What people were saying about Margaret Atwood’s Emmy moment

The Hulu adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale emerged as the biggest winner at last night’s Emmys, where the show bagged trophies for acting, directing and writing. But the TV series would be nothing without its source material: Margaret Atwood’s suddenly topical 1985 dystopian novel. The Toronto-based author was at the ceremony, but she kept a low profile—until, that is, Handmaid’s Tale won Outstanding Drama Series, the biggest award of the night. Atwood mounted the stage along with the rest of the cast and crew to bask in the crowd’s adulation, and Twitter wasn’t far behind. Here’s what people were saying:

Atwood made her presence known on the red carpet, before the event:

Despite shout-outs during acceptance speeches by Ann Dowd, Elisabeth Moss, director Reed Morano and screenwriter Bruce Miller, Atwood was never shown on camera until The Handmaid’s Tale won Outstanding Drama Series at the end of the night. As soon as she stepped on stage, the Twitter admiration began to flow. Here’s New Yorker television critic Emily Nussbaum:

Atwood wasn’t taking any chances with her purse:

There were jokes, and half-jokes:

Atwood got a standing ovation:

Both inside and outside the room:

Some people were moved to tears:

It was the perfect antidote to a surprise Sean Spicer appearance during the ceremony’s opener:

This didn’t actually happen, but let’s pretend it did: