Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje

Ondaatje speaking at Tulane University, 2010
Born
Philip Michael Ondaatje

(1943-09-12) 12 September 1943
OccupationAuthor
LanguageEnglish
EducationDulwich College
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
Queen's University
Bishop's University
Notable works
Notable awardsGovernor General's Award – Poetry
Booker Prize
Giller Prize
Prix Médicis étranger
Order of Canada
St. Louis Literary Award
SpouseLinda Spalding
RelativesChristopher Ondaatje (brother)

Philip Michael Ondaatje CC FRSL (/ɒnˈdɑː/; born 12 September 1943) is a Ceylon-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist.

Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry: in 1967 he published The Dainty Monsters, and in 1970 the critically acclaimed The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. His novel The English Patient (1992), adapted as a film in 1996, received the Booker Prize in 1992. It later won the Golden Man Booker Prize as the best of the first 51 Booker Prize winners.

Ondaatje has been "fostering new Canadian writing" with two decades' commitment to Coach House Press (ca. 1970–1990). His editorial credits include the journal Brick, and the Long Poem Anthology (1979), among others.