Beloved Author Margaret Atwood To Speak At Worcester College

WORCESTER, MA — Internationally acclaimed author Margaret Atwood is expected to pay a visit to a college in Worcester this week.

Atwood, best known for her dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, will visit the College of the Holy Cross this week as part of the school’s prestigious Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture series. She will speak on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be a conversation on writing, society, and contemporary issues.

The appearance will feature a moderated discussion titled “A Conversation About Life, Writing, and Our Times,” reflecting Atwood’s decades-long career as a novelist, poet and essayist whose work has explored themes of power, gender, environmental change, and political systems.

Her landmark 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale became a global cultural touchstone and was later adapted into an Emmy Award-winning television series. Its sequel, The Testaments, won the Booker Prize in 2019, further cementing her influence in contemporary literature.

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Atwood will be joined in conversation by Ann Dowd, a Holy Cross graduate and Emmy Award-winning actress known for her role in the television adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale. Dowd will moderate the discussion, adding a direct connection between Atwood’s literary work and its screen adaptation.

The Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture, now in its 58th year, is one of Holy Cross’s signature public programming events, bringing prominent figures in public life, literature and policy to campus to engage with students and the wider Worcester community.

Organizers say the lecture is designed to foster dialogue on pressing cultural and social issues while giving students direct access to leading voices shaping public discourse.

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