s strip she created for Canada's This Magazine under the pseudonym 'Bart Gerrard', Atwood addressed sexual politics and jingoism in trademark droll fashion through protagonists Survivalwoman and Womanwoman. Seldom are characters in her literary universe – be it these, the nameless protagonist in Surfacing, or Elaine Risley in Cat's Eye – bereft of emotional resonance.

Her astute observations, devoid of polemic, make Margaret Atwood one of the best commentators on the human condition – which is why it's fitting that she's the first contributor to Future Library Project, which collects one original story each year by a writer until 2114, when they'll finally be published.

Edited excerpts from an email interview, facilitated by Bloomsbury India:

American comic universes have little room for great female superheroes. In this context, how significant is Canada's Nelvana of the Northern Lights, who you grew up reading about?
Nelvana was ground-breaking in Canada in her day – the wartime day of "Canadian whites," so called because colour printing of comics could not be done then. But remember, Wonder Woman was active at the time, and exceeded in popularity any of the other superheroes of the era.

I read that Kanadian Kulture Komics got a fair bit of hate mail. What grouse did readers have with Bart Gerrard? And why that pseudonym?
Hmm, I don't remember any hate mail about the Komix. But I did get other hate mail: some woman was furious because I laughed too much on the radio, in her opinion. Another was angry because she thought I had been mean to secretaries.

And various men didn't like it that I was, well, writing. At all.

Bart Gerrard was the name of a real cartoonist at the turn of the 20th century, so the pseudonym was a little homage to him.

And will Booktour Comix become a regular strip?
I doubt it. I started drawing the script every year as a way of making my publishers feel guilty, but they have become impervious to guilt.

Should a 76-year-old granny be getting up in the middle of the night to hike herself onto a plane and do a talk show? No. But then, I could always say no.

My latest comix are to be found in The Secret Lives of Geek Girls, an anthology of the work of female people interested in comics and other pop forms. I did them to help out the compiler, Hope Nicholson.

A world without book blurbs would be…
(a) Inconceivable (b) Not as much fun. People appear to like reading what other people have to say about a book. It's a form of gossip, but also an entertainment, like the claims made by cosmetic creams about the wonders they will bestow.

I've had to stop blurbing myself, due to the volume of requests, though I sometimes do mini-reviews on Twitter.

Is it unnerving to see your speculative fiction, and the likes of 1984, Brave New World, Stand on Zanzibar and others be more prophetic than not?
Foretelling the future with 100% accuracy is impossible, because there isn't any "the future" – there are many possible futures, and an infinite number of variables. As Donald Rumsfeld once said, it's the unknown unknowns that get you.

That said, it would be nice if human behaviour were less predicable along negative lines.

What theme/s in dystopian, post-apocalyptic films, shows, and games do you find irksome?
If most humans on the planet have been wiped out, I want to know why. A purple cloud or pall of dark ash is not enough for me.

Picky, I know, but I can't help myself.

Are you happy with the way the Syngrafii LongPen shaped up?
It's a constant surprise. Who knew that the LongPen would become an important banking and business tool, or that it would end up allowing artists to sign remotely or print on-demand art? And these are only a few of the uses.

When we first started developing the LongPen, we were way ahead of the curve, but now the curve – and auxiliary technology – has caught up with the idea. I do wish that had happened sooner, but it's pretty exciting right now.

Since you're active on Twitter: do you think social media has blurred lines between intersectional and reactionary activism and politics?
Any technology has a good side, a bad side and a stupid side nobody thought about ahead of time. Social media and the Internet are no different.

Let's say they have allowed public debate at a level not seen before. That isn't always fun. But it does allow a multitude of voices to effect real change, as with the website Avaaz.

What's the one thing you're hardly or never asked about in interviews?
Recently I was asked about the solitary bee discovered by my father back in the 1930s. Now THAT was new!

Lastly, what made you get on board The Future Library Project to have Scribbler Moon published in 2114?
The Future Library Project by Katie Paterson will have 100 secret manuscripts, one a year, with 1000 trees growing for 100 years. And then a grand opening of boxes and cutting of trees to make the paper for the anthology.

It has already grabbed attention all around the world!