Michael Ondaatje

Poet, novelist, editor and filmmaker Michael Ondaatje is one of the most influential figures in Canadian literature. As an author, he has published 13 collections of poetry and six novels, winning the Giller Prize, the Booker Prize, the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, the Prix Médicis, the Irish Times International Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Award. As a critic and editor, he has read and shaped numerous Canadian authors. Ondaatje is perhaps best known for his novel The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film.