Atwood interview to air live in cinemas worldwide

Author Margaret Atwood will be broadcast into more than 1,000 cinemas worldwide on Sept. 10 to tout the publication of The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale.

Live from the National Theatre in London, the 79-year-old Toronto resident will be interviewed by journalist and author Samira Ahmed about her ca- reer and her return to the world of Gilead, the setting of her dystopian novel from 1985 that inspired an award-winning TV series.

The event will be beamed live to U.K. and North American theatres — including Cineplex cinemas across Canada — and on a delayed basis in Australia and New Zealand.

The Testaments, to be released the same day as the cinema event, is said to pick up the Handmaid’s Tale story 15 years after its protagonist Offred stepped into the unknown. A news release announcing the interview said the September event, presented in partnership with the international women’s rights organization Equality Now, will include a number of as-yet-unnamed special guests.

The release also included a quote from Atwood stating, “I can’t be in all the places at once in my analogue body, but I look forward to being with so many readers via the big screen.”

Cinema tickets wenton sale Friday at www.margaretatwoodlive.com.

Sales of The Handmaid’s Tale have surpassed eight million copies worldwide for Atwood, author of more than 50 books and winner of the Booker Prize, among other honours.