biography
pronunciation:
[ondahchee]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1943– )
|
| biography:
| Poet, novelist, and editor, born in Colombo, W Sri Lanka. He moved to Canada in 1962, studied at Bishop's University in Quebec, the University of Toronto, and Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, then became a university lecturer. Among his first books of poetry is Rat Jelly (1973). The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970), a factual and fictional account of the notorious outlaw, won a Governor-General's Award, as did a later book of poems, There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do (1979). Running in the Family (1982) tells of the life of his family in colonial Ceylon, and his novel The English Patient was co-winner of the Booker Prize in 1992 (filmed 1996, Oscar). Handwriting: Poems appeared in 1999, and the novel Anil's Ghost in 2000. His work characteristically blends the factual and imaginary, has a cinematic quality, and depends on an imagery of exoticism. |
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