There are two weeks to go until the US presidential election. The author Margaret AtwoodCanadian novelist whose best-known book is The Handmaid's Tale. is very worried. She worries that if Donald TrumpAn American politician, media personality, and businessman serving as the 47th president of the United States since January 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. wins power again, he will turn America into a tyrannyCruel and aggressive use of power, often used to describe countries under the grip of a single oppressive leader..

"You get dictatorshipsA form of government in which one person possesses all the power without any limits. when times are bad and chaotic," she writes. She explains that people are willing to give up their rights and freedoms to somebody who says they can fix things.

Atwood is now 84. She is best known for her 1985 book The Handmaid's Tale.

She has now written about what a Trump victory might bring. She predicts that Trump will target anyone who gets in his way - and immigrantsPeople who have moved into one country from another. .

But Atwood does not claim to know everything. "If you've lived to a certain age people think you know something because they haven't got there yet," she jokes.

And she believes there is hope. She points out that young people always think they are facing the end of the world - but it has never yet come true. And she says hope "comes with being human".

Can the Handmaid's Tale author see the future? 

Yes! She has already shown that she is ahead of her time with powerful writings on women's rights and the planet. She even wrote a book about a pandemicAn outbreak of disease which occurs across a wide geographic area, as opposed to an epidemic, which is confined to a particular region. in 2003.

No! She has a very good imagination and is also a brilliant writer. Authors like Atwood like to come up with terrible situations for their stories - but they do not always think they will come true.

Margaret Atwood - Canadian novelist whose best-known book is The Handmaid's Tale.

Donald Trump - An American politician, media personality, and businessman serving as the 47th president of the United States since January 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

Tyranny - Cruel and aggressive use of power, often used to describe countries under the grip of a single oppressive leader.

Dictatorships - A form of government in which one person possesses all the power without any limits.

Immigrants - People who have moved into one country from another.

Pandemic - An outbreak of disease which occurs across a wide geographic area, as opposed to an epidemic, which is confined to a particular region.