Canadian author Margaret Atwood rejects social campaigner role

AFP, October, 2008

OVIEDO, Spain (AFP) — Canadian author Margaret Atwood said Wednesday that while it was not her "mission" to highlight social problems, a fairy-tale world would be tedious for readers.

"There are aspects of my books that are there because they are present in real life. It's not my mission to carry out this task or else I wouldn't be a writer, I would be a leader of some movement or a propagandist," she told a news conference in the northern Spanish town of Oviedo.

"It would bore us all to read something where everything is wonderful, where everything goes well, without any problems," she added.

Atwood, 68, will be awarded Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias prize for literature, named after Crown Prince Felipe, on Friday in Oviedo.

She beat 32...