The 2007 Edinburgh International Book Festival was attended by Margaret Atwood, but her fellow Canadian, author Alice Munro, could not be present in person since she is reluctant to fly long-distance. So, Munro used Atwood's now famous invention, the LongPen, a device that utilizes remote book-signing technology to provide signatures. Employing videoconferencing the author is able to converse with his or her fan and then to write a dedication on a small touch-pad computer screen. The computer at the book-signing venue then uses a remote electronic arm to trace the author's words onto the page of the book. The technology is exciting and innovative, but what is particularly revealing is how Catherine Locherbie, the director of the festival, described its impact:

The words ‘truly global reach’ refer to the festival's wide remit, but they also infer the technological ‘reach’ of LongPen's computerized arm, and, more especially, the global nature of Atwood's identity as an international twenty-first century author.

To appreciate how ‘global’ Margaret Atwood has become it is necessary only to glance at one of the many potted biographies that appear on the web pages of the Margaret Atwood Society, her publishers’ Bloomsbury and Random House, her own official webpage, OWTOAD, and, indeed, at the front of this book. Although she was born and has spent most of her life in Canada, Atwood has also lived and travelled in Europe (England, Scotland, Italy, France and Germany), in the United States of America (Boston, New York, Alabama and San Antonio, Texas) and Australia (Sydney). She has also visited numerous countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, India, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, New Zealand (CP 4–5, 130, 237–8). Some of these journeys figure in Atwood's writing in relation to her work for Amnesty International and others in her capacity as President (1984–1986) of PEN International Canadian Centre (English speaking). Both Amnesty and PEN have an international remit, the former working for human rights for all, and the latter fighting for jailed and oppressed writers.