Michael Ondaatje Popular Books

Michael Ondaatje Biography & Facts

Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing The Dainty Monsters, and then in 1970 the critically acclaimed The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. His novel The English Patient (1992), adapted into a film in 1996 won the 2018 Golden Man Booker Prize. Ondaatje has been "fostering new Canadian writing" with two decades commitment to Coach House Press (ca. 1970–1990), and his editorial credits include the journal Brick, and the Long Poem Anthology (1979), among others. Early life and education Ondaatje was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1943, to Major Mervyn Ondaatje and Doris Gratiaen of Tamil and Burgher descent (Dutch and Sinhalese). In 1954, he re-joined his mother in England. where he attended Dulwich College. He emigrated to Montreal, Quebec, in 1962, studying at Bishop's College School and Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, for three years. He attended the University of Toronto receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965, followed by a Master of Arts from Queen's University at Kingston. The poet D.G Jones noted his poetic ability. Ondaatje began teaching English at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. In 1971, he taught English literature at Glendon College, York University. Work Ondaatje has published 13 books of poetry, and won the Governor General's Award for The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970) and There's a Trick With a Knife I'm Learning to Do: Poems 1973–1978 (1979). Anil's Ghost (2000) was the winner of the 2000 Giller Prize, the Prix Médicis, the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, the 2001 Irish Times International Fiction Prize and Canada's Governor General's Award. The English Patient (1992) won the Booker Prize, the Canada Australia Prize, and the Governor General's Award. It was adapted as a motion picture, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and multiple other awards. In the Skin of a Lion (1987), a novel about early immigrants in Toronto, was the winner of the 1988 City of Toronto Book Award, finalist for the 1987 Ritz Paris Hemingway Award for best novel of the year in English, and winner of the first Canada Reads competition in 2002. Coming Through Slaughter (1976), is a novel set in New Orleans, Louisiana, circa 1900, loosely based on the lives of jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden and photographer E. J. Bellocq. It was the winner of the 1976 Books in Canada First Novel Award. Running in the Family (1982) is a childhood memoir. Ondaatje's novel Divisadero won the 2007 Governor General's Award. In 2011 Ondaatje worked with Daniel Brooks to create a play based on this novel. In 2018, his novel Warlight was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Adaptations The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Coming Through Slaughter and Divisadero have been adapted for the stage and produced in theatrical productions across North America and Europe. In addition to The English Patient adaptation, Ondaatje's films include a documentary on poet B.P. Nichol, Sons of Captain Poetry, and The Clinton Special: A Film About The Farm Show, which chronicles a collaborative theatre experience led in 1971 by Paul Thompson of Theatre Passe Muraille. In 2002, Ondaatje published a non-fiction book, The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film, which won special recognition at the 2003 American Cinema Editors Awards, as well as a Kraszna-Krausz Book Award for best book of the year on the moving image. Honours In 1988, Ondaatje was made an Officer of the Order of Canada which was later upgraded to grade of Companion in 2016, the highest level of the order and two years later a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2005, he received Sri Lanka Ratna, the highest honour given by the Government of Sri Lanka for foreign nationals. In 2008, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2016, a new species of spider, Brignolia ondaatjei, discovered in Sri Lanka, was named after him. Public stand In April 2015, Ondaatje was one of several members of PEN American Center who withdrew as literary host when the organization gave its annual Freedom of Expression Courage award to Charlie Hebdo. The award came in the wake of the shooting attack on the magazine's Paris offices in January 2015. Ondaatje claimed that, due to the magazine's anti-Islam content, it should not have been honoured. Personal life Since the 1960s, Ondaatje has been involved with Toronto's Coach House Books as a poetry editor. Ondaatje and his wife, Linda Spalding, a novelist and academic, co-edit Brick, A Literary Journal, with Michael Redhill, Michael Helm, and Esta Spalding. Ondaatje served as a founding member of the board of trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry from 2000 to 2018. He established the Gratiaen Trust in Sri Lanka that annually awards the Gratiaen Prize. Ondaatje has two children with his first wife, Canadian artist Kim Ondaatje. His brother Sir Christopher Ondaatje is a philanthropist, businessman and author. Ondaatje's nephew David Ondaatje is a film director and screenwriter, who made the 2009 film The Lodger. Books Novels 1976: Coming Through Slaughter (also see "Other" section, 1980, below), Toronto: Anansi, ISBN 0-393-08765-4; New York: W. W. Norton, 1977 1987: In the Skin of a Lion, New York: Knopf, ISBN 0-394-56363-8, ISBN 0-14-011309-6 1992: The English Patient, New York: Knopf, ISBN 0-679-41678-1, ISBN 0-679-74520-3 2000: Anil's Ghost, New York: Knopf, ISBN 0-375-41053-8 2007: Divisadero, ISBN 0-307-26635-4 ISBN 9780307266354 2011: The Cat's Table, ISBN 978-0-7710-6864-5, ISBN 0-7710-6864-6 2018: Warlight, ISBN 077107378X, ISBN 978-0771073786 Poetry collections 1962: Social Call, The Love Story, In Search of Happiness, all featured in The Mitre: Lennoxville: Bishop University Press 1967: The Dainty Monsters, Toronto: Coach House Press 1969: The Man with Seven Toes, Toronto: Coach House Press 1970: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left-Handed Poems (also see "Other" section, 1973, below), Toronto: Anansi ISBN 0-88784-018-3; New York: Berkeley, 1975 1973: Rat Jelly, Toronto: Coach House Press 1978: Elimination Dance/La danse eliminatoire, Ilderton: Nairn Coldstream; revised edition, Brick, 1980 1979: There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do: Poems, 1963–1978, New York: W. W. Norton (New York, NY), 1979 ISBN 0-393-01191-7, ISBN 0-393-01200-X published as Rat Jelly, and Other Poems, 1963–1978, London, United Kingdom: Marion Boyars, 1980 1984: Secular Love, Toronto: Coach House Press, ISBN 0-88910-288-0, ISBN 0-393-01991-8 ; New York: W. W. Norton, 1985 1986: All along the Mazinaw: Two Poems (broadside), Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Woodland Pattern 1986: Two Poems, Woodland Pattern, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1989: The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems, London, United Kingdom: Pan; New York: Knopf.... Discover the Michael Ondaatje popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Michael Ondaatje books.