Q 01/05

In which Canadian city was Margaret Atwood born on November 18, 1939?

A) Halifax

B) Ottawa

C) Toronto

D) Montreal

Answer · why

B) Ottawa

Because her father was a forest entomologist, she spent much of her childhood in the backwoods of northern Quebec and did not attend school full-time ...

Q 02/05

What was Margaret Atwood's father's profession?

A) Entomologist

B) Lumberjack

C) Geologist

D) Lighthouse keeper

Answer · why

A) Entomologist

His insect research kept the family moving between Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto, and she began writing plays and poems at six.

Q 03/05

Which famous literary critic taught Margaret Atwood at Toronto's Victoria College?

A) Marshall McLuhan

B) Harold Bloom

C) Northrop Frye

D) Hugh Kenner

Answer · why

C) Northrop Frye

His idea of Canada's 'garrison mentality' later shaped her own book of criticism, Survival; she graduated in 1961 with honours in English.

Q 04/05

Where did Margaret Atwood earn her master's degree in 1962, on a Woodrow Wilson fellowship?

A) Vassar College

B) Barnard College

C) Bryn Mawr College

D) Radcliffe College

Answer · why

D) Radcliffe College

She went on a Woodrow Wilson fellowship, studied the Puritans there, and never finished her dissertation on 'The English Metaphysical Romance'.

Q 05/05

What was the title of Margaret Atwood's first book of poetry, published as a pamphlet in 1961?

A) Power Politics

B) The Animals in That Country

C) Double Persephone

D) The Circle Game

Answer · why

C) Double Persephone

It won the E. J. Pratt Medal; The Circle Game followed in 1966 and took the Governor General's Award.