Book Group
From YearOfTheTeledu
| This is a Scheduled Programme Item |
| Day: Saturday |
| Time: 12pm |
| Duration: 1 hour |
| Location: Leicester |
| Named Organiser: HH Fishlifter |
This programme item will be a focused discussion by a small group who know what they're talking about and want to talk to other people about it.
We'll be discussing The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
If you want to take part you'll need to have read the book before the con, and to know it well enough that you're able to discuss it. It won't be a formal or 'academic' item, but this will not be a time for use of phrases such as 'I only skimmed it', 'It's been such a long time since I thought about this', or 'Don't tell me! I haven't got to that bit yet'.
The Handmaid's Tale was the first winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award -- quite controversially so, setting something of a precedent for the Award -- and was published just over 20 years ago. Given the ways in which the world, and the SF genre, has changed since, it seems like a good time to revisit this novel. (This shouldn't be a discussion about whether it should have won the Clarke Award but we could talk a bit about whether it seems now to be an SF novel.) If participants have also seen the 1990 film version then it's fine to talk about that too -- but you don't have to have seen the film to take part.
Sign up here for a place in the Book Group (only 10 places available):
- Claire Brialey
- Mark Plummer
- Abi Brown
- Ian Taylor
- Julia Daly
- Max
- Judith Proctor
- Liz
- Geneva
- Christina Lake
Reserve list (in case anyone on the first list decides to drop out in advance):
- Jess
Geneva will be leading the discussion: keeping it on topic, making sure everyone gets a chance to contribute what they most want to say, setting up some specific questions to focus the discussion if we need that, and so on.
