Author Margaret Atwood To Promote New Book With Original Theatrical Piece, Will Tour Internationally

Author Margaret Atwood will utilize a new method to promote her upcoming book, "The Year of the Flood." she's developed an original theatre piece.

The Globe And Mail paper is reporting that Atwood has written a one-hour, semi-dramatic performance based on her new novel. The performance piece will be staged in Ottawa, Toronto, Sudbury, Kingston, Calgary and Vancouver, as well as five international cities.

Atwood will act as narrator of the evening. She will be joined by three local actors and a local choir in each city, which will sing an original score by Los Angeles composer Orville Stoeber. Canadian Alisa Palmer will direct the ensemble.

"It's a chance to break free from the traditional structure of a book tour. I felt this particular novel deserved a more complex presentation," Atwood said.

The score for the piece, "Hymns of the God's Gardeners," has already been recorded and will be available on CD for purchase on August 26. The Hymns will be available for download following the book launch: September 4 in Canada and the UK and September 22 in the US.

Press notes describe the new book as follows: "Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners - a religion devoted to the melding of science, religion, and nature - has long predicted a disaster. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women remain: Ren, a young dancer locked away in a high-end sex club, and Toby, a former God's Gardener, who barricades herself inside a luxurious spa. Have others survived? Ren's bio-artist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers? Not to mention the CorpSeCorps, the shadowy policing force of the ruling powers... As Adam One and his beleaguered followers regroup, Ren and Toby emerge into an altered world, where nothing - including the animal life - is predictable."

For more information, visit www.yearoftheflood.com.