Atwood on a green mission with her new novel

Margaret AtwoodCanadian feminist writer Margaret Atwood, who will celebrate her 70th birthday in November, is marking the publication of her new novel, The Year of the Flood (Bloomsbury) - with a three-month tour across six countries – the UK, the USA, Canada, Holland, Germany and Austria.

The Year of the Flood parallels an earlier novel written by Margaret entitled Oryx and Crake. The new book includes the story of the God’s Gardeners, followers of an environmental religion which believes that the natural world and its species are sacred.

In keeping with the theme of the God’s Gardeners, many of the launch events in the UK will be taking place in churches or cathedrals. They are billed as ‘Literary Performances with Music,’ and include staged readings by Margaret, and ‘hymns’ accompanied with music by the American composer Orville Stoeber.

The events are also designed as fundraisers for several environmental organisations: in the UK, for the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) of which Margaret is the Joint Honorary President of BirdLife's Rare Bird Club with her husband, Graeme Gibson. “Our general idea was to create the fundraising events in the image of the Gardeners, to the best of our ability”, said Margaret.

In each city, local singers and actors will take part, which will lower the carbon footprint, since only Margaret who plays the Narrator will travel. “Keep it plain, keep it local, keep it cheap, keep it green - this was our motto”, added Margaret.

As part of the fundraising effort, Margaret has also launched a website which contains the full tour schedule. There is a blog and a Twitter feed, to allow viewers to follow the tour. A CD of all fourteen hymns as performed by Orville Stoeber will be available at some events and online. Also on the site are a carbon calculator from Zerofootprint, a YouTube Challenge for budding composers – to begin in October – and much more.

The UK tour commences on August 30 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival,
from where Margaret will travel to Manchester, London, Cardiff, Bath, Ely and Bristol.