margaret atwood. this is velshi. et atwood.perations. aiming to protect, manage or restore millions of acres of land. and offering you more sustainably sourced products so you can become part of the change. so, can a company make the planet a better place? at walmart, we're working on it, every day. this is xfinity rewards. our way of showing our appreciation. with rewards of all shapes and sizes. [ cheers ] are we actually going? yes!! and once in a lifetime moments. two tickets to nascar! yes! find rewards like these and so many more in the xfinity app. welcome to the velshi banned book club joining now is margaret atwood. along with the handmaids tail she has published 18 novels, eight children's books, and more. she veritas go to the henry's tale called the testaments. she's also won numerous awards. margaret, thank you for joining, us it is a pleasure to have you here. >> a pleasure to be, here wherever you are. >> let's talk about your book, the handmaids tail. it may be an obvious and rhetorical question, but why do you

corporate funding is provided by... >> margaret atwood, welcome to "firing line." >> and i'm happy to be he with another margaret. >> you were born in 1939, which was at the start of world war ii, and you are now 82 years old. when you began writing your sixth novel, "the handmaid's tale," in 1984, you lived in west berlin before the fall of the berlin wall. how did the experience influence the plot and its themes? >> well, not in any completely obviousays but, as i say, background. so, in west berlin, it was an enclosed part of the city. there was a wall all the way around it. all of those pictures that you have seen of checkpoint charlie, that was all still there. you probably saw a movie called "the lives of others," about east berlin at that time. i went to east berlin. it was okay for canadians to go there. and people were very reluctant to enga you, of course. czechoslovakia, which i also visited at that time, was a little more open. you could talk to people in fields, just not in anything enclosed, such as a car or a room. and poland was even more open. so, in poland, we were r

i have to tell you though, margaret atwood references -- , which sterilized women.black women in this country, we are all too familiar with that. i don't know if you remember the infamous incident with -- who was sterilized against her real and it was so calm and a practice in mississippi that it was known as a mississippi up and back to me. reading this op-ed it was a warning call for margaret atwood but it was all too familiar to the black women across the country. we are seeing our rights are rooted. it's certainly crazy, but not unpredictable. and i am just so excited about seeing your discussion with her. it's very timely you're always such a smart intellectually curious interviewer. i'll definitely be tuning in with that. i will be following in your footsteps. we have a lot to get into, and one of the things that i think you will find really interesting and shocking is that there is a government agency, and it is spying on many americans and the ability to spy on all americans. it's a new study that talks about the technology ice is easily and how it can be us

the one and only, margaret atwood. two will join me for this week's meeting of the velshi banned book club, to discuss her frequently banned blockbuster book, the handmaids tail. velshi starts and now. good morning to you. i am ali velshi. it is, sunday may the. first it is day 67 of russia's unprovoked invasion of ukraine. we begin this morning with breaking news. because just hours, ago the house speaker nancy pelosi led a small delegation, a congressional delegation, on a trip to kyiv. she met ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. she spent about three hours on the ground in the capital. pelosi is now the highest ranking u.s. official to visit to kyiv. since the start of the war in february. this comes about a week after the defense secretary lloyd austin, as the secretary of state anthony blinken. met with zelenskyy in kyiv. pelosi spoke while in kyiv, and also what are returning to poland. >> we believe that we are visiting you, to say thank you. to fight for freedom. this is a fight for everyone. and so, our c

. >>> author margaret atwood is taking a stand against censorship.he handmaid's tale" is one of the most burned and banned in the u.s. atwood is literally fighting back. this is her take -- she's taking a flame thrower to a fireproof version of "the handmaid's tale" called the unburnable book. it's made of fire resistant paper and fire retardant cover. the book is being auctioned by sotheby's and proceeds will go to a group that advocates for free expression. >>> up next, the fate of the pro bowl. details on why the nfl could sack the annual all-star games. . dos. a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. (music) who said you have to

>> when you have no constitutional to expand upon, cite margaret atwood. >> laura: they tried that with-- they were all in the outfits. >> look, this is performative theater. what you are seen on the streets tonight, this is performative theater. step back, everybody has to take a deep breath. let's support, finally issued a formal opinion. then we as a country can digest it. i don't like that this leaked out. this is a bad day. you talk about democracy? damaging democracy? this is one of the most damaging moments to our democracy right here when a major institution has been briefed and undermined. i hope there is a congressional investigation into this. >> laura: they are too busy -- oh, no, this is my question. where is liz cheney tonight? she supposedly is a strong conservative. maybe she is out and she said something and maybe i missed it. but again, if you truly care about these institutions the other riders, which we condemned, took down those barricades and injure those police officers, we were against that and we said so, i treated it. but what about this? all of you guardians o

and if you have not got enough with my conversation with margaret atwood and her disturbing but the handmaids tail, you can now watch our full extended interview streaming exclusively on peacock. time now for the last word with jonathan capehart sitting in for lawrence. good evening, i already know that you are a member of the velshi banned book club, so i know you will be there. a member of>> absolutely i wil. thank you very much. in the years since donald trump came down the escalator and took over the republican party it is becoming clear that trump is a symptom of the anti democratic cancer that is infecting conservatism. not the disease. it did not recede after trump lost. after the laughable landscaping company press conference. even after the attack on our nation's capital. no. instead it is escalating. that anti-democratic cancer is metastasizing. just look at pennsylvania today. the two high-profile races for the open -- and the governor's mansion and -- have huge implications for both the commonwealth and the nation at large. as they do every year. the editorial board of the philade

. >> speaking of journalism, ali velshi recently had a conversation with margaret atwood, author of the the draft opinion overturning roe v. wade lead to the public. there's an extended version of the conversation streaming exclusively on peacock that didn't air live on velshi, let's take a listen. >> the excuse for all of these laws that you've been talking about it's really a religious one. it's based on a religious belief and let us say here that we must distinguish between a belief, an opinion and actual evidence based factual knowledge. the difference is that you can prove or disprove the third one, but you cannot prove or disprove the first one. a belief is a belief, it's not evidence based. and opinion can be either based on a belief or on a set of prove-able facts. all of these ideas that a cluster of cells with a human being, a belief. >> let me ask you about what you're thinking to 1985. it's a dystopian novel, it's about a future that could be bad. in this particular, case bad for, women but really bad for everybody. bad for democracy, bad for society. there's some winners on

and if you have not got enough with my conversation with margaret atwood and her disturbing but the handmaidse now for the last word with jonathan capehart sitting in for lawrence. good evening, i already know that you are a member of the velshi banned book club, so i know you will be there. >> absolutely i will be there. thank you very much. in the years since donald trump came down the escalator and took over the republican party it is becoming clear that trump is a symptom of the anti democratic cancer that is infecting conservatism. not the disease. it did not recede after trump lost. after the laughable landscaping company press conference. even after the attack on our nation's capital.

libraries and classrooms such as george orwell's 1984, toni morrison's the bluest tie, drama, and margaret atwood's handmade's tail because they address historical and psychological realities of race, gender, sexual orientation or power in ways that are deemed politically incorrect. book censorship wrecks a healthy environment for free inquiry and learning and i've been amazed by the widespread response we received across the country to our hearing from students, parents, teachers and authors alarmed by what is taking place in their community but i am heartened by their expressed determination to fight for the freedom to think, to read, to debate and to discuss and explore. i want to introduce into the record a letter signed by 1300 children and young adult authors and illustrators including best-selling authors and susa award winners like judy blume, jacqueline woodson, mo williams decrying book banding from the classroom censorship. this hearing addresses the closely related nationwide assault on the right to teachers and students to engage in free speech and learning in the classroom through the