Michael Ondaatje





Michael Ondaatje

Author profile


born
in Sri Lanka
September 12, 1943

gender
male

website

genre


About this author

He was born to a Burgher family of Dutch-Tamil-Sinhalese-Portuguese origin. He moved to England with his mother in 1954. After relocating to Canada in 1962, Ondaatje became a Canadian citizen. Ondaatje studied for a time at Bishops College School and Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, but moved to Toronto and received his BA from the University of Toronto and his MA from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and began teaching at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. In 1970 he settled in Toronto. From 1971 to 1988 he taught English Literature at York University and Glendon College in Toronto.

He and his wife, novelist and academic Linda Spalding, co-edit Brick, A Literary Journal, with Michael Redhill, Michael Hel...more


Michael Ondaatje isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

Choose which is best and why:





Divisadero

The English Patient


Divisadero
The English Patient


Anil’s Ghost
In the Skin of a Lion


Anil's Ghost
In the Skin of a Lion Read more of this blog post »
0 comments
Twitter_icon  • 
Published on March 08, 2010 18:16 • 27 views
Average rating: 3.77 · 91,927 ratings · 7,018 reviews · 47 distinct works · Similar authors
The English Patient
3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 49,833 ratings — published 1992 — 90 editions
The Cat's Table
3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 avg rating — 10,689 ratings — published 2011 — 38 editions
In the Skin of a Lion
3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 6,612 ratings — published 1987 — 22 editions
Anil's Ghost
3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 avg rating — 7,368 ratings — published 2000 — 45 editions
Divisadero
3.45 of 5 stars 3.45 avg rating — 6,339 ratings — published 2007
Running in the Family
3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 avg rating — 3,216 ratings — published 1982 — 29 editions
Coming Through Slaughter
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 2,560 ratings — published 1976 — 23 editions
The Collected Works of Bill...
4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 avg rating — 1,735 ratings — published 1974 — 2 editions
The Cinnamon Peeler: Select...
4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 avg rating — 1,327 ratings — published 1989 — 7 editions
The Conversations: Walter M...
4.33 of 5 stars 4.33 avg rating — 560 ratings — published 2002 — 16 editions
More books by Michael Ondaatje…

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

“We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves.

I wish for all this to be marked on by body when I am dead. I believe in such cartography - to be marked by nature, not just to label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. We are not owned or monogamous in our taste or experience.”
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

“She had always wanted words, she loved them; grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape.”
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

“You think that you are an iconoclast, but you’re not. You just move, or replace what you cannot have. If you fail at something, you retreat into something else. Nothing changes you.... I left you because I knew I could never change you. You would stand in the room so still sometimes, as if the greatest betrayal of yourself would be to reveal one more inch of your character.”
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

Polls

lease vote for the book you'd prefer to read as February's Book of the Month. Titles not selected are eligible to be nominated at a future time (assuming an interest in doing more BoMs). Feel free to ask any questions or champion your choice in the comments.

 
  4 votes, 40.0%

 
  3 votes, 30.0%

 
  3 votes, 30.0%

comments and details
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author



Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Michael to Goodreads.