Michael Ondaatje

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Philip Michael Ondaatje Template:Post-nominals(Template:IPAc-en; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> His novel The English Patient (1992), adapted into a film in 1996<ref name=":0" /> and won the 1992 Golden Man Booker Prize.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ondaatje has been "fostering new Canadian writing"<ref name=":2">"Michael Ondaatje." In An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English, edited by Donna Bennett and Russell Brown, 928-30. 3rd ed. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press, 2010.</ref> 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.<ref name=":2" />

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).<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Zepetnek2005">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1954, he re-joined his mother in England.<ref name=":2" /> where he attended Dulwich College. He emigrated to Montreal, Quebec, in 1962,<ref name=":1">"(Philip) Michael Ondaatje." In Gale Online Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale, 2016. Literature Resource Center. Retrieved 30 November 2016.</ref> studying at Bishop's College School and Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, for three years.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> He attended the University of Toronto receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965,<ref name=":2" /> followed by a Master of Arts from Queen's University at Kingston.<ref name=":0" />

The poet D. G. Jones noted his poetic ability.<ref name=":2" />

Ondaatje began teaching English at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.<ref name=":1" /> In 1971, he taught English literature at Glendon College, York University.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Work

Template:BLP sources section 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).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref name=nyt>Schillinger, Liesl (14 October 2011), "Michael Ondaatje's Passage From Ceylon". The New York Times.</ref>

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.<ref name=globe>"How Michael Ondaatje and Daniel Brooks made 'Divisadero' into a play". Kate Taylor, Toronto — The Globe and Mail, 4 February 2011.</ref>

In 2018, his novel Warlight was longlisted for the Booker Prize.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref name="tmn" />

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<ref>"Order of Canada: Michael Ondaatje, O.C., M.A.", Governor General of Canada website.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and two years later a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2005, he received Sri Lanka Ratna, the highest honour given by the Government of Sri Lanka for foreign nationals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2008, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2016, a new species of spider, Brignolia ondaatjei, discovered in Sri Lanka, was named after him.<ref>Selvadurai, Shyam (10 August 2016), "New spider species named for Michael Ondaatje". CBC Books.</ref>

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.<ref>Schuessler, Jennifer (26 April 2015), "Six PEN Members Decline Gala After Award for Charlie Hebdo", The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2015.</ref> Ondaatje, along with 60 other writers, signed a letter to PEN expressing concern that the award valorized "selectively offensive material: material that intensifies the anti-Islamic, anti-Maghreb, anti-Arab sentiments already prevalent in the Western world."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Since the 1960s, Ondaatje has been a poetry editor for Toronto's Coach House Books.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ondaatje and his wife, Linda Spalding, a novelist and academic, co-edit Brick, A Literary Journal, with Michael Redhill, Michael Helm, and Esta Spalding.<ref name=tmn>"Michael Ondaatje". The Morning News, by Robert Birnbaum.</ref> Ondaatje served as a founding member of the board of trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry from 2000 to 2018.<ref>"C$80,000 Griffin Poetry Prize Launched by Renowned Literary Figures: Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and David Young" Template:Webarchive, griffinpoetryprize.com, 6 September 2000.</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His brother Sir Christopher Ondaatje is a philanthropist, businessman and author.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ondaatje's nephew David Ondaatje is a film director and screenwriter, who made the 2009 film The Lodger.<ref>"The Lodger forces out a remake of a remake" Template:Webarchive, Village Voice, 21 January 2009.</ref>

Books

Novels

1976: Coming Through Slaughter (also see "Other" section, 1980, below), Toronto: Anansi, Template:ISBN; New York: W. W. Norton, 1977<ref name=mopf>Web page titled "Archive: Michael Ondaatje (1943– )" at the Poetry Foundation website. Retrieved 7 May 2008.</ref>
1987: In the Skin of a Lion, New York: Knopf,<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN
1992: The English Patient, New York: Knopf, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN<ref name=nyt />
2000: Anil's Ghost, New York: Knopf,<ref name="Zepetnek2005" /> Template:ISBN
2007: Divisadero, Template:ISBN Template:ISBN<ref name=globe />
2011: The Cat's Table, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN<ref name=nyt />
2018: Warlight, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN

Poetry collections

1962: Social Call, The Love Story, In Search of Happiness, all featured in The Mitre: Lennoxville: Bishop University Press<ref name=mopf/>
1967: The Dainty Monsters, Toronto: Coach House Press<ref name=guardian>McCrum, Robert (28 August 2011), "Michael Ondaatje: The divided man". The Guardian.</ref>
1969: The Man with Seven Toes, Toronto: Coach House Press<ref name=guardian />
1970: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left-Handed Poems (also see "Other" section, 1973, below), Toronto: Anansi<ref name=guardian /> Template:ISBN; New York: Berkeley, 1975
1973: Rat Jelly, Toronto: Coach House Press<ref name=mopf/>
1978: Elimination Dance/La danse eliminatoire, Ilderton: Nairn Coldstream; revised edition, Brick, 1980<ref name=mopf/>
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<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN
- published as Rat Jelly, and Other Poems, 1963–1978, London, United Kingdom: Marion Boyars, 1980<ref name=mopf/>
1984: Secular Love, Toronto: Coach House Press, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN ; New York: W. W. Norton, 1985<ref name="Learning">Template:Cite book</ref>
1986: All along the Mazinaw: Two Poems (broadside), Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Woodland Pattern<ref name=mopf/>
1986: Two Poems, Woodland Pattern, Milwaukee, Wisconsin<ref name=mopf/>
1989: The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems, London, United Kingdom: Pan; New York: Knopf, 1991<ref name=mopf/>
1998: Handwriting, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart; New York: Knopf, 1999<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN
2006: The Story, Toronto: House of Anansi, Template:ISBN<ref name=mopf/>
2024: A Year of Last Things, London: Jonathan Cape, Template:ISBN <ref name=mopf/>

Editor

1971: The Broken Ark, animal verse; Ottawa: Oberon; revised as A Book of Beasts, 1979<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN
1977: Personal Fictions: Stories by Munro, Wiebe, Thomas, and Blaise, Toronto: Oxford University Press<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN
1979: A Book of Beasts, animal verse; Ottawa: Oberon; revision of The Broken Ark, 1971<ref name=mopf/>
1979: The Long Poem Anthology, Toronto: Coach House<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN
1989: With Russell Banks and David Young, Brushes with Greatness: An Anthology of Chance Encounters with Greatness, Toronto: Coach House, 1989<ref name=mopf/>
1989: Edited with Linda Spalding, The Brick Anthology, illustrated by David Bolduc, Toronto: Coach House Press<ref name=mopf/>
1990: From Ink Lake: An Anthology of Canadian Short Stories; New York: Viking<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN
1990: The Faber Book of Contemporary Canadian Short Stories; London, United Kingdom: Faber<ref name=mopf/>
2000: Edited with Michael Redhill, Esta Spalding and Linda Spalding, Lost Classics, Toronto: Knopf Canada Template:ISBN; New York: Anchor, 2001
2002: Edited and wrote introduction, Mavis Gallant, Paris Stories, New York: New York Review Books<ref name=mopf/>

Other

1966: The Offering - co-producer and co-screenwriter
1970: Leonard Cohen (literary criticism), Toronto: McClelland & Stewart<ref name=mopf/>
1973: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (play; based on his poetry; see "Poetry" section, 1970, above), produced in Stratford, Ontario; produced in New York, 1974; produced in London, England, 1984<ref name=mopf/>
1979: Claude Glass (literary criticism), Toronto: Coach House Press<ref name=mopf/>
1980: Coming through Slaughter (play based on his novel; see "Novels" section, 1976, above), first produced in Toronto<ref name=mopf/>
1982: Running in the Family, memoir, New York: W. W. Norton,<ref name="Learning" /> Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN
1982: Tin Roof, British Columbia, Canada: Island,<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN
1987: In the Skin of a Lion (based on his novel), New York: Knopf<ref name=mopf/>
1994: Edited with B. P. Nichol and George Bowering, An H in the Heart: A Reader, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart<ref name=mopf/>
1996: Wrote introduction, Anthony Minghella, adaptor, The English Patient: A Screenplay, New York: Hyperion Miramax<ref name=mopf/>
2002: The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film, New York: Knopf,<ref name=tmn /> Template:ISBN
2002: Films by Michael Ondaatje<ref>Films by Michael Ondaatje Template:Webarchive</ref>
2004: Vintage Ondaatje,<ref name=mopf/> Template:ISBN

Notes

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External links

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On Michael Ondaatje's late style, in the Literary Review of Canada, by Moez Surani.
Jane Henderson (2 May 2016). "Ondaatje wins St. Louis Literary Award". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
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"I came from a tussle with the sea": An interview with Michael Ondaatje, in Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts (24.2)
Full text of The Dainty Monsters
"Adventures in the Skin Trade" PEN World Voices at LIVE from the New York Public Library. 4 May 2008 (Video, 1hr, 6 min)
Transcript of interview with Ramona Koval on The Book Show, ABC Radio National on Divisadero recorded in Montreal, April 2007.
Profile. Emory University Template:Webarchive
Order of Canada Citation
Interview With Ondaatje, Salon, November 1996

Template:Booker Prize Template:Giller Prize Template:Governor General's English fiction Template:Amazon.ca First Novel Award Template:USC Scripter Awards — Film Template:Authority control