Member Review
The Union was begun because, in the early '70s, writers had no way of comparing experiences. But the results have been much greater than expected: Public Lending Right, benefits for the institutional copying of our work through Access Copyright, informed contract advice, a network to draw upon, and a collective voice. All writers in Canada have benefited — not only those who have joined the Union and pay their dues.
Member Profile
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa in 1939 and has degrees from the University of Toronto and Radcliffe College, and has lived in many places, including Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Boston, England, Scotland, and France. She supported her word habit with many non-writing jobs in youth, but has been a full-time writer since 1972--fiction, screenplays, poetry, non-fiction--with short interludes of guest teaching here and there. She was chair of The Writers' Union in 1981-82, and president of PEN Canada in 1985 and 1986. She is currently working on a novel.
