Dearly

"Dearly" was published in 2020, marking Margaret Atwood's first collection of new poetry in over a decade since "The Door" (2007). The collection was released by McClelland & Stewart in Canada and by other publishers internationally. Its arrival followed closely on the heels of Atwood's bestselling 2019 novel "The Testaments," the sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale."

"Dearly" addresses grief, aging, environmental loss, and memory, with poems reflecting on the death of Atwood's long-time partner Graeme Gibson in 2019. The collection also engages with climate change and ecological destruction, recurring concerns throughout Atwood's body of work. Atwood's characteristic dark wit and precise observational style remain present throughout the poems.

No, Atwood has published poetry since the early 1960s, beginning with the self-published "Double Persephone" in 1961, and she was first recognized as a poet before gaining fame as a novelist. "Dearly" is, however, her first book of new poetry in more than a decade. Her previous collections include "The Circle Game" (1964), "You Are Happy" (1974), and "Morning in the Burned House" (1995).

"Dearly" is widely understood to be shaped by the loss of Atwood's partner, the Canadian novelist and conservationist Graeme Gibson, who died in September 2019, the year before the collection's publication. Several poems in the collection directly address grief and the absence of a loved one. Atwood and Gibson had been partners since the 1970s and were prominent figures in Canadian literary life together.