Sri-Lanka native Michael Ondaatje was born in the former Ceylon of Dutch/Indian ancestry, he was raised in London, and is now a Canadian citizen. From the memoir of his childhood, Running in the Family, to his Governor-General's award-winning book of poetry, There's a Trick With a Knife I'm Learning To Do, to his classic novel, The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje casts a spell over his readers. And having won the British Commonwealth's highest honor - the Booker Prize - Ondaatje has taken his rightful place as a contemporary literary treasure.
Michael Ondaatje was awarded the Booker Prize in 1992. He is the author of four collections of poetry including The Cinnamon Peeler, the most recent of which is Handwriting (1999). And four books of fiction: The English Patient, In the Skin of the Lion, Coming Through Slaughter, and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid.
"Writing poetry and fiction, momentarily clutching his Asian heritage then spinning it off like a jitterbug partner, Ondaatje and his imagination can leap continents in a single paragraph." --Voice Literary Supplement
"Mr. Ondaatje is one of North America's finest novelists"--The Wall Street Journal
Listen here to an excerpt from his latest novel, "Anil's Ghost," read by Alan Cumming and brought to you in cooperation with Random House Audio.
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