Yann Martel
Novelist
Yann Martel is the author of The High Mountains of Portugal and Life of Pi, the #1 international bestseller and winner of the 2002 Man Booker (among many other prizes). He is also the award-winning author ofThe Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios (winner of the Journey Prize), Self, Beatrice & Virgil, and 101 Letters to a Prime Minister. Born in Spain in 1963, Martel studied philosophy at Trent University, worked at odd jobs—tree planter, dishwasher, security guard—and traveled widely before turning to writing. He lives in Saskatoon, Canada, with the writer Alice Kuipers and their four children.
More than ever before, we’re aware of the tragedy and suffering that goes on in the world. But does that mean we can do more about it?
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4 min
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Is it acceptable to write a story from the perspective of someone who is completely unlike you?
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4 min
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Novelist and “Life of Pi” author Yann Martel explains how travel confronts you with facts you cannot ignore and suggests that multilingualism makes us richer individuals.
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9 min
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Why has the “Life of Pi” author been sending novels to the Canadian prime minister?
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5 min
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What can be done to make boys and young men more interested in reading books?
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3 min
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When your novel gets a negative review, “it’s your entire being that is negated. And that hurts.” But you have to learn to let it go.
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2 min
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There’s no formula to writing. The key thing is simply to read, says the novelist. “The best teacher is a cheap, little Penguin classic.”
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6 min
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A tiny germ of an idea leads to research, which leads to further ideas and then more research. Eventually the writer has hundreds of pages of notes to work from.
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4 min
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Martel never bases his characters on real people—they’re always a vehicle for something he wants to express.
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4 min
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The major religions have all had their excesses, but there’s something about spiritual thinking that augments a life.
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8 min
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Allegorical fiction can take very complex realities and convey them in powerful, emotional, psychologically accurate way.
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11 min
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A conversation with the Man Booker Prize-winning novelist.
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41 min
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