I began writing at the age of 5, but there was a dark period between the ages of 8 and 16 when I didn't write. I started again at 16. And have no idea why, but it was suddenly the only thing I wanted to do.

Perhaps they were looking for passion; perhaps they delved into this book as into a mysterious parcel - a gift box at the bottom of which, hidden in layers of rustling tissue paper, lay something they'd always longed for but couldn't ever grasp.

Science fiction, to me, has not only things that wouldn't happen, but other planets.

The society in 'The Handmaid's Tale' is a throwback to the early Puritans whom I studied extensively at Harvard under Perry Miller, to whom the book is dedicated.

Our biggest moral debt is to the environment. Take-take-take, nothing given back.

She had no images of this love. She could offer no anecdotes. It was a belief rather than a memory.

If I were going to convert to any religion I would probably choose Catholicism because it at least has female saints and the Virgin Mary.