Yann Martel
Yann Martel (b. June 25, 1963), Canadian author
A scholarship for his Canadian father to do his doctorate in Spain resulted in Yann Martel being born there in 1963. His father's occupation as a teacher and then a diplomat meant that Yann lived in various places including Alaska, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia.
As an adult, he continued to travel the globe, spending time in Iran, Turkey and India. After studying philosophy at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, at age 27 he embarked on a writing career. Living or visiting many cultures influenced his writing, providing the rich cultural background mix in Life of Pi that garnered him the prestigious 2002 Booker Prize for fiction. To write Life of Pi, Martel spent six months in India visiting mosques, temples, churches and zoos, and then an entire year reading religious texts and castaway stories. After the research, the actual writing required two more years.
A free spirit, Martel says he now lives in Montreal, Quebec because that is where his plane landed. He does not like to be tied down so owns very little and in the past, a lack of money meant working at whatever odd jobs available that would allow him to travel and write.
Bibliography:
Literary Awards
Referenced By
1963 in Canada | 1963 in literature | 1993 in Canada | 1996 in Canada | 2001 Governor General's Awards | 2001 in Canada | 2001 in literature | 2002 in Canada | 2002 in literature | Canadian literature | Famous Canadians | Life of Pi | List of Booker Prize for Fiction winners | List of Canadian writers | List of Canadians | List of books by title: L | List of famous Canadian people | List of famous Canadians | List of novelists | List of novelists by nationality | List of people by name: Mar | List of winners and shortlisted authors of the Booker Prize for Fiction | List of years in literature | Literature of Canada | October 2002
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