The+City+Planners+and+The+Planners

[] BIOGRAPHY OF **MARGARET ATWOOD** (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian writer. A prolific poet, novelist, literary critic, feminist and activist, she is a winner of the Booker Prize and Arthur C. Clarke Award, and has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award seven times, winning twice. Atwood is among the most-honored authors of fiction in recent history. [1] While she is best known for her work as a novelist, her poetry is noteworthy. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Atwood is the second of three children. Due to her father’s ongoing research in forest entomology (study of insects), Atwood spent much of her childhood in the backwoods of Northern Quebec and back and forth between Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto. She did not attend school full-time until she was 11 years old. She became a voracious reader of refined literature, Dell pocketbook mysteries, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Canadian animal stories, and comic books. Atwood began writing at age six and realized she wanted to write when she was 16. In 1957, she began studying at Victoria University in the University of Toronto. She graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts in English (honours) and minors in philosophy and French. She obtained a master's degree (MA) from Radcliffe in 1962 and pursued further graduate studies at Harvard, for 2 years, but never finished because she never completed a dissertation on “The English Metaphysical Romance” in 1967. She has taught at several universities in Canada. In 1968, Atwood married Jim Polk, whom she divorced in 1973. She got together with fellow novelist Graeme Gibson soon after and moved to Ontario. Atwood returned to Toronto in 1980. She divides her time between Toronto and Pelee Island, Ontario. Atwood and her partner Graeme Gibson are members of the Green Party of Canada Atwood has strong views on environmental issues, [2], such as suggesting that petrol-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers be banned, and has made her own home more energy efficient – including not having air-conditioning - by installing awnings and skylights that open. Margaret Atwood's contribution to Canadian literature was most recently recognized in 2000, when she received Britain's highest literary award, the $47,000 Booker Prize. Atwood donated the prize money to environmental and literary causes. (from [])
 * Links to video clips on suburbia** []

BIOGRAPHY OF **BOEY KIM CHENG** Boey Kim Cheng was born in Singapore in 1965. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts degrees in English Literature from the National University of Singapore.Disillusioned with the state of literary and cultural politics in Singapore, Boey left for Sydney with his wife in 1996.In Australia, Boey completed his Ph.D. studiesBoey is currently an Australian citizen and teaches creative writing at the University of Newcastle.Boey's poems have been published in several anthologies and have received critical acclaim ** Interview with the poets **