Michael Ondaatje (1943- )

• born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on Sept 12,1943
• moved to Canada in 1962 via England
• received a masters degree at Queens University
• taught at York University in Toronto since 1971
• Poetry:
  • Dainty Monsters (1967)
  • The Man with Seven Toes (1969)
  • Rat Jelly (1973)
  • The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970) won the Governor General's award
  • There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do (1978) won the Governor General's award
  • Cinnamon Peeler (1991)
• Novels:
  • Coming Through Slaughter (1976) concerns the madness and death of New Orleans jazz musician Buddy Bolden
  • Running in the Family (1982) about his family's life in Ceylon
  • In The Skin of a Lion (1987) set in 1930's Toronto
  • The English Patient (1992) set in WWII Italy (filmed in 1996)
• as Editor:
  • The Broken Ark: A Book of Beasts (1971)
  • Personal Fictions: Stories by Munro, Wiebe, Thomas, and Blaise (1977)
  • The Long Poem Anthology (1977)
  • The Faber book of contemporary Canadian short stories (1990)
  • From Ink Lake: an anthology of Canadian short stories (1990)
  
  
• his work is discussed in Spider Blues: Essays on Michael Ondaatje (1985) by Sam Solecki
• filmography
• more information

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