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Michael Ondaatje, poet, novelist, filmmaker, editor (b at Colombo, Ceylon [Sri Lanka] 12 Sept 1943). Michael Ondaatje's work often blends or counterposes the factual and the imaginary, poetry and prose. His longer narrative works, often based on the unorthodox lives of real people, may contain documentary as well as fictional accounts. Ondaatje's imagery is characterized by its preoccupation with romantic exoticism and multiculturalism; its gravitation towards the bizarre, the exaggerated, and the unlikely; its fascination with the secret codes of violence in both personal and political life; and with its continued delving into the world of movies, jazz and friendship. His work is also notable for its cinematic qualities in its frequent use of montage techniques and spare dramatic dialogue.
Michael Ondaatje immigrated to Canada via England in 1962, and became a Canadian citizen in 1965. He attended the University of Toronto (BA) and Queen's (MA). In 1971 Ondaatje began teaching at York University. He received the Order of Canada in 1988. Michael Ondaatje first gained his literary reputation as a poet. His first books of poetry include The Dainty Monsters (1967), The Man with Seven Toes (1969) and Rat Jelly (1973). The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, an account of the factual and fictional life of the notorious outlaw, won the GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD for poetry in 1970 and has been adapted for stage and produced at Stratford, Toronto and New York. His collection of poems There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do (1963-78) won a second Governor General's Award in 1979. Running in the Family (1982) combines poetry and photography to depict the glamorous and unconventional life of his parents and grandparents in colonial Ceylon. Secular Love: Poems was published in 1984, and Handwriting: Poems in 1998. His selected poems, entitled The Cinnamon Peeler, appeared in 1992. Michael Ondaatje's novel Coming Through Slaughter (1976) tells of real and imagined events in the life of New Orleans jazz cornetist Buddy Bolden. In the Skin of a Lion (1987) is a novel that takes place in Toronto in the 1930s. The English Patient (1992) is Ondaatje's most acclaimed novel to date. Set in Tuscany, Italy, at the end of World War II, the novel holds readers fascinated by both the present dramatic circumstances and astonishing pasts of the characters in this epic tale of the physical and emotional damage inflicted by war and love. In addition to winning another Governor General's Award for fiction in 1992, it earned Ondaatje a share of the prestigious Booker Prize, the first ever awarded to a Canadian. A 1996 film version of the novel won 9 Academy Awards. Michael Ondaatje's 2000 novel Anil's Ghost is set in his homeland, civil-war-ravaged Sri Lanka. The protagonist, a Sri Lankan-American forensic anthropologist, struggles to maintain her scientific objectivity against the influence of political pressure and her own emotional response to what she encounters there. Anil's Ghost won the SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE and France's prestigious Prix Médicis. Michael Ondaatje's films include Sons of Captain Poetry (about poet bp NICHOL), Carry on Crime and Punishment, The Clinton Special (about Theatre Passe Muraille's Farm Show) and Royal Canadian Hounds. His critical work on Leonard COHEN was published in 1970, and as editor of Mongrel Broadsides he published poems by James REANEY, Margaret ATWOOD and others. Ondaatje edited a collection about animals, The Broken Ark: A Book of Beasts (1971). He has also edited the short-fiction anthologies Personal Fictions: Stories by Munro, Wiebe, Thomas, and Blaise (1977) and From Ink Lake (1990). His poetry editorial work includes The Long Poem Anthology (1979) and the bp Nichol collection An H in the Heart (1994). Ondaatje considers the underappreciated art of film editing in The Conversation: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film (2002). In 2007 Michael Ondaatje matched Hugh MACLENNAN's record, by winning a fifth Governor General's Literary Award. Divisadero is a lyrical and painful family story set partly in 1970s northern California. Ondaatje's signature fragmented narrative travels back in time to the early 20th century to show a parallel family tragedy in rural France.
 Ondaatje, Michael"The English Patient" (1992) is Ondaatje's most acclaimed novel to date, earning him a share of the prestigious Booker Prize (photo by Isolde Ohilbaum).
Author
SHARON THESEN
Links to Other Sites
Michael Ondaatje
An extensive information source about the celebrated Canadian author Michael Ondaatje. From the website for the British Council.
Michael Ondaatje
This site features a brief profile of acclaimed author Michael Ondaatje. Also offers synopses of his books. From McClelland & Stewart Limited.
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