Michael Ondaatje’s Followers (3,866)

Michael Ondaatje

Born

in Colombo, Sri Lanka

September 12, 1943

Genre

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Poetry

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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

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Michael Ondaatje’s books

Average rating: 3.77 · 283,676 ratings · 22,124 reviews · 133 distinct works • Similar authors

	The English Patient 3.86 avg rating — 133,487 ratings — published 1992 — 267 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Warlight 3.60 avg rating — 45,153 ratings — published 2018 — 85 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cat's Table 3.61 avg rating — 26,661 ratings — published 2011 — 89 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In the Skin of a Lion 3.85 avg rating — 18,467 ratings — published 1987 — 75 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Anil's Ghost 3.58 avg rating — 18,149 ratings — published 2000 — 102 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Divisadero 3.52 avg rating — 11,580 ratings — published 2007 — 71 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Running in the Family 3.83 avg rating — 9,265 ratings — published 1982 — 80 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Coming Through Slaughter 3.88 avg rating — 6,640 ratings — published 1976 — 60 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Collected Works of Billy the Kid 3.96 avg rating — 4,336 ratings — published 1970 — 57 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems 4.18 avg rating — 2,386 ratings — published 1989 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Michael Ondaatje…

Emily St. John Mandel soared to critical acclaim and bestseller lists in 2014 with her novel Station Eleven, about the collapse of civilization...

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Quotes by Michael Ondaatje (?)

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

tags: words

3125 likes

“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

tags: character, death, experience, relationships

974 likes

“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

tags: breakup

376 likes

See all Michael Ondaatje's quotes »

Polls

Who is your favorite Canadian author?
(If you're having a hard time deciding, you can name your favorites in the comments.)

Margaret Atwood

3 votes, 27.3%

Joseph Boyden

2 votes, 18.2%

Margaret Laurence

2 votes, 18.2%

Mary Lawson

1 vote, 9.1%

Kelley Armstrong

1 vote, 9.1%

Mavis Gallant (write-in)

1 vote, 9.1%

Robertson Davies

1 vote, 9.1%

Leona Gom

0 votes, 0.0%

Michael Poeltl

0 votes, 0.0%

William Deverell

0 votes, 0.0%

Ann-Marie MacDonald

0 votes, 0.0%

Gil Adamson

0 votes, 0.0%

André Alexis

0 votes, 0.0%

Lynn Coady

0 votes, 0.0%

Jane Urquhart

0 votes, 0.0%

Terry Fallis

0 votes, 0.0%

Michael Ondaatje

0 votes, 0.0%

Emma Donoghue

0 votes, 0.0%

Frances Greenslade

0 votes, 0.0%

11 total votes

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