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US publisher Doubleday has teamed up with Wattpad to share an exclusive essay from Margaret Atwood to coincide with the global release of her novel MaddAddam. The novel is published by Bloomsbury in the UK.
Atwood's latest novel concludes her dystopian trilogy begun with Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood.
Doubleday chose Wattpad as the forum for the essay, said to reveal insights into the development of the MaddAddam trilogy and the inspiration for the series, as well as an "earnest exploration of the increasingly blurry lines between speculative fiction and fact. Atwood is a long-time supporter of the writers' community and shared original serialised fiction, The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home, written with Naomi Alderman, on the site last year.
Judy Jacoby, advertising director for Doubleday, said: "Wattpad is such a welcoming and highly engaged community of readers. With its millions of users from all over the globe, we truly believe it's the perfect place for us to get our writers in front of an even larger audience."
The publisher intends to use Wattpad as part of its marketing strategy for more authors in the future, she added.
Atwood commented: “Wattpad crosses social, political, economic and cultural boundaries to connect people with stories, I’m excited to use Wattpad to share the MaddAddam trilogy and foster online conversations about my work."