Entertainment TV '#SeeHer Story' Recognizes the Woman Behind 'The Handmaid's Tale', Margaret Atwood #SeeHer Story airs on PEOPLE.com and @PeopleTV social handles By Georgia Slater Georgia Slater Georgia Slater is an associate editor on the Parents team at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2018. Her work has previously appeared in USA Today and Washington Life Magazine. People Editorial Guidelines Published on November 27, 2019 05:00AM EST In this week’s episode of #SeeHer Story, the series pays tribute to the brilliant author of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood. The author, 80, has never been afraid to look at reality through a new lens, which is why #SeeHer Story, the digital video series from Katie Couric Media and PEOPLE, has chosen to honor her inspiring work in this week’s episode. The goal of #SeeHer Story is to recognize female trailblazers throughout the past 100 years and celebrate how they’ve helped to shape history and culture. As this year marks the centennial anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, the series hopes to commemorate such an important time for women in history by recognizing fearless women who have made strides for others to follow in their footsteps. The series — which is made up of short vignettes created and narrated by Couric — premiered on Oct. 18 and will air weekly on PEOPLE.com and @PeopleTV social handles. Erin Combs/Toronto Star via Getty Born in 1939 in Ottawa, Canada, Atwood knew she wanted to be a professional writer at a young age — kicking off her career at only 16 years old. Though she published her first book of poetry at age 22, it wasn’t until 1969 – when Atwood released her debut novel, The Edible Woman – that the public took notice of her unique style of writing. #SeeHer Story Remembers Wilma Mankiller, First Female Chief of the Cherokee Nation Bob Olsen/Toronto Star “I write about something called the future,” Atwood said in an interview. “Which is a wonderful thing to write about, because nobody can fact check it.” When she released The Handmaid’s Tale 15 years later, its dystopian vision of a terrifying future that seemed all too possible resonated with readers, and it shot to the top of bestseller lists. “Everything I put in has a basis in reality: something we’re doing now, something we’ve already done, something we’re thinking of doing,” she explained in the clip. Rich Fury/Getty The book became so popular that a film version was released in 1990; it later became an Emmy-winning television show which premiered on Hulu in 2017. The powerful show quickly turned into a cultural phenomenon, already boasting three successful seasons with a possible fourth to come. Margaret Atwood Discusses Her Long-Awaited Handmaid’s Tale Sequel, The Testaments, on BookTube Atwood has published dozens of books, between her award-winning novels, poetry collections, short stories and children’s books. In September, the author released the long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, entitled The Testaments, which earned immediate praise and was named No. 1 to Amazon’s Best Books of the Year list. TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Atwood’s accomplishments don’t stop there — recently she was awarded the Booker Prize, the leading literary award for English-language books, on Oct. 14. #SeeHer Story will also be a regular feature in PEOPLE’s print edition, the weekday morning newsletter Wake-Up Call with Katie Couric, on PeopleTV’s entertainment show PEOPLE Now as well as on PEOPLE Now Weekend.