The Day Margaret Atwood Saved an Interview
A recent Guardian interview mentioning Margaret Atwood's reputation for 'eviscerating interviewers' prompted reader Barbara Esstman to share a long-held thank you. Her story reveals a different, more compassionate side of the celebrated author.
A Daunting Prospect
In September 2000, Margaret Atwood was scheduled for an interview at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. The regular interviewer, having heard of Atwood's formidable reputation, withdrew from the event. Barbara Esstman, who had never conducted an interview before and was in the middle of moving house, was asked to step in as a replacement.
Esstman agreed, despite feeling completely unprepared, noting she didn't even know which box contained her appropriate clothes. The interview began promisingly. A friend had provided a hilarious anecdote about a previous Atwood appearance where she had been tough on pompous individuals but kind to new writers. The audience loved this story.
The Conversation Takes a Turn
After the initial success, Esstman's inexperience became apparent. She stumbled through a single, weak question and realised she was completely out of her depth. She vividly imagined the literary giant metaphorically strewing her bones across the stage of the Natural History Museum.
Instead of witnessing a public dismantling, the audience saw a miracle of grace. Margaret Atwood took control of the derailed interview. With complete poise, she steered the conversation away from disaster and transformed it into what Esstman describes as a 'genuine and lovely conversation about writing novels'.
For an hour, the two women chatted like friends in front of the audience. Afterwards, many attendees complimented Esstman on a wonderful interview. She was quick to laugh and correct them, explaining that Atwood was entirely responsible for the event's success and had saved her from certain mortification.
A Lasting Literary Connection
In a separate letter, reader Jane Crossen from Sheringham, Norfolk, expressed fascination with another detail from the same Atwood interview. It revealed that the genesis of the seminal novel 'The Handmaid's Tale' was linked to a grim winter spent in a fisherman’s cottage in Blakeney, Norfolk, in 1983.
The conditions were so dismal that Atwood abandoned the novel she was working on at the time. Her family subsequently left for West Berlin, where she began writing the novel she had been 'putting off' because she considered it 'too weird'. Crossen wonders which specific cottage hosted the author, suggesting a blue plaque would be a significant tourist attraction, and hopes for more details in Atwood's then-forthcoming autobiography.
All these years later, Barbara Esstman's memory is not just one of gratitude for being saved from professional embarrassment, but a warm recollection of an hour spent in genuine, friendly conversation with one of literature's most formidable minds.
