Margaret Atwood is in town, and her presence is being felt already: around 270 people attended a Dymocks-New Zealand Herald literary lunch in Auckland yesterday. Attention was focused on the nature of the virus in her GM doomsday novel, Oryx and Crake, and Atwood claimed that there is nothing in her book that either has not already been done, or is not technologically possible.

Atwood’s next public engagement is at the Wellington Convention Centre at 6pm on Monday (24 November), where poet Harry Ricketts (Spirit In A Strange Land) will interview her. Allen & Unwin and Unity Books are promoting this event. For tickets, call the Book Council on (04) 499 1569 or email events@bookcouncil.org.nz.