Novelist, poet, short story writer, critic, teacher, and feminist Margaret Eleanor Atwood was born on November 18, 1939. Born in Ottawa, Ontario,
             Atwood was the second of three children to Carl Edmond and Margaret Dorothy
             Killam Atwood. She went on to marry writer, Graeme Gibson, and give birth to a
             daughter named Jess. Atwood's religion was that of Immanent Transcendentalist.
             During her childhood, she spent her summers in Northern Quebec while her
             father fulfilled aspirations of being a forest entomologist. Her time spent in
             Northern Quebec during her youth, was a significant influence on the novel
             Surfacing which was published in 1972. Upon coming out of what Atwood often
             refers to a her "dark period", which took place from ages eight to sixteen, she
             began writing. In high school, her writing began to flourish and she began
             submitting her works to her high school newspaper. As she continued to
             contribute poetry, short stories, and cartoons to her high school's paper, Canadian literary critic and historian Northrop Frye (1912-1991) influenced her writing. Frye also introduced her to the poetry of William Blake (1757-1827) which further influenced her writing.
             Atwood received her Bachelor's degree from University of Toronto, her
             Master's from Radcliff College of Harvard University, and went into graduate
             study at Harvard University. After completing various studies, Atwood went on to spend a considerable amount of time teaching and lecturing. She taught English at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (1964-65), Victorian and American Literature at Sir George Williams in Montreal (1967-68), Creative
             Writing at the University of Alberta, English at New York University in New York
             (1986). She worked as a writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto in
             Toronto (1972-73), the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa (1985), and
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