Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1943. In 1952, he moved to England with his mother and siblings. He studied at Bishop's University in Quebec, as well as at the University of Toronto and Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. In 1967, he published his poetry collection "Dainty Monsters." Poetry is a fundamental part of his work and writing. In 1970, he released the hybrid work (poetry and prose) "The Collected Works of Billy the Kid," followed by "Coming Through Slaughter" in 1976. In 1987, he published "In the Skin of the Lion," his first novel. With his novel "The English Patient," he won the Booker Prize in 1992 and achieved international publishing success, while the film adaptation by Anthony Minghella won 9 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. His subsequent novels include "Anil's Ghost" in 2000, which won the Prix Médicis for best foreign novel, "Divisadero" in 2007, and "The Cat's Table" in 2011. He has also published over twenty books of poetry, film, and other essays, and has edited anthologies of Canadian short stories on both sides of the Atlantic ("From Ink Lake: An Anthology of Canadian Short Stories," Viking, "The Faber Book of Contemporary Canadian Short Stories," Faber & Faber). He has two children with his first wife, Kim Ondaatje. He lives in Toronto with his second wife, novelist Linda Spalding, with whom he co-edits the literary journal "Brick: A Literary Journal."