WATERLOO — Our world is understood through stories that we tell each other, a Canadian literary icon told a packed audience at the University of Waterloo Tuesday.

And on the internet, Canadians, who need to be literate to use the medium, are telling stories in mass numbers, Margaret Atwood told more than 700 people at the Humanities Theatre.

Atwood is among the Big Thinking lecture series of well-known speakers open to the public at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences until Saturday at the area’s local universities.

Atwood wooed the star-struck audience with people rising to their feet when she walked into the room and later gave her a standing ovation after her address.

“People are natural storytellers,” she said. “Most people will put up with almost anything to engage in an act of communication. We must narrate or die.”

Atwood acknowledges that young people might not be reading War and Peace.

“Big surprise . . . serious literature was never universal,” she said.

“They are certainly reading and Lord knows they are writing. You might not approve of platforms but the activities are going on,” Atwood said.

She suggested bedtime stories are the first encounter with the delight of stories. They come to most of us orally and become the building blocks for literature.

Story is powerful and it does change you, she said.

Story lies at the roots of the humanities and it’s important to keep the tradition to ensure that stories are not ruled by corporations, governments and advertisers, Atwood said.

Cecile Jenny, a recent graduate from Waterloo in drama and English, said she’s a fan of Atwood’s writing.

“It was awesome to hear this woman speak,” said Jenny, who’s reread Atwood’s work The Penelopiad.

“It’s one of those plays that I keep coming back to. I’ve used it in various projects,” she said.