‘Birdwatching is close to rapture’: Margaret Atwood on why she has given C$1m to avian research

Award-winning novelist celebrates late partner’s love of birds with gift to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biology If she could be any bird, Margaret Atwood would transform into a raven. “They’re very smart. They’re social, playful and just a very successful bird,” sh

Award-winning novelist celebrates late partner’s love of birds with gift to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biology If she could be any bird, Margaret Atwood would transform into a raven. “They’re very smart. They’re social, playful and just a very successful bird,” she says while seated in a corner of a bird observatory in the Lake Erie Islands archipelago.

“They’re quite an intelligent problem solver.” The observatory, which she set up with her late partner, Graeme Gibson, is located on the west shore of Pelee Island – the southernmost community in Canada – and is so new that there are no lightbulbs in a handful of lamps. Continue reading...