Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, inventor, teacher, and environmental activist Margaret Atwood was born on this day, November 18, in 1939. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children’s books, two graphic novels, and a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction.

Atwood was photographed by Karsh in 1977 for his book Karsh Canadians (1978, University of Toronto Press) but she was also photographed in 1985 as “One of group of writers photographed together for Apple Canada, Inc. Including Charles Templeton, Ben Wicks, Harold Towne, Veronica Tennant, Margaret Atwood.”